as you wish

[Del Gue]

I picked Del Gue because he is my favorite character in one of my favorite movies. I enjoy outdoor activites and exploring. I found this by reading on another site about a mine shaft and a jeep. Anyhow I will read the posts and hopefully get to meet some of you time permitting. I am into ghost towns and exploring for them.

Later

[Mike]

And would that movie be Jeremiah Johnson, perhaps? Very good movie.

That jeep in a shaft is crazy! Happens from time to time. Mine shafts do have quite a bit of danger in terms of driving in. It is my believe that shafts large enough for any vehicle to fall into should be grated with an opening big enough for someone to repel into.

Thanks for joining up and sharing a bit about you. We'd love to have you join us August 19th when we go to the Ophir area. Lots of history out there, we give quite the tour of the canyon and area

[Stuart]

Welcome!

Yes I have seen that old jeep. Sad story, but it used to happen once and a while. I hope you enjoy the forums and find yourself itching to get out and explore!

[Del Gue]

Thanks guys, solid site you have here. I will attempt to make the 19th trip I enjoy that area a lot, but it is family reunion season for me.......

[ExpUt]

Welcome!

Re the "Jeep in the Shaft"

The story is detailed on another forum I enjoy (rockymountainextreme.com), and at one point there was a video of the event. Quite a traumatic event however both occupant of the Jeep survived.

[UnderUtah]

I have always wondered about that Jeep - I have seen it many times and about a year ago found the Youtube video compiled by a Utah caver that has footage of them rappeling down to it and looking it over. In the footage, shot not too long after the event, you can see the steering wheel and some of the front end - now so many people have tossed rocks down the shaft you can barely make out the rear axle. The video was shot pre-DOGM grate. I searched rockymountainextreme.com for a while for the story, and for the sake of broken links, copied the jist of it from a user named "Rusted" - thanks, Rusted for the story!

"...I just ran into one of the guys a few minutes ago. The names are Tony B, and Mark H. I had a few of the details wrong from before, but I asked them if they would get on RME and tell us their story, or email me the story so I could post it up for them.
They drove into a air shaft for the mine, the one they landed is in 90 feet deep, the other one is the real mine and goes down 1300 feet. Also they were both down in the mine for 6-7 hours before some guy out driving his new truck drove by and just happened to stop at the mines to get out for a smoke or something. They were able to yell for help, and he happened to hear them. He is the one that ripped out the cattle fence that they crashed through and he lowered it down allowing one of the guys to get out.
Also it happened February of 95, one of the guys is now 33, the other would be 31.
A few people have been down since. The kids boss went down and got some parts off, the guy that sold him the jeep went down to get some parts, and the dad went down with a video camera to document it. I would really like to see that video, and what it was like down there. Hopefully I get get it and convert it to DVD so I can share with the group."

Pretty exciting stuff in my book! I kinda agree with this one being grated-over - if anybody has been there you may recall that there is little to warn of the shafts and anyone trucking or ATVing up the hill could crest and drop right in without knowing what hit them. Had this not been covered, and with the proliferation of ATVs in the closeby Fivemile Pass area I am pretty sure this shaft would have a dozen or so ATVs at the bottom as well. Last time I was there we shot marine flares (the kind that fly) down the other shaft - the inclined shaft - they move pretty fast and last about 8 seconds but we never saw anything resembling the bottom. Pretty cool story!

[Del Gue]

Hey Kurt, Yep that is where I was reading about it. Actually seen it a few times, bet there are still pucker marks in the seats.

[Del Gue]

[quote="UnderUtah"]Pretty exciting stuff in my book!

Yep, probably a few girly screams out of the riders on that one.

[Stuart]

I don't really know any man alive who wouldn't scream like that in the same situation. Wow, must have been quite a ride.