#63 Double Black Diamond ATV Adventure

We almost died today.

Well...as Oliver said, "Don't know if we would have died per se, but we might not have made it out in one piece."

We planned our #4 Utah day to be the biggest, most badassiest ever. And it lived up to our plans. So much that we are breaking today down into two Badass Adventures because that's how glorious the day was!

This post will focus on the one that almost killed (or permanently maimed) us.

We decided to go rent Can-Am Outlander ATVs at Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, UT.

It will be fun, we said.

We'll have a lovely ride up and down and around the red sand dunes, we said.

We won't really need this helmet but we'll wear it because we have to according to regulations, we said.

Oh...you want me to sign a waiver saying that if we get stuck, there is a $250 cost to get rescued? Ok. That won't happen to us, we said.

Oh...you are telling us that it is easy to get lost up in the mountains but the trails are well marked and there's a map in the trunk? Ok. We won't have any problems with directions, we said.

And if we get super lost, we can just call the emergency number and they will help guide us back on the trail because they track us through GPS, they said. Great! Sounds safe, we said.

The ATVs can flip pretty easily so we need to be sure to stick to trails that reflect our skill level? No problem, we know our limitations, we said.

We got on our helmet and goggles. The fellow fitting us spent A LOT of time showing us how to properly put on our goggles so they wouldn't snap back and hit us in the face. He reviewed THAT several times.

However, our training for the ATV itself consisted of: "Here's the starter push it. Here's the brake. Don't use it too much or you'll fly over the handlebars. Sometimes it gets suck between gears so rev it to get it to shift. There's a map in the trunk. You can go anywhere but just not the beach. Have fun".

So we were super prepared to know how to don our safety goggles, but much less prepared to know how to handle the machine itself.

I kind of don't want to tell you this, but for the first mile I drove with the brake on the whole time. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't go faster than 10mph and why there was a burning smell until I realized there was a foot brake and I was resting my foot on it. That would have been good to know during the training session but hey...much better that he spent the time preparing us for the goggles.

Anyways, I figured it out and tentatively started teaching myself how to use this thing. 2x4, 4x4, Low gear, High gear, reverse neutral, park -- got it!

I followed Oliver and we started buzzing our way up the red sandy dunes following some tire tracks. At one point, I zipped ahead of him and took the lead. "Heck...I've got this. ATVing is easy," I said to myself and I started up this pretty steep incline made of sand. Until I got stuck and felt myself sliding backwards out of control. Whoa!!! I steered blindly into the curve which slowed me down enough for me to do a little reverse and Low gear action to try to turn myself around and go back down the hill.

After that, I let Oliver lead. He was better and didn't make dumbass choices like trying to go up a very steep sand hill. Remember this because it will come up again later in the story.

I got stuck a few more times, usually at the top of very deep sandy hills but I learned the art of cranking between Reverse and Low gear and/or High gear and jumping up and down a bit to get loose.

We kept going up higher and higher and the trail became less trail-ish. But the man at the rental place told us we'll be fine as long as we follow the trail markers and use our map.

The problem was there were no trail markers that we rode by.

So there was no way to know where we were on the map.

No matter. We kept zipping around because as long as we could see the lake at the bottom of the mountain, we knew we could find our way back down.

I got a little rattled when the trail became much more rocky. I don't mean pebbles-rocky. I mean big bolder rock cliff rocky. So you had to look for the lowest point you could and just gun the motor, hoping you would be fine.

Going up, you hoped that you wouldn't tip over backwards.

Going down, you hoped that you wouldn't tip over forwards.

But it was easy to fool yourself into thinking that you weren't really catching air, even though it felt like tipping was inevitable.

Until I saw Oliver work on crawling up a big bolder, get stuck, and seeing his front wheels leave the ground and head for the sky. AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! OMG...I'm going to see my son roll over backwards and his helmet isn't going to protect him from being squished between the rock and the ATV. It was horrible to watch, but he managed to back down, somehow to a flatter spot. He looked up at me and then I realized there was no way in holy heck I was going to follow him down there. So bless his brave heart and he gunned it back up the rock to where I was so we could take a different path.

We were up high.

And there were no ATV tracks to follow.

And no signs.

But how hard can it be? I said I would go first and lead the way, because all we really need to do is head down and we'll eventually get to the lake.

I started in one direction and did pretty well until I didn't. We came to another really, really rocky steep and jagged patch and that looked like the only way down from where we were. Oliver said he would go first and so he did.

OMG!!!!!!!!!! This one was even worse than the last one. I couldn't even watch him and only opened my eyes when I heard him yelling from the bottom of the cliff.

But then I heard what he was yelling.

"Mom...I don't think you want to come down this way".

Ok, I signaled to him.

But what to do? I was already pretty far down the cliff.

When I say cliff, I mean cliff. Drop off areas all around, no smooth way to turn around to head back up, and even if I could, there was no easy path to get back up.

I tried anyways.

Deep breath, cursing out my badass adventure drive that got me into this pickle, and i started to literally reverse driving back up the cliff, blindly until I got to a spot where I could turn around. I don't know how I did it and there were some times when my ATV lurched in terrifying motions, but I did it.

It wasn't over yet though. Just because I turned around, didn't mean there was a path in sight. There was no way to get down to where Oliver was. So I screamed, waving my arms and signaling to Oliver that I was going to go back to the top of the entire cliff and try to find an alternate way down to him.

Another deep breath...and I gunned it up.

I did ok, hitting the jutting rocks out well enough to keep going forward and upward. I ran over a few bushes but kept going. Until I made a big mistake.

In front of me, I had two choices.

On one side of a giant boulder was a "path" made up of what looked like more jutting rocks and bolders that looked hecka scary.

On the other side of the boulder was a sand path.

Did I take the sand path? You betcha.

The problem was the path was super steep and the sand was super deep.

I got halfway up and got stuck.

Ok, this had happened before. I was an expert now. I threw the ATV into reverse and backed up a bit, then threw it back into gear and tried gunning it up.

Nope. Didn't get much further.

Back into reverse. I figured I could go all the way down the hill and get a better running start.

Unfortunately, reverse didn't get me anywhere either except for spinning tires.

Rocking back and forth a few times did nothing.

So I got out and took a good look. This is when I could see for the first time just how steep the dune was, how deep the sand was, and how deep my tires were buried.

I did what anyone would have done in this situation. I checked my phone to see if I had service.

Yes!!! And Oliver had called. So I called him back and when he answered, I said only three words: "I'm legit stuck". He said, "Hold tight Mom, I'll be right there". He told me later that he floored it and raced back up the mountain. He got to me in about 10 minutes but it felt like 10 hours.

Between the two of us, we tried everything. Pushing, pulling, digging, putting things under the tires, one of us driving while the other pushed, getting it in neutral, and actually trying to lift it to higher ground.

Nada.

I finally said, "It's time. We need to call the emergency number and tell them we're stuck".

Oliver said, "Nooooo. I don't think we need to do that. We can get unstuck."

And I said, "Nope. I'm calling it. We're not getting out".

So we called. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hello. I'm Beth Grigg and my son and I were the ones who rented the two one person ATVs and I'm stuck. Could you please send someone to get us out?

Them: Well, I usually work the water sports area but let me see what I can do.

Me: We were told that you guys can track us by GPS. Do you see where we are?

Them: Nope. Where are you?

Me: Umm....Really high up. On the mountain. We can see the lake. Other than that, I have no idea. You really can't see the GPS?

Them: Nope. Well, what trail are you on?

Me: That's the problem. We don't know. Wait a minute...we'll get our map and see if we an figure it out.

Me: I'm back. We think we are somewhere around The Maze.

Them: Where's that? I don't have a map.

Me: You don't have a map?

Them: No. I don't usually work here. What did you say where you are again?

Me: I think we are around The Maze but we aren't totally sure.

Them: I don't see The Maze on the map.

Me: Oliver, can you talk to her please? I'm kind of done with this conversation.

Luckily, Oliver has more patience than me and finally sent coordinates to her cell phone. She promised to text us when the rescue team was on it's way.

We sat there for a while. Thirsty and pissed because dumbass ATV instructor didn't tell us that we could be stranded because the water sports lady doesn't have a map or access to GPS and we could be spending the remaining hours of our life waiting for a rescue team that might never come.

And I should have thought to bring the water too. My bad.

Then Oliver said, "Nope. We're not waiting. We can do this! Let's go."

So round two began. Rocking, pushing, pulling. Fans of sand spraying several feet into the air as we tried to catch tire grip on anything.

When suddently, as easy as I drove into the dune, the ATV decided to drive out.

We stared at each other for a long minute, and burst out laughing.

He called the rescue line back to let them know we were freed and they didn't need to come get us. With a sigh, he hung up, saying, "I don't think she had even begun to get someone ready to get us. We would have been up here a long, long time".

Only one thing left to do. Get ourselves back down the mountain.

I followed Oliver back by the other side of the boulder -- remember? The rocky side with jutting cliff edges and stuff? Turns out that was a better way to go than the sand. Not fun and totally nerve-wracking, but we both got to the top without much trouble.

We both swore to try to find wheel tracks knowing that would be a safer way to go. And at one time we finally saw a trail marker. Great! Must be the way down. But as I drove by it, I saw it was designated as "Most Difficult". Wait...what??????? NOOOOOO!!! I frantically tried shouting for Oliver to stop but he couldn't hear me. So down I went.

Thank goodness the trail was actually reasonably smooth and without cliffs and jutting rocks to transverse. The trail marker had been actually pointing in the direction from when we came before. So Oliver has the true designation of descending down the equivalent of a double-black diamond trail on his first time out on an ATV.

We got back down the moutain in what felt like forever and pulled into the rental driveway only 10 minutes later than when we were supposed to return. Shocking!

Still shaking from adrenaline, we both stumbled up the stairs and through the main door where we were greeted by Water Lady.

Her: "Did you have fun?"

Us: "Um.....not really. It was pretty scary".

Her: "Oh, that's nice. Well go ahead and leave your helmets on that table."

Us: "Do we need to sign out or anything?"

Her: "No. You are all set".

Us: "Ok then.".

So they didn't check to see if we were ok. They didn't want to take a look at our ATVs to be sure we didn't cause damage. They didn't even check to see if we were the ones that had called for help.

I really think Oliver was right -- if we had waited for them to come rescue us, we would have been there for hours. With no water.

My boy is wicked smart!

Plus now, we can use the $250 we would have spent on the rescue team and spend it on massages tomorrow instead. I think we are going to be some sore puppies tomorrow!

But that's not the only adventures we had today. Just the most dangerous.

Stay tuned for the second part of today. It's cuter and fluffier and amazingly badass. I can't wait to tell you all about it!