The Snow Incident

Because everyone wants to know what happened - here it is.

Monday after Easter I headed out of Moab, UT.  The plan was to take the scenic route while heading west.  I was going to go through Capitol Reef National Park and see the sites, and then take a route through a bunch of scenic area heading in the direction of Zion National Park where I would camp, or camp somewhere along the way if I got too involved in what I was seeing.  The next day I was going to continue heading west and either reach California and my Grandmother's house that night or the day after.  However.... that is not how it all happened.

I left Moab around noon or so.  Driving to Capitol Reef National Park was really bad for the paint job on my poor truck.  It was like driving through a sand blaster!  The winds were INSANE!  There were some points where the dust and sand were so thick it was like driving through tulle fog.  Fortunately it wasn't that way the entire time.  It was still insanely windy but the sand blasting wasn't a constant thing... just every few miles.  Heh.  I stopped at a few different places in Capitol Reef, saw some 1000+ year old petroglyphs, went to the visitors center, and stopped at an old Mormon historic farmhouse and bought some homemade ice cream.  It was so windy though I didn't want to subject my camera to it so there are no photos to share of this day. 

So... as I'm leaving Capitol Reef I realize that I am leaving sunny blue (albeit windy) skies and driving towards a big gray mass of dark coldness and most likely snow.  So I stop and look up the weather and rethink my plans and route.  I realize that I'd be driving over windy mountain roads in snow and rain and that is a bad idea.  So I figure out a different route, realize it's going to rain all night if I camp, figure out it would only take 4 hours from where I was to get to Las Vegas, find a hotel room at the Hilton for $35 (score!) and decide that sounds like a much better plan.  So I look at the map and look up the weather on all the cities along the path so as to make sure I wouldn't be driving through massive amounts of snow.  It says its mostly ok, just some rain and possible thunder storms but even that doesn't look that likely... according to the weather apps on my phone.

It snowed as I was driving through this long narrow valley, but it wasn't super heavy or sticking to anything so I figured that was okay.  And then it took me to another highway... and that highway starting climbing in elevation.  Normally that is fine... except for when it is snowing.  I figured as long as the snow was sticking I'd be ok.  But then it started sticking to the vegetation.  And then to the dirt.  And then to the side of the road.  Not good.  And then to the road in between the lanes.  Definitely not good.  And why was I still rising in elevation?  Why is this snow here???  There wasn't supposed to be snow!!  So now it is sticking to the road, and I am crawling uphill.  And then I start to feel the panic coming because my windshield wiper is now frozen over and not clearing my window and I'm driving on like 4 inches of snow or more (remember, I'm from the Central Coast, I have never driven in snow before, so 4 inches of snow is a lot for me, this being my first time and all). 

I eventually get to a summit but going downhill proves to not be a good thing.  I was sliding.  And the way the road and mountain were, I would have slid right into the oncoming lanes or beyond them and down the hill.  Gravity was not my friend.  So when I was able to grip enough ground I pulled over as far as I could (which wasn't all the way off the road because I was sliding too much) and I put my truck in park, emergency brake on, hazards on, and then I cried.  I had no idea what to do, I was in short pants and sandals (it was 70 when I left Moab), I was scared, I felt like an idiot, and mostly I just had no idea what to do... so I cried for a couple minutes... really hard.

Once I gathered myself, I pulled my hiking boots out from the back, dug out some sweatpants from the bed of my truck through the back window of my cab, and pulled my coat out too.  As I was sitting there a truck came up the other side and rolled down his window.  The driver was a man probably in his late 30's or early 40's and asked me if I was ok.  I told him I was sliding too much and didn't have enough control to continue.  He then asked me if "the diesel was ok".  I had no idea what he was talking about... because I couldn't see out my front window.  But turns out a semi-truck had slid off the road and jack-knifed.  Whoa!  So I asked him if I should put my chains on and he said he would help me.  This guy was my guardian angel of the mountain! 

He first put my chains on the front tires thinking it would give me more steering control.  This much allowed me to turn my truck around but I couldn't go back up the hill because my back tires had no control or grip.  So while my front tires held the ground, my back tires spun on ice while gravity slowly swung the back end towards the side of the mountain.  So then, this guy, who's name was Richard, helped me take them off the front tires and put them on the back tires.  At this point a woman in a full size truck stopped by and asked if we were ok.  She said she had a tow strap if I needed help up the hill.  People are so nice.  Turns out I was able to get back up the hill with my chains on the back tires, and had enough control to continue down the other side and get out of the deep stuff.  The snow plows had come by this point too so that helped.  And then... Richard came back!  This time he helped me take my chains off since I could just stay in the snow plowed part and be fine.  This guy had now probably spent at least a half an hour or probably more out in the freezing cold helping me.  This is why he is the guardian angel of the mountain.  Such a nice guy.  I am so grateful for his help. 

Richard also informed me that the storm was worse if I had continued on my original path.  He said the news had said that this was expected to be one of the worst storms of the season and that if I continued I should probably stay in a town called Beaver and probably wouldn't be able to leave until later the next day or maybe even the day after.   That is why I decided to turn around and go the way I came and then south.  We looked at the map and determined that would be a much better idea. 

By the time I got off the mountain it was 8pm.  I left Capitol Reef at 4pm.  I was supposed to hit Las Vegas around 8:30.  That obviously didn't happen.  I took the southern route over, went down to the tip top of Arizona and then over back to St. George, UT, and then down to Vegas.  I got to the Hilton at 1:30am.  I was practically holding myself up on the check-in counter so the guy gave me an upgraded room and a 2pm late check out.  Hallelujah!  So I slept for at least 10 hours, took a hot shower, and headed off to my Grandmother's house. 

So yeah... that day kinda sucked.  And I am very glad that I had chains and that people are inherently nice. 

Also, I will never trust the weather apps on my phone again.  Ever.

I am glad that it wasn't a worse situation and I am safe and everything.  Snow is beautiful and nice to play in and visit, but that just reinforced that I don't really ever care to live in it!