Panic Reverse

[greasyhandsagain]

I just want to tell the story of what happend a few weeks ago. We had TONS of rain here, plus a melt of about 18 inches of snow. These two combined to make a LOT of water. Well...this one road I like to drive, is a seldom used narrow sand road back to a tidal river. So...the big puddles are deeper than usual, but the S2 had no problems. Id say, maybe 15 inches deep or so.....OK...down the road I go....and I notice that these little puddles are getting deeper (did I mention the 2 inches of ice?)...

Finally around the next bend, the water just stretched about 50 feet or so..but I kept going and My oh My was it ever deep. But...I kept going, wondering exactly when high tide was..and realizing I was getting closer to the river and that it was most likely very flooded....kept going. Next bend had a deeper little puddle, maybe 20 inches or so....and finally as I turned the next bend, there was the river!

Now this is a teeeeny little narrow road, but even though I can usually turn the rover around in its own shadow, it was just not possible.

That left the only recourse the "Panic Reverse". Crawled over the seat, opened up the top tailgate half and locked it in place, got back in the seat put her in low box reverse and stomped on it.

Well.......THAT was an adventure!! Do you realize it splashes much less in fast reverse through 20 inch water than it does going forward?

So Im gonna rethink that road given similar conditions in the future!

[jp-]

I'm curious, why was it necessary to open the rear top tailgate? Could you not see out the back?

Would you have gone into the river if you had continued?

[Bostonian1976]

Jersey Devil will get you if you get stuck out there, you realize

[Tim Smith]

Time to change the oil in the axles or at the very least take a sample to see how much water got in.

[TeriAnn]

I'm curious, why was it necessary to open the rear top tailgate? Could you not see out the back?

The rear window in a lift gate has a higher bottom than a back door. You don't get to see the ground behind you. Dropping the tail gate makes all the difference in the world when backing a truck with a tailgate/lift gate.

I won't back up on the trail if there are any obstacles or curves without at least opening the lift gate, and if I need to see close behind me, dropping the tail gate.

He was being perfectly prudent. Well at least for the backing out part. For the going forward part I guess you just need to be there at that time to decide.

[greasyhandsagain]

That Mullica River is about 100 yards wide and maybe 30 feet deep.....so going across 'wasnt an option'. Actually, Im one of the few people who thinks ahead when going on these wet trails, and I DID put in the wading plugs.

My only concern was some other idiot trying to go down the same trail as I was reversing at about 8 mph through foot and half deep water! Would have hated to get boxed in.

Opening the back gate just opens the view up more...............