Judging by the landscape, it's a long way from Gator country to wherever Joe Stubbs lives, but a true Worst Stuck favors no particular terrain. As Joe explains it, he was attempting to pass another vehicle on an icy highway when he lost control of his Ford, and "I ended up about 100 feet off the road and 10 feet below it. It took 100 feet of tow strap and two trucks working all day to get me out." We don't suppose there's any correlation between this stuck and Joe's admission that he was driving home from a New Year's Eve party. Nah, we didn't think so, either.
Currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan, Florida resident Jeremy Carlock relates a Chain-Reaction Worst Stuck that happened to him and his buddies. A friend's Toyota pickup got mired down in the clay pit seen here; Jeremy drove in his CJ to winch out the Toy, and "as soon as I saw water bubbling up [from the soil], I knew I was in trouble." Over the next six hours in a pouring rain, a Chevy 1500 and a Ford F-250 came to the aid with winches. The result? Four stuck rigs. After yet more digging and winching, Jeremy finally managed to free his Jeep, but not before busting both front axleshafts (35-spline Yukons, no less) and a transfer-case coupler shaft.
Robert Allen proves again the wisdom of having a winch when you're going four-wheeling. Robert went out one chilly day for "a short little drive" before coming to rest in this sludgehole. He first sought out the aid of a tractor, to no avail. Later, his wife's S-10 was enlisted, during which "the tow hook broke, sending the chain up over the top of my Blazer." (Hmm, sounds like someone needs a remedial course in Extraction 101.) Eventually, a winch-equipped Duramax Chevy yanked Robert out from the mushy mud near his home in Prineville, Oregon. "Needless to say, it was a day I'll never forget."
From the Great White North comes Jason Beaucaire's entry, shot after traversing the muddy depths at Larose Forest in eastern Ontario. According to Jason, he got his bumper hung up on some debris in a grille-deep mudhole, then backed up and drove out on his own. He readily admits it wasn't a genuine "worst stuck," but we think Jason deserves a little swag for his efforts anyway. Heck, how many Explorer owners will go to the trouble of (a) lifting their vehicle 7 inches to fit 35s, and (b) subjecting their nice-looking rigs to a mud bath?
Self-proclaimed "Kentucky boy" Ethan Baker was out with a couple of buddies for a day of wheeling around Borden, Indiana. The party came upon this mudhole that "wasn't too deep," in Ethan's words, but in a matter of minutes, the Grand Cherokee was "sucked up to the axles." After three hours, a Warn M8000, a Warn M12000, and a busted tow strap, Ethan's ride was extracted backwards from the swampy Hoosier goo, "6 inches at a time."
Yet another example of an "after" photo that tells you everything you need to know. In the case of Eric LaFaucia of Jacksonville, Florida, it happened at the end of a day of muddin', when Eric and friends decided to tackle "one more hole" before heading home. "I had no idea how deep this hole was or what was on the other side," Eric admits, and sure enough, four-wheel hilarity ensued. Luckily, there were other rigs in Eric's group around to yank him out, though whether any of his buddies offered to help him clean up afterwards, we couldn't say.
We can certainly vouch for that, and so can David Bettencourt of Merced, California. It all started when David's amigo stuck his F-150 in a pond located on David's 8-acre parcel. (Some guys have all the luck.) David came to the rescue and yanked out the Ford with his Baja-Clawed '79 Chevy, only to slide into the pond while attempting to maneuver around the F-150. Its engine soon died, and lacking a winch, the K1500 sat in the pond for three straight days before being hauled out by a neighbor's Toyota. "It took 32 quarts to flush the tranny, along with flushing the engine, axles, and transfer case," David notes, and nowadays he steers clear of the pond.