Camping in the Sacramento Mountains, NM

That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you are in the wilderness and your truck does that whining, rerrrr-rerrr-rerr-rer-re-re-click-click-silence sound when you try to start it. That’s the worst, don’t you think? Well, I was four miles from pavement, camping in the Sacramento Mountains in the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft, NM when it happened to me. I drove up the day before and ran a few miles with plans to run long the next morning. It was pretty chilly and windy at 9500’ elevation when I woke up so I got in my truck to drink a cup of coffee to get my heart started. My heart started just fine, but my truck didn’t. Luckily, I discovered my dead battery before I returned exhausted from a 20 mile run.

Being stuck in the middle of the wilderness all alone is kind of disheartening and thoughts of starvation, dehydration, cougars eating my flesh and vultures pecking out my eyes did enter my mind. However, I had three things going for me. 1) I had a little bit of cell phone service, 2) there’s not much meat on my bones and it’s old and gamey, and 3) I saw some other campers riding around on four wheelers the day before. 

I was going to run long anyway so figured I would take a walk to find someone to give me a jumpstart. I had jumper cables with me too; another plus. So, I took down my tent and packed up the truck so I could take off for home if I got my truck started before the mountain lions got to me. I went down the road and before long, noticed an elk browsing nearby; a much better tasting snack for a large carnivore. Anyway, in about a mile, I came to a group of RVs and trailers where I asked for a jump. A gentleman from Portales, NM obliged and I was home a few hours later. Whew, cheated death once again!