we ( loverboy, miss m, banner and I) went up with my friend Debara and her son(miss m's friend) J. debara and the kids rode in the backseat, and banner was in the bed of the truck with the snow gear.
we went up to a place called emmigrant gap ( which is one exit past nyak, which comes into this tale later) emmegrant gap is a nice place to camp in the summer, and we have stopped to play in the snow there before. As we were getting closes and closses, we became concerned that rather than feet of snow which we expected to see at this elevation, we were seeing inches. several inches, but still inches not feet.
so when we got off at emmigrant gap, we saw that there was a large painted plywood sign at the spot we usually play, saying: PRIVATE PROPERTY<>NO SNOW PLAY
even though that sign was probably always there, it was usually buryied in snow, so we had never seen it before. we decided to respect the newly visible sign and play elsewhere
that was fine. the other attraction at emmigrant gap is the camp ground. we decided to drive down the road towards the campground till we found a likely place to play. and drive we did, slowly, passing other families parked at the side of the road playing. as we drove, down into the ravine, the snow gradually got deeper, and the road narrower and less traveled, untill loverboy made the determination that if he didn't turn around now, he might not be able to. he decided to use a convienint drive way off the main road as a place to make a Y turn. as we turned off the road, we slid down the little drive way incline. our wheels spun and we could not make it back up the grade in the snow. we were stuck 6 feet off the road on an unused driveway.
at this point, we unloaded the kids, dog and Debara so they could all play. they all had a wonderful time while josh and i tried to get the truck back up. but no amount of reverses, rocking, branches under the wheels for traction, pushing or pulling on our account did more than slide the truck further down the driveway.
so. we asked debara if it would be ok to leave her with the dog and kids and truck and food and stuff while we walked back to see if one of the families we had passes could help us. It was maybe a mile hike back up, and the weather was lovely. the dog was not pleased at being left behind, and my husband was rather grumpy about the whole situation, but it was pleasant none the less. we found a family with 2 toddeler girls, mom, dad, teanage son and little boy. mom offered to drive me back to nyak with the girls, while dad and sons walked back to debara kids and truck with lb.
At nyak there is a shell, a small service station, a convienience store, a burger king, lots of parking, and a large open space with picknick benches and hills (popular for sledding in the winter) When the mom dropped me off, i went in the convienience store to ask about a tow truck. a fellow with his daughter over heard me and offered to help instead. I said no, i would hire a truck, it would be fine, at which the clerk at the counter informed me that no one got away from the tow guy for less than $300. and a second offer from the good samaritan with the truck was readily taken up.
after his family had finished their lunch, he drove me back to my truck, and he and his buddy, with the help of josh and the first guy got our truck up and out in less than 5 minutes. we spent the rest of the day at nyak, sledding, building snowmen, drinking coco, and making the dog tow the kids on the sled ( which he seemed to think was very exciting)
it only took about 30 minutes of not being stuck in the snow for loverboy to decide that he was having a good time too.and it was a really wonderful day. we actually stayed till dark ( and had burger king for dinner)which we have never done before, always being to tired of the snow by about 3 to stay anylonger.
