Tom G - Almost Missing in Action

Tom sent me his journal from the following little adventure. Luckily it all worked out in the end. -jbs

Thurs. 11-27-98

7:00am Packed clothes for a couple of days and brushed my teeth.
8:00am Departed home for the local diner.
8:10am Had breakfast at the local diner and read the paper.
8:55am Departed the local Diner for Yosemite. Traveled I680 North to I580 East to I5 South to Patterson, CA. Got gas. Traveled SR33 South to SR140 East.
11:20am Arrived Mariposa, CA and continued on SR 140 to a small road marked on the Thomas Bros. Map book. Continued on this road until there were no more road signs.
12:30pm Realized I was lost, and that I could no longer go back the way I came. Continued to try various dirt/mud roads.
1:30pm Arrived at an isolated campsite and began to turn around.
2:00pm Realized I could not get unstuck from the mud by driving and tried to jack the truck to put branches and other traction material under the tires. I gave myself 1 Hour to move the truck or determine a plan for spending the night.
3:00pm Began assessing what materials I had for spending the night.
3:15pm Finished assessment and began preparing truck for sleepage. Had Cheeze Nips and Junior Mints for dinner.
4:30pm As dark was falling, removed foodstuffs from truck and placed them in bags and hoisted them high to keep the bears away.
5:15pm Crawled into the truck and got warm. Read by flashlight. Started the truck every 3 hours to prevent freezing the engine.

Fri. 11-28-98

6:30am Crawled out of the truck and had Snickers Bar for breakfast. Attempted to move the truck again with no luck.
8:00am Packed a knapsack and began walking out, following the tracks made by my truck's wimpy tires. Made map of the route as I went on the back of an envelope. Attempted to use cell phone every half-hour.
10:15am Received a good signal on the cell phone, but 911 call did not go through.
10:30am After 8 miles, I saw a couple in a 4x4 truck and waved them down. They offered to pull my truck out and we drove back using my map.
11:30am We got my truck out and began traveling back to the intersection where we met.
12:15pm Arrived at the intersection and realized neither one of us knew which way to go. We started down a trail which we knew neither had used and reached SR41 near Wawona.
1:30pm Arrived at an Oakhurst motel and got sideways looks from the desk clerk. Showered. Shaved. Slept. Ate. PHEW!!!