The easement road that I use to get to my camp is usually alright to travel on. Oh, sometimes it get a little muddy, with some puddles to drive through. But it's only a half mile long so usually not bad unless it's not plowed. Decided to venture to camp a couple of days ago. Had some 'camp' things I wanted to do, even though the forecast said rain. Now, there's a guy that moved in along the road. He and his wife and family live there full time and travel the road many times daily. A while ago he decided to 'fix' the road, using a skid steer to fill in some of the potholes, widen the two track, and just making it a smoother travel route. What he managed to do was to totally booger the road up. And with the frost coming out of the ground, made it impassable. Don't know how he and his family get in and out, but here's what I 'fell' into.

I called two neighbors, but neither of them was home. I walked to camp (most of the half mile) to get a chain and a strap in case one of them calls back. And one of them did. I hiked back to the truck (how can it be uphill both ways?) and was able to get yanked out. He allowed me passage through a chunk of land that had no roadway on it and was able to get to camp. Did just a couple of things and headed home the next day with rain coming every day. Was bummed out that I left, but a day up at camp feels good anyway.

Frank.

You have to spin those wheels if you want to dig deeper and muddy that white paint!

It won't be pretty when it dries. I see a need for gravel in your future.

Couldn't get any deeper, as the front axle was on the ground with the front wheel almost buried. And, the paint did get a little slopped up during the pull out. Got home and hosed off the chunks, and broomed and shoveled two piles of dirt/sand from the driveway. The car wash will take care of the rest!

Frank.

Hmmm, kind of hard to tell from just those 2 pictures, but doesn't look like it buried too bad. Not sure what kind of dirt your neighbor filled the holes with, but I can see that your tire tread doesn't clean itself. Otherwise you'd have mud up on the windshield.

We talked a little bit about this the other day, I'll bet the neighbor only had to pull the truck 5 or 6 feet and it popped right out. Maybe I'm wrong? If I'd been with you and had enough chain and a come-a-long or 2, and a shovel, we would have got it unstuck. It might have taken a while and we'd be muddy as all get out, but I wouldn't have walked away from the vehicle.

A lot of times if I get in a spot that is kind of "iffy", I'll get out and look for the high spots and walk the road first. A little bit of momentum makes a world of difference, and sometimes a feller needs to really pour it on.

Yeah, the fresh tire tracks in the bottom pic are from the neighbor's truck that came to my rescue. Hard ground, as it were. He had a twenty foot tow strap hooked to me, so probably 40 feet ahead is where I was stuck. And that mud hole went on for another 50 ft or so. The neighbor that 'fixed' the road used dirt from several hillsides to level off the road. Nasty clay/sand loam that keeps water and turns to soup. The road had been rutted up before I got there, and the ruts were buried by the soup so I couldn't pick out a proper path. And those black fender flares do a nice job of keeping the truck from spitting all over itself.

Frank.

Well, sand and loam and clay and water would be a nasty combination. Quicksand. Looking at the track prints in the one picture, guess he had a skid-steer on tracks. Looks like maybe he back dragged the road? Just to smooth out the bumps? And cover up the ruts.

We have places around here like that, the road might be good and solid today, tomorrow it's just like the bottom dropped out.

Kind of hard to tell, but looks like pretty much level ground and no place for the water to go.

You're not the only person to get screwed up a someone "fixing" a road by pouring loose dirt on it.

We share an easement with several others at our camp in the up that is close to a mile and long ago it looked a lot like yours. Us and 1 other guy are at the end and he practically lives up there as well. The job of putting gravel on and fixing the road has fallen to us mostly. Nobody else will pay. We have a 450 dozer and a gravel pit on the property. It still costs a lot to hire someone to dig the gravel out and truck it to the road. Lotsa hard word putting in culverts as well. Best to work a fix out with whoever will pay for a longer term fix. You should incorporate extra gravel on the worst spots every few years as well. Maybe you can actually get some folks to buy in if you get some estimates, but in my experience, people come up with about a thousand excuses why they don’t want to (don’t believe they should have to) pay for gravel. Looking at your road, if you want to travel on it at frost out, especially with everyday travel by a neighbor, you’ll need many inches of decent size gravel or shellrock to maintain that road to keep it passable. Even then, you will be mad at your neighbor for rutting up the gravel at frost out traveling it too much every year.....

Maybe you can work out a separate legal easement through your neighbors property on a permanent basis? Even if you had to pay, it might be way cheaper in the long run.

Sharing road costs brings out the miser in people.

Four years ago,on a line I trap, there were 4 lots lotteried out to build cottages. There was an old logging road of a couple of km's to access them. It is a dead end on a lake.

Lot #1 (the closest) does not want to pay - because he is close ...

Lot #4 does not want to pay - because he won't have to if 1,2,3 fix the road to their place ...

Lots 2 and 3 are stuck ...

No construction of cottages has begun yet.

Right of ways, are always a pain. I knew a man that was killed over a right-of-way dispute. The man that was killed was in the right, the other family was in the wrong.

We had a big thaw/melt here around the first or second week of March. I was up on the mountain east of town, first I'd been up there for a while. Cause I don't have a snowmobile. Still a good bit of snow on the ground, it was warm and sunny and the snow was leaving fast. There was an inch deep stream of water flowing right down the road for 200 yards or better. On down there was another spot, just about as bad. It's been years since the road was worked, and the water breaks are just worn out and washed away.

That was on one of the local hunt clubs, when I got home I put the word out. It's better to get someone up there with a dozer and fix the water breaks, spend $500 or $1,000 now, than it is to let it get worse. We don't want our roads baby butt smooth, but it's getting to the point where you'd better pick your way down that little cove, or you'll break a tie-rod, poke a hole in the oil pan or tear off the gas tank. It's getting pretty mean.

" We don't want our roads baby butt smooth, but it's getting to the point where you'd better pick your way down that little cove, or you'll break a tie-rod, poke a hole in the oil pan or tear off the gas tank. It's getting pretty mean."

That is when you take the ATV off the back of your truck and continue from there.

Or just take it to the shop and weld up a 1/2 inch thick skid plate from front to back. I'd have it dinged up in no time.

I have the skid plates. The problem isn't the banging. The problem is staying jacked on something.

My main problem isn't the condition of the old roads. It is the width. They get overgrown in a hurry. The paint takes a beating.

You told us before that you haul a "hi-lift" jack with you, it would come in handy in that situation. I have one of those jacks too. For anyone that's never used one, you can lift one end of a vehicle without much effort.

Yep. Lift and then place stuff under the wheels.

Jacking the vehicle itself does not require much effort. However, it is a situation where you have to pay close attention in order to not get hurt.

The jack must not slide sideways. You must be careful placing things under the wheels. And you must not get the jack handle in the face as you lower the truck. Be careful of the things you placed under the the wheels flying out as you move the truck, too.

All told, a situation best avoided.

In my situation in the pics I shared, those four foot tall jacks would not be adequate. I was stuck in two feet deep mud. By the time the jack could get the sagging wheel axle up high enough to place stuff under the wheels, I'd probably need a six foot tall jack stand! Calling the neighbor was the best option, with six hours of shoveling being a nasty second option.

Frank.

I am missing driving in the mud, been years