A couple of weeks ago, Hidden Valley Inn sponsored an off-road rally where drivers could test their skills driving their four-wheel drive vehicles over a 110 kilometer course through the Mountain Pine Ridge. Part of the course is on Hidden Valley property, part on farm land, and part on the back roads of the Mountain Pine Ridge. Because G helped map the course, and because we have a Land Rover with a winch, we were the tow/support vehicle and were assigned to follow the drivers to help if anybody got stuck.
Originally, 12 vehicles had entered the rally. However, it poured rain for the entire day and night before the rally, so only four intrepid souls showed for the rally: two compensation trucks (both large Dodges) from Belize City, an old Land Rover from Sittee River, and a new Mahindra from Belmopan. Trevor, the owner of Hidden Valley, followed in his white Toyota Prado with a winch, and we joined the end of the line around kilometer 30 after cutting off the first part of the course.
This was a REAL off-road rally. The vehicles had to traverse steep hills, running water, major mud holes, canyon-like washouts, crumbling cliff-edge tracks, and generally rough conditions made rougher by the recent heavy rains. And, although it didn’t rain too heavily during the race, conditions deteriorated with each passing vehicle. Even before the first vehicle, Hidden Valley vehicles had run the course to make sure it was passable, and as it turned out it was a really good thing that only a third of the entrants had shown up for race day because as the last vehicle in line, even the rescue vehicle had its share of difficulties negotiating the course.
At one point, we had to winch ourselves up a hill out of a creek bottom. We tried getting a running start on the concrete slab bridge over the hill two or three times, but couldn’t get over a very muddy spot with very deep ruts near the top of the hill. So, G gave Tom, me, and Hanna, one of the jaguar researchers, a winching lesson, which was new for Tom and me, and a good refresher for Hanna, who takes the Land Rovers out to remote spots in the Mountain Pine Ridge as she sets her camera traps and occasionally needs to winch herself out of a deep spot. We made it through that spot and continued the course somewhat behind the competitors and Trevor.
Not too long after needing to winch ourselves up the hill, we came to a big washout. It looked like if we hugged the bank on the left, we could just fit our right side wheels past the big hole. I elected to get out of the truck and document the effort with pictures and video, mostly because I didn’t want to be in the truck when it fell in the hole. G and Hanna got out so they could wave at Tom to stay further to the left, and to stop if it looked like he wasn’t going to make it…which is what happened. Fortunately Tom was able to stop before sliding into the hole, which was about four feet deep, and at that point we decided that discretion is indeed the better part of valor. We backed up to where we could turn around and took a different route to intercept the drivers, cutting off one loop of the course.
We waited by one of the gates onto the property and found out that we were behind all but one of the competitors, along with a couple of the Hidden Valley chase vehicles and Trevor. At that point, we found out that when we turned around we were very close to the last competitor and Trevor, who had been held up because one of the big Dodge trucks fell in the hole and enlarged it as he got out, and then Trevor fell in the hole with his Prado and had to winch himself out of it, breaking his winch in the process, so he ended the race with the winch cable spooled around his entire brush guard.
As we were making our way back to the farm, M radioed G for our ETA, and he told her we’d be home in about 30 minutes, right after we went to check at the Inn that everybody was back and safe. 
Hah! Everybody was back, but one of the compensation trucks – the one that hadn’t fallen into the hole – had decided to do the obstacle course set up behind the Inn, and when we got there they were in the process of towing him out with a tractor. The tractor got him out of the mire, but as he went to exit the course he had to cross a stream, and his truck stalled out in the stream. Both sides of the stream were extremely muddy, and the truck was extremely big and completely dead, so when the tractor that had towed him out before tried again, this time it couldn’t get enough traction on the muddy stream bank to even move the truck.
Hah! Everybody was back, but one of the compensation trucks – the one that hadn’t fallen into the hole – had decided to do the obstacle course set up behind the Inn, and when we got there they were in the process of towing him out with a tractor. The tractor got him out of the mire, but as he went to exit the course he had to cross a stream, and his truck stalled out in the stream. Both sides of the stream were extremely muddy, and the truck was extremely big and completely dead, so when the tractor that had towed him out before tried again, this time it couldn’t get enough traction on the muddy stream bank to even move the truck.
So, the rescue team sprang into action, and G went to fetch the Land Rover rescue vehicle. Even with all the toys, er, tools, it took about an hour and a half to get the truck out. We tried winching the big truck out of the creek, but it just skidded the Land Rover through the mud and dragged it down the hill, digging deep trenches as it went. We then tied the Land Rover to a tree with a tow rope, and managed to get the Dodge out of the water and onto the bank so the passengers could get out.
The next step was for the tractor to try towing the truck the rest of the way up the bank, now that it was out of the water. No go. The decision was made to get the Land Rover out of the mud and into the brush so the Land Rover could tow the tractor towing the Dodge. 
To get the Land Rover out of the mud and into the brush we had to learn to use the snatch block, which isn’t, as you might imagine, a weight lifting move or form of birth control, but is a simple little gadget that allows you to winch at an angle by running the winch cable through the snatch block, tying the snatch block off to a tree so the cable can run over the pulley at an angle, and connecting the winch to something solid off to the side.
We first used this rig to get the Land Rover out of the mud and off to the side, then used it to go the other way down the hill and connect the tractor and truck. It took a few tries, but we finally got both the tractor and the Dodge off the muddy track and into the grass. We then disconnected the winch, put the Land Rover at the head of the train, and the Land Rover and tractor hauled the Dodge up the hill to flat, relatively dry ground.
To get the Land Rover out of the mud and into the brush we had to learn to use the snatch block, which isn’t, as you might imagine, a weight lifting move or form of birth control, but is a simple little gadget that allows you to winch at an angle by running the winch cable through the snatch block, tying the snatch block off to a tree so the cable can run over the pulley at an angle, and connecting the winch to something solid off to the side.We first used this rig to get the Land Rover out of the mud and off to the side, then used it to go the other way down the hill and connect the tractor and truck. It took a few tries, but we finally got both the tractor and the Dodge off the muddy track and into the grass. We then disconnected the winch, put the Land Rover at the head of the train, and the Land Rover and tractor hauled the Dodge up the hill to flat, relatively dry ground.
We had left the farm about 7:30AM, and returned at about 5:30PM, tired, dirty, and extremely pleased with our day. We had to take the “how to clean and maintain a winch” lesson the next day, but that was fun too!
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