I would like to do a little write up about our drive Monday night. I came home Monday right at 5:00, wanting to have some daylight to go up in the mountains with mom and dad before they left town on Tuesday. We went up the squaw peak road, and then turned left to head down to Springville. I had only just pulled up the map on the computer for a moment to see if it was possible to get to Springville on that road. I should have done a little more research on the plan, but I thought we’d be on a similar road to the one I’ve been on before. We stopped off at Buffalo Peak for a few minutes to take in the view. We took a few pictures, and then got back on the road. We had a little rain earlier in the day, and there was some snow up on Timp. The snow was pretty high up on the mountain, and we didn’t see much snow up on the road. There was a little snow in the shade under the trees up on our little hike.

     We continued down the road, and only a couple of minutes down the road we got to rock canyon camp ground. There was a sign that said the road was not fit for passenger vehicles. We also saw a sign saying that it was 15 miles to Springville. That sign caused me a little concern because I new we would be slower, and it was already 6:45 at night. I continued on down the road, and the road got much rougher, and we were a little concerned about the conditions. Not very far in we came to a pretty large puddle with a hill right after the puddle. We got out and checked the depth, and I felt comfortable to continue on. We drove along and the sunset was beautiful, and the road while rough was pretty fun to be driving. We continued along and I was still feeling alright about things. After several more minutes the road continued to be rough, and the sun was mostly gone, and I knew we wouldn’t have light for much longer. I was thinking this road wouldn’t be so great to navigate in the dark. A few minutes later we passed a guy that was on his way down in something like a trailblazer. I stopped him to ask how things looked up ahead, and how much further we had to go. He said the road got worse before getting better. He mentioned snow, and deep ruts that he wasn’t able to avoid falling into, and also large and deep pot holes. I felt like we had gotten far enough in, that we should remain committed to the plan. I probably should have paused to consider things a little deeper. We proceeded, and I was starting to feel a little nervous about weather we were going to have traction to get through the upcoming obstacles.

     When we got to the deep ruts I was actually encouraged a bit, because they were not on as steep a slope as I had pictured in my mind. They were still a pretty good challenge. We got through the first stretches of them without much trouble. I did end up down in the ruts, but we had enough clearance to get through things. On the second or 3rd stretch of ruts I was trying to stay on top, and I ended up with the front tires in the ruts on the right and in the middle, and the rear tires in the rut on the left and in the middle. So if you can picture this the car was twisted in a way to be partly sideways. We were moving along pretty slowly. I wasn’t interested in stopping. We pushed on and managed to get through without further issue. I felt a little relief getting that part behind me. Of course having never driven the road I wasn’t certain that was the case.

     We were driving in a couple of inches of snow by this point, and we were continuing to climb higher and higher. We found pot holes quickly, and the road was getting narrower, and the cliffs on the side of the road were steeper. I tried to avoid some of the pot holes, and others I drove directly through. I did the best I could to balance staying away from the edges of the road, and protecting the care, and not getting stuck. I was beginning to worry about losing traction. I really didn’t want to have to back track all the things I had just finished driving. I was moving along pretty slowly due to the overall conditions. Most everyone was feeling quite nervous. I was doing my best to attempt to keep everyone confidant about our situation.

     I had hoped that we were as high as we needed to go, but as we continued we were still climbing. The snow was 4-6 inches deep by now, and I really felt like I needed to maintain a little bit of momentum, so that we wouldn’t get stuck spinning my wheels. There was one instance where the back end of the car started to fish tail out towards the cliff edge. I was moving slowly, and did my best to hold fast. I was about to hit the brakes to avoid spinning out, but just as I was about to stop we got a little traction, and I was able to maintain my momentum.

     We finally got to the top of the road. It was basically dark by that point. When I had pulled up the map on the computer, I saw that there was a required left turn to avoid going down a road for a couple of miles that would have turned into a dead end. I did not want to take a dead end road. As we arrived at the top there was an option to make a left turn, so I took it to avoid going down what could have been the dead end road. It turns out that the turn I took was only a parking lot. I realized I wasn’t where I wanted to be, so I stopped and got out to take a look at things. I determined that I needed to back up to get back on the road. There was a large pot hole on the road just behind where I was going to be backing up. I took it easy and stopped a little early, to avoid getting into the pot hole.

     When I tried to pull forward and continue on I couldn’t make the turn all the way back to the road, so I had to back up again. When I was backing up I lost traction in the snow. I tried to rock it a little, but I wasn’t getting as much progress as I wanted, so I determined that I should push the front end over. The big boys, Grandpa and even Grandma jumped out to help, and we were able to get the car pushed onto the road quite easily. This pushing action caused more concern in the kids. We all jumped back in, and I had Lissa offer a prayer. She was a little emotional. We proceeded on, and were finally going down. Now I was worried about starting to slide with the turns, and snow and everything.

     We moved along pretty slowly so that we would have plenty of control. We had control, and no further close calls. I couldn’t believe how long it we went down before we finally got out of the snow. Eventually we were got below the snow, and I was able to start driving a little faster. I tried to hurry, but not start scaring everyone, or put us in any danger now that we had finally cleared the snow. The roads got progressively wider, and more smooth.

     We finished the dirt roads without further excitement. The kids all took a sigh of relief, and we offered another prayer of thanks for our safe arrival. We got to James and Michelle’s house and the kids all exploded telling about the trip and things.

     Looking back on things I’m pretty sure I didn’t make the best decision. I should have turned around when we saw the warning sign about the road. After that, when you have to get out of the car to check the depth of a pot hole a half mile into a 15 mile drive, that should be an indicator that it was not the best thing to do. We have some great memories together now. I think we’ll have to try the road again next summer, not after a rain, and a little earlier in the day. Life is great and we are blessed beyond belief.