I made a run out into gold basin Arizona today with the 6000 (my new metal detector but I’m having a hard time going on a honeymoon with it, the GPZ 7000 with nugget finder coil haven’t missed much I guess, it was a long day of micro trash and one tiny .2g meteorite. I hunted from 5AM until past dark, on the way out of the Basin when I got to the end of Spring drive the area around Greg’s Hideout Road was flooded with around 6” of fast moving water heading into the wash at the end of Hideout road. All day long was overcast and the afternoon had rapid fire thunder (boom, boom, boom, boom) it sounded like a war zone and lightning with some rain there was obviously heavy rain farther up the mountain
i decided I’d give it a try figuring I had enough time to make it to the pavement about 4 or 5 miles before it got worse and if things did get worse I’m not wanting to spend the night out in my Jeep. I made the right turn and headed up hideout road in the pitch black with only my lights to guide me, I got about 200 yards and had to stop and wade into about now 8” of fast water to engage the front hubs I wasn’t going any farther without being in 4hi, pretty soon it became clear in the dark and flooded waters I’d somehow missed the road and I was heading up the flooded wash running parallel to hideout road against a barrier of vegetation and the water was getting deeper and splashing over my windshield making it almost impossible to see where I’m headed. I thought about trying to turn around but without maintaining speed my Jeep would slow to a complete stop this happened 3 times at least I slowed to a couple mph even though I was running wot and working the Jeep side to side. Through Everything the Jeep was able to keep enough traction to recover momentum but the water. Was now up to the floor pan on my 4’lift with 33x12.5 mud terrain tires I kept scouring the bank for a spot I could bail and try to find the road, luckily after about 2 miles fighting the water and mud I spotted a sand bar that opened up to a drive able spot on the bank near the road I needed and went for it, I had to hunt a little but found a spot I could cut back onto the dirt road that was now clear of the flood water in this spot. I’ve never driven it in mud or deep water but I was impressed at how well my Jeep performed and thrilled not to have become stuck.
i decided I’d give it a try figuring I had enough time to make it to the pavement about 4 or 5 miles before it got worse and if things did get worse I’m not wanting to spend the night out in my Jeep. I made the right turn and headed up hideout road in the pitch black with only my lights to guide me, I got about 200 yards and had to stop and wade into about now 8” of fast water to engage the front hubs I wasn’t going any farther without being in 4hi, pretty soon it became clear in the dark and flooded waters I’d somehow missed the road and I was heading up the flooded wash running parallel to hideout road against a barrier of vegetation and the water was getting deeper and splashing over my windshield making it almost impossible to see where I’m headed. I thought about trying to turn around but without maintaining speed my Jeep would slow to a complete stop this happened 3 times at least I slowed to a couple mph even though I was running wot and working the Jeep side to side. Through Everything the Jeep was able to keep enough traction to recover momentum but the water. Was now up to the floor pan on my 4’lift with 33x12.5 mud terrain tires I kept scouring the bank for a spot I could bail and try to find the road, luckily after about 2 miles fighting the water and mud I spotted a sand bar that opened up to a drive able spot on the bank near the road I needed and went for it, I had to hunt a little but found a spot I could cut back onto the dirt road that was now clear of the flood water in this spot. I’ve never driven it in mud or deep water but I was impressed at how well my Jeep performed and thrilled not to have become stuck.
