Last summer my father wanted to go wheelin up here in the Adirondacks. It was a rainy day but we said screw it and headed out to Loon Lake here in NY. We were riding down the old rail road tracks and came to a side road and headed down. My father was on a 97 Polaris Trail Boss 250 2x4 and I was on an old 86 Yamaha Moto 4, which runs great by the way. My father sped of ahead of me and I lost sight of him briefly. When I rounded the corner I found him piled up into a cedar tree unconcious. The polaris was folded pretty good. I loaded him onto my bike as we had no cell service there....Thank you Adirondack Park Agency for banning cell towers in a 100 mile radius because there is a .0012% chance that some possibly maybe endangered yellow bellied pink polka dotted pigmy night owl may get irradiated.
To set the scene on this my father is 6'2" and 300+ pounds...I'm 6' even and 265. Thats alot of beef on and old Moto 200cc. We were 15 miles away from anything. I started down the trail as fast as I could safely travel. Luckly I came across someone in a truck on the trail. By a stroke of kismet this man had worked with my father some 20 years earlier and still remembered him. I loaded him up and he took him on to the nearest town. I had to ride the other way to get the truck.
All said and done he had 4 broken ribs, a broken collar bone, broken wrist and a punctured lung and broken shoulder blade. He spent a week in ICU. Needless to say he has given up on wheeling for a while. I now have both wheelers and am rebuilding the Polaris.
I had to pull it out of the tree with the truck. I am not writing this to discourage anyone or to point out any evils of 4-wheeling. I still love it and yes it was a bad day.
A lesson I learned was to be prepared for anything you can and keep a cool head. As far as we were away from any town panicking wouldn't have done me any good. I had a crash kit in my pack and "space" blanket as they are called. Take first aid training. Carry appropriate equipment. Make sure people know where you are going to be riding. Have some form of communication whether it be an emergency radio or even a sat-phone (where available).
Accidents happen even to the best riders. Be aware of your terrain and nearest towns and civilization.
Hope this helps some riders out.
Bad day at Loon Lake
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