Again, So Soon

A couple of nights ago a two seater side by side shows up at O dark thirty. There friends in another two seater are broke down out at Jackson Hole. He pinned it for me and shows me on his phone map. I know exactly where that is. We call a couple off road wreckers and find one that thinks they have a part and can fix it tomorrow. I tell the two guys to head to town, get your vehicle. Ford 150 it turns out, and head back this way. Jax and I will go out to Jackson Hole, in the dark, and find your friends.

Again, the night sky was incredible. Was a little more dicey on the road. Some of the ups and downs aren't quite as defined. For my six seaters it's hard to do that trail without hitting bottom. I hit bottom twice on the Jackson Hole rollover last week and twice more on this one. Hard hits. For what they usually tip me it's not going to come close when I actually sustain real damage, but the night, oh boy. Unbelievable. Twice Jax and I stopped to listen and see if we could hear voices at intersections to know which way to go. We don't know if they are at the vehicle or if they decided to hike back with the possibility of two different ways back. I turn the lights back on and there aren't any foot prints or fresh tire marks. They must be coming around from the other way on Jackson Loop.

Gonna have to pull out the satellite phone and dust it off. One of these nights Jax and I will be by ourselves out doing a rescue and it will be us that breaksdown. On this night it would have been a six mile hike back. I brought two head lamps, probably should have brought more. We're at the intersection of turning off to Jackson Ladder I hiked back from here a year or two with no head lamps and the only light was two planets. I don't think they would have gone to Jackson Ladder and I don't see any human or side by side tracks going that way. I turn the lights off and yell. I don't get a response. I yell again. I hear something, maybe it's help, but whatever it is it's straight ahead. I almost hate to turn the vehicle back on. I kind of want to sleep here it's so beautiful. I'll rescue them in the morning.

I start up the engine and turn the lights back on and Jax and I move forward. In a minute or so we see lights. They've turned their lights on giving us a beacon to where they are. I pull up, don't say a word, flipa t turn, and one guy says "Are we suppose to go with you?" I say "You are." They thought they heard a vehicle and then figured it was a side by side so turned their lights on hoping I would head their way. I'm focused on the road on the way back but hit bottom hard one time anyway. I call the lodge on the walkie when I get to the abandoned oil well and ask if they see lights coming down Hurrah. They don't so best to keep going.

The truck is not at the top and I don't see lights in the valley coming this way but do run into them about three turns from the bottom. I hit hard one time on the way down. There are a couple little lights on at Base Camp for walking around the stairs and decks. Very faint, but after the nights doing the rescues it seems like civilization of sorts.