When a Jeep got stuck up to its axles in mud driving on the bottom of Palisades Reservoir on the Wyoming-Idaho border, a pair of trucks owned by family friends came to the rescue.
Then they also got mired in muck up to their fenders.
That’s when Alpine’s Redneck Rescue responded to the call to somehow pull all three vehicles out of a multi-person rescue effort that had gone wrong twice already.
“The first vehicle, a Jeep, was driving across the lake bottom, noticed that it was getting soft, went to turn, and got buried,” Redneck Rescue owner Nick Cummings said about the call he got about two weeks ago.
Once they realized their vehicle was stuck, the occupants called some family friends to help them out, he said. As their Chevy was on its way to rescue them, it also got stuck in the muddy bottom. Then came a black Ford F-150, which also became mired in the muck.
That’s when they called Redneck Rescue, which “goes to a lot of places the tow trucks don't want to go,” Cummings said.
With remote-controlled winches, a custom-built winch foot, and hundreds of feet of tow straps, Redneck Rescue is equipped to handle situations other tow trucks can't.
“This is a normal situation for us,” Cummings said. “Getting cars out of the mud is a pretty popular call in the summertime.”
Cummings was alerted to the incident by Palisades Towing, another local company that often sends more difficult calls to Redneck Rescue. The company frequently gets recommendations from local agencies when they know there’s a vehicle in a tough spot, he said.
Unlike the stranded drivers, Cummings knew exactly what they were getting into at Palisades Reservoir. It’s a notoriously muddy spot.
“We call it sand on peanut butter,” he said. “Once you break through that sand, you end up in the peanut butter, and you get stuck.”
Anchoring And Angling
Once Redneck Rescue reached the three stuck vehicles, Cummings “had to get creative.”
“That's one of the fun parts about this job,” he said. “We don't do any on-road stuff, so each call is its own challenge.”
The first was deciding where to anchor and angle.
“When you get into situations in the mountains where you're trying to pull something from an angle where you can't park your vehicle to wench from, (the equipment) makes all the difference.”
Cummings parked his F-250 over 500 feet away from the Jeep. The Chevy was used as the anchor to get the Jeep out.
The Jeep was the easiest and didn’t have to drive far to find solid ground. Then, the attention turned to the Chevy and the F-150.
“That Chevy was stuck pretty good,” Cummings said. “Once we got the Jeep out, I went ahead and laid out 360 feet of Rhino straps to my vehicle, winched out the Chevy, and then pulled the F-150 out.”
With high-quality tools and creativity, all three vehicles were pulled out of the peanut butter of Palisades Reservoir in less than two hours, Cummings said.
Getting Creative
Cummings knew getting his truck anywhere close to the stranded vehicles would result in another stuck truck. That’s why he came prepared.
“I've got the 30-foot-long, four-inch strap from Rhino USA,” he said. “Those are rated for around 30,000 pounds, and their soft shackles are rated for 44,000 pounds. I like to overdo my equipment versus the load.”
Cummings also has remote-controlled winches that make it safer to operate. Instead of being mounted to a vehicle, they’re receiver hitches attached to a clevis with an adapter, so they’re mobile and, in many situations, more useful because of it.
“Instead of having to put my winch into a receiver hitch, I can actually just hook it to rigging like a strap, a tree, or another vehicle that's stuck, and then use jumper cables that will power that winch off of any vehicle.”
But “the key to (Cumming’s) success” is the custom-built winch foot. On the front of his 1994 Ford F-250 “Miranda.”
“I built it to go in my plow mount,” he said. “That’s the anchor that transfers all the energy to the ground, as opposed to my vehicle. I can pull one-ton dually diesels that are out in the mud with my F-250, as long as I'm on solid ground.”
Inevitably Unsuccessful
Cummings noted that this wasn’t the first time he’d saved one of these vehicles.
“The black F-150 was a previous customer from last fall over in Bondurant,” he said. “I had to wench myself out of that situation for the first time ever because it was on a steep, snowy hill.”
Redneck Rescue has “yet to be unsuccessful” with any of its calls, Cummings said. He chalks a lot of that up to being over-prepared with the right equipment but anticipates the inevitable call that won’t go according to plan.
“I'm sure it'll happen one day, but it has yet to happen,” he said. “I would rather take a little bit of extra time and do extra rigging to make sure things don't go south.”
Every Redneck rescue is a learning experience that can be carried forward for future calls, Cummings added.
“Through these experiences, and getting to know different locations, you can really set yourself up for success,” he said. “Even if I'm not the answer, I like to have an answer for somebody because I want to help others out.”
Ultimately, Cummings wants Redneck Rescue to be the best call for people stuck in the mud in and around Alpine. It’s not only about being good at what you do, but respecting everyone and everything involved.
“We do pride ourselves on not damaging equipment and vehicles,” he said. “We rescue snowmobilers in the backcountry and off-road vehicles stuck in the mud, and we’re all about helping others (while) trying to keep it affordable. We treat your stuff like it was our own.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
