First offroad, mud experience
 

It's been raining often for the past few days. It stopped later in the afternoon. I thought I'd have some fun in my truck and drive over to the local park. When I got there, I saw there was a mud rut. The rut was about 20 feet long, filled with water and it looked like I could muscle through it with my '96 Blazer.

Two things were terribly wrong with my plan:

1: My Blazer is entirely stock.

2: I might have tried to run through in rear wheel drive.

I was immediately stuck. I switched into 4Hi and began progressing forward. I noticed the tracks didn't continue back to the park road but stopped 20 feet before. In my boneheaded state, I thought nothing of this and continued forward slowly, bumping over mud in the rut. I could've and SHOULD have backed out at that point but I wanted to get through. I progressed a few more feet on sunk. I rocked her back and forth and switched to 4Lo but I knew I was done. I opened the door to my truck and the mud was contacting the underbody.

While I did do some rut digging, I realized a few more things:

1: Previous driver backed out.
2: Previous driver dug a rut for me.
3: Where the previous driver realized he couldn't make it, I dug in too deep.
4: My cell phone was 2 miles away, up hill.

I'm wondering what the Hell to do at this point. My truck is covered in huge mud streaks, the interior smells like burned rubber from my gear changing and I have no proper equipment to do anything. By the grace of God himself, a man pulls into the park in a Ford cargo van about 10-15 minutes after I get stuck. White, no windows and relatively clean for its age, I prayed this man could aid me. I figured he was a park maintenance worker or something. Turned out he had never seen the park and wondered if there was a trail.

I pulled out some whimpy ATV straps for towing as I had nothing in my truck. The man was kind and pulled out a heavy-duty ow strap. We linked the van's hitch to my front toe hook and had my truck out in minutes. I tried to pay the man for his help but he wouldn't have it. He told me he got his vehicle stuck in the sand once for three hours and not a soul of the 50 cars that passed helped him out. He had to plank and finagle his way out alone.

Needless to say, I'm buying some toe straps and I'll be helping anyone I see on the side of the road. As the burned rubber smell faded from my truck, I realized I'd have nothing to show for little ordeal. I took my truck to the car wash and had a quick laugh with the attendant and drove home to finish the job. I broke nearly every rule of off roading: I drove alone, I drove without a phone, I used an entirely stock vehicle and, mostly importantly, I tried to do it in rear wheel drive.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

ive always been like that. theres a few places in the winter time i drive down out of bordem and look for stuck people. offroading has always been a hobby of mine so pulling out someone stuck is just fun for me. only time i wont is if its a newer car with plastic crap bumpers and no where to hook to. and when they offer money i just tell them next time you see someone stuck just repay the favor. its the chain of love

she's totally mechanically stock minus a coupel small things lol but yup but i took her to a farmers field...BAD idea after 4 days or a constant rain....it didn't occur to me they keep thier ground SOFT and loose FOR A REASON...and omg..WHY oh WHY did i think i could use the firmer land between the 2 fields to turn around (only went in for the hope of a trail back through i could muscle down)...didn't happen...stopped put it in R...moved back about 20 ft...put it in D and made it 3/4 way through the turn..when i realized..OMG i'm STUCK in like a foot of mud...in a FIELD totally trespassing...omg..i'm gonna hate my self..but wait..whats this..i'm still in 2wd lmao...so ..hit 4hi...got some momentum for a second...STUCK...omg...i still have 4lo....more momentum...STUCK...AHH OMG...WAIT!!!! 4wd lo in 3rd GEAR...AHHH AHAHAHAHA......annnnd about 3 mins later ...crawled out..looked back with a happy tear in my eye i didn't have to ask the farmer who's field i was trespassing in...to pull my sad @$$ out lol...lesson learned...bought a winch..and tow strap..oh..and no more farmers fields lol..EVER!! and i try and have some one with me to hail some one road side with a big ol truck to pull me out for a few $s..if not i've got AAA :P