I bought an Avalanche in November - with the Z71 package, and leather seats. ?Even though it's brand new, $37K, I really wanted to take it off road. ?Some of my fraternity brothers go off roading occasionally, and I've gone with them several times - always as a passenger. ?This time, I was ready to be one of the drivers! ?At that time, I had 7,300 miles on the 'Lanche. ?Normally when they go, there are at least 5 trucks - most of them 10-20 years old, used for nothing but off roading. ?This trip, however, there were only two trucks - Rob's Chevy S-10 with the big a** tires, and mine.
We took a camping weekend in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. ?[Do a search on the CAFCNA Avalanche Adventure Finder for Wharton State Forrest].
We were cruisin through the forrest, doing fine. ?We did about 40 miles of off roading, and the 'Lanche had no problems crossing several streams and rivers. ?We found this nice looking pond that we decided to cross. ?At first Rob radioed to me to wait for him to check out what was on the other side of the pond. ?I waited several seconds and decided I could make it across as well - I couldn't wait anymore. ?I made it halfway across and got bogged in, but switched to 4-Lo, and the 'Lanche gripped on, and rumbled across with no problem. ?The trail on the other side of the lake eventually narrowed down to a quad trail, so we had to turn around and go back across the river. ?Rob's truck made it across fine. ?He radios to me to take it slow on the approach (this is audible in the video clip) - but I reply "Too late," I was already burrowing across it. ?I made it 3/4 of the way across, and hit something under water which caused the truck to fall off into a rut, which Rob tells me 3/4 of the wheels were under sand (which had the consistency of quicksand). ?The frame rails were all resting on sand, and as he dug sand out, more sand immediately replaced what he dug out. ?The truck was at an angle, about waist deep in water on the right side. ?I attempted to 'rock' it by going from Drive to Reverse, but you couldn't even feel it move a fraction of an inch. ? Rob was surveying the situation, fearlessly digging under the tires, trying to dig them out. ?There was a stream that was running directly at my front tire, dumping more sand and water. ?Needless to say, soon water began to fill the inside of the truck - I'm not sure if it came in through the midgate or the doors. ?One of my passengers and I fruitlessly bailed water for a couple of hours. ?We weren't really making progress, but at least we felt productive. ?Anyway, after 15-20 minutes of digging, Rob began to tow me out with a towstrap. ?Several manuevers were attempted, but the 'Lanche only moved about 1.2 inch. ?One of the maneuvers involved two tow straps, held together by a heavy duty "D" shackle, which slipped part way off the loop, gave way and came flying at my truck, probably about 200 or 300 miles an hour. ?Joe, who was in the passenger seat bailing water had a glass snack. ?He only sustained a minor cut on his nose, and was fine. ?The 'crater' in the windshield looked as if someone was thrown ass first into my windshield. ?
We had another guy who was building a dam to try to stop the flow of water and sand. ?At this point, I start to worry. ?A couple minutes later, a brand new Ford F-150 happened by, which Rob flagged down. ?He was more than happy to try and help - he does it all the time. ?I didn't pay attention to what they were doing, but he had the idea to hook two tow straps up to the same hook on the front of my truck, and try to pull me with both of their trucks in reverse. ?The progress was less than an inch, so they tried and tried until the tow hook (which is probably rated for about 10,000 lbs of force) snapped off and went flying into Rob's truck - through his grill, through the air conditioner condensor, through his radiator (which amazingly caused no working damage to the radiator), and shattered his alternator, which is probably about 18" into the engine. ?The AC fluid was flying and hissing all over the place. ?It took him about five minutes just to figure out what happened, because he couldn't find the ammo (ie tow hook). ?
At this point, I decided we were really in trouble. ?As Rob got to work on fixing the alternator, I decided it was time to use ON-STAR and call for help:
O: Yes Mr. Griglak, how can we help you?
A: I need a tow.
O: What is the nature of your problem?
A: I'm stuck and need a tow truck with a winch.
O: I hear running water. ?Are you in a river? ?Is the water coming into the truck?
A: It's more like a pond, yes we are taking on water.
O: It seems like you would need a recovery truck.
A: No, I think a four wheel drive truck with a winch would work.
O: I see that you are in a forrest? ?(they have GPS)
A: Yes, about two miles into the woods. ?
O: Please hold, let me see what we can do...
Anyway, that was the gist of the conversation - they couldn't get a grasp of the situation.
When we finally got in touch with the dispatch for the tow company (about 90 minutes later), I had to retell the entire situation to him. ?By the time the tow truck came (another 90 minutes or so), I had been in the water for 5 hours - the engine idling the whole time, so that the water wouldn't get into the exaust, and potentially the engine. ?We were pooped from bailing, and eventually gave up. ?The water covered the entire front passenger floor, and the right side of the rear seat also - covering the electric seat components. ?
After 90 minutes of straight work, Rob finally fixes his alternator enough to get his truck running. ?Just in time, because someone needed to meet the tow truck on the main road - there's no way they were gonna find us in the middle of the dark forrest.
The tow guy waits until he finally gets to us to inform us that it was a cash only call. ?I had about 30 bucks on me, and a collection from the other people scrounged up 70 bucks - "It supposed to be 75, but I guess 70 will be OK" ?We thought he had some kind of scam going, probably already getting paid from OnStar, and then charging us cash. ?It didn't matter to us, as long as we got out. ?He hooks his cable up to my remaining tow hook (actually Rob hooked it up, the tow guy wouldn't go into the water). ?Believe it or not, the tow truck was creeping towards the water, instead of pulling the 'Lanche out. ?He needed to move back to more solid ground, and finally was able to pull me out. ?"This is the newest truck I've ever pulled out of here."
Driving back to the main road, I was really worried that my truck would never feel the same again. ?After getting onto pavement again and getting all the sand off the tires, it honestly felt the same as it did pulling off the dealer's lot. ?After packing up the next day, I drove home about 80 miles, only about a dozen pieces of glass fell out, so it was OK. ?;-) ?I passed four cops, but crossing my fingers seemed to ward them off.
The windshield was replaced on Monday - to the tune of $320. ?I was worried that they would tell me that because it was such a new truck, it was a special order and needed a week to come in. ?But, they didn't even flinch when I mentioned what kind of truck it was.
Four days later, there was still water leaking out underneath the passenger side, and the carpets were still squishy. ?Luckily, we had a 90 degree day, and left all four doors open for about 6 hours. ?It's been dry ever since. ?About a week later, I had the oil changed at my buddy's tune up shop and I cleared out a couple pounds worth of sand from the frame rail. ?It's been about six weeks now, and it still smells like leather inside. ?There are some muddy marks on the carpeting, and a couple of the bolts that hold the seats to the floor are rusty. ?One of these days when I get enough time, I will have the interior detailed. ?Oh yea, and I scratched the crap out of the front right wheel.
So, that' s my story. ?You might think I'm crazy to bring a truck like this off roading, but I've been waiting many years to have a truck worthy of off roading. ?I plan on driving this thing until it absolutely dies - hopefully it will be 10 years or so ?;-) ?I want to keep it nice, but I'm not going to 'baby' it. ?I will definitely make the next off road trip! ?I honestly think any truck would've gotten stuck where I did, and was very happy with the way the 'Lanche handled the 4x4 stuff.
For pictures, go to Shutterfly.
For videos, you might need to download Apple Quicktime.
You also might need to download them to your hard drive, as opposed to trying to stream it.
If you are bandwidth challenged, go right to the last video - that's the clincher.
Video 1 - Crossing the stream - exterior [3.31 MB]
Video 2 - Cruising through the sand ?[2.99 MB]
Video 3 - Catchin Rob ?[4.87 MB]
Video 4 - Flying! ?(about 30MPH) ?[6.36 MB]
Video 5 - Crossing the stream - inside [3.44 MB]
Video 6 - Crossing another stream - inside ?[2.98 MB]
Video 7 - Gettin stuck! ?[6.86 MB]
Listen carefully on #7 - "You might wanna take it slow on the approach" ?"Too late"
Many thanks to Goo929 for loaning me some webspace!
Enjoy!
We took a camping weekend in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. ?[Do a search on the CAFCNA Avalanche Adventure Finder for Wharton State Forrest].
We were cruisin through the forrest, doing fine. ?We did about 40 miles of off roading, and the 'Lanche had no problems crossing several streams and rivers. ?We found this nice looking pond that we decided to cross. ?At first Rob radioed to me to wait for him to check out what was on the other side of the pond. ?I waited several seconds and decided I could make it across as well - I couldn't wait anymore. ?I made it halfway across and got bogged in, but switched to 4-Lo, and the 'Lanche gripped on, and rumbled across with no problem. ?The trail on the other side of the lake eventually narrowed down to a quad trail, so we had to turn around and go back across the river. ?Rob's truck made it across fine. ?He radios to me to take it slow on the approach (this is audible in the video clip) - but I reply "Too late," I was already burrowing across it. ?I made it 3/4 of the way across, and hit something under water which caused the truck to fall off into a rut, which Rob tells me 3/4 of the wheels were under sand (which had the consistency of quicksand). ?The frame rails were all resting on sand, and as he dug sand out, more sand immediately replaced what he dug out. ?The truck was at an angle, about waist deep in water on the right side. ?I attempted to 'rock' it by going from Drive to Reverse, but you couldn't even feel it move a fraction of an inch. ? Rob was surveying the situation, fearlessly digging under the tires, trying to dig them out. ?There was a stream that was running directly at my front tire, dumping more sand and water. ?Needless to say, soon water began to fill the inside of the truck - I'm not sure if it came in through the midgate or the doors. ?One of my passengers and I fruitlessly bailed water for a couple of hours. ?We weren't really making progress, but at least we felt productive. ?Anyway, after 15-20 minutes of digging, Rob began to tow me out with a towstrap. ?Several manuevers were attempted, but the 'Lanche only moved about 1.2 inch. ?One of the maneuvers involved two tow straps, held together by a heavy duty "D" shackle, which slipped part way off the loop, gave way and came flying at my truck, probably about 200 or 300 miles an hour. ?Joe, who was in the passenger seat bailing water had a glass snack. ?He only sustained a minor cut on his nose, and was fine. ?The 'crater' in the windshield looked as if someone was thrown ass first into my windshield. ?
We had another guy who was building a dam to try to stop the flow of water and sand. ?At this point, I start to worry. ?A couple minutes later, a brand new Ford F-150 happened by, which Rob flagged down. ?He was more than happy to try and help - he does it all the time. ?I didn't pay attention to what they were doing, but he had the idea to hook two tow straps up to the same hook on the front of my truck, and try to pull me with both of their trucks in reverse. ?The progress was less than an inch, so they tried and tried until the tow hook (which is probably rated for about 10,000 lbs of force) snapped off and went flying into Rob's truck - through his grill, through the air conditioner condensor, through his radiator (which amazingly caused no working damage to the radiator), and shattered his alternator, which is probably about 18" into the engine. ?The AC fluid was flying and hissing all over the place. ?It took him about five minutes just to figure out what happened, because he couldn't find the ammo (ie tow hook). ?
At this point, I decided we were really in trouble. ?As Rob got to work on fixing the alternator, I decided it was time to use ON-STAR and call for help:
O: Yes Mr. Griglak, how can we help you?
A: I need a tow.
O: What is the nature of your problem?
A: I'm stuck and need a tow truck with a winch.
O: I hear running water. ?Are you in a river? ?Is the water coming into the truck?
A: It's more like a pond, yes we are taking on water.
O: It seems like you would need a recovery truck.
A: No, I think a four wheel drive truck with a winch would work.
O: I see that you are in a forrest? ?(they have GPS)
A: Yes, about two miles into the woods. ?
O: Please hold, let me see what we can do...
Anyway, that was the gist of the conversation - they couldn't get a grasp of the situation.
When we finally got in touch with the dispatch for the tow company (about 90 minutes later), I had to retell the entire situation to him. ?By the time the tow truck came (another 90 minutes or so), I had been in the water for 5 hours - the engine idling the whole time, so that the water wouldn't get into the exaust, and potentially the engine. ?We were pooped from bailing, and eventually gave up. ?The water covered the entire front passenger floor, and the right side of the rear seat also - covering the electric seat components. ?
After 90 minutes of straight work, Rob finally fixes his alternator enough to get his truck running. ?Just in time, because someone needed to meet the tow truck on the main road - there's no way they were gonna find us in the middle of the dark forrest.
The tow guy waits until he finally gets to us to inform us that it was a cash only call. ?I had about 30 bucks on me, and a collection from the other people scrounged up 70 bucks - "It supposed to be 75, but I guess 70 will be OK" ?We thought he had some kind of scam going, probably already getting paid from OnStar, and then charging us cash. ?It didn't matter to us, as long as we got out. ?He hooks his cable up to my remaining tow hook (actually Rob hooked it up, the tow guy wouldn't go into the water). ?Believe it or not, the tow truck was creeping towards the water, instead of pulling the 'Lanche out. ?He needed to move back to more solid ground, and finally was able to pull me out. ?"This is the newest truck I've ever pulled out of here."
Driving back to the main road, I was really worried that my truck would never feel the same again. ?After getting onto pavement again and getting all the sand off the tires, it honestly felt the same as it did pulling off the dealer's lot. ?After packing up the next day, I drove home about 80 miles, only about a dozen pieces of glass fell out, so it was OK. ?;-) ?I passed four cops, but crossing my fingers seemed to ward them off.
The windshield was replaced on Monday - to the tune of $320. ?I was worried that they would tell me that because it was such a new truck, it was a special order and needed a week to come in. ?But, they didn't even flinch when I mentioned what kind of truck it was.
Four days later, there was still water leaking out underneath the passenger side, and the carpets were still squishy. ?Luckily, we had a 90 degree day, and left all four doors open for about 6 hours. ?It's been dry ever since. ?About a week later, I had the oil changed at my buddy's tune up shop and I cleared out a couple pounds worth of sand from the frame rail. ?It's been about six weeks now, and it still smells like leather inside. ?There are some muddy marks on the carpeting, and a couple of the bolts that hold the seats to the floor are rusty. ?One of these days when I get enough time, I will have the interior detailed. ?Oh yea, and I scratched the crap out of the front right wheel.
So, that' s my story. ?You might think I'm crazy to bring a truck like this off roading, but I've been waiting many years to have a truck worthy of off roading. ?I plan on driving this thing until it absolutely dies - hopefully it will be 10 years or so ?;-) ?I want to keep it nice, but I'm not going to 'baby' it. ?I will definitely make the next off road trip! ?I honestly think any truck would've gotten stuck where I did, and was very happy with the way the 'Lanche handled the 4x4 stuff.
For pictures, go to Shutterfly.
For videos, you might need to download Apple Quicktime.
You also might need to download them to your hard drive, as opposed to trying to stream it.
If you are bandwidth challenged, go right to the last video - that's the clincher.
Video 1 - Crossing the stream - exterior [3.31 MB]
Video 2 - Cruising through the sand ?[2.99 MB]
Video 3 - Catchin Rob ?[4.87 MB]
Video 4 - Flying! ?(about 30MPH) ?[6.36 MB]
Video 5 - Crossing the stream - inside [3.44 MB]
Video 6 - Crossing another stream - inside ?[2.98 MB]
Video 7 - Gettin stuck! ?[6.86 MB]
Listen carefully on #7 - "You might wanna take it slow on the approach" ?"Too late"
Many thanks to Goo929 for loaning me some webspace!
Enjoy!
