
Bonneville can be a tough place (2008) - luu
https://saltflats.com/stuck.htm
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Luuseens
Oh dear, I can relate. We did Mongol Rally last year, 27'000 km total From
Latvia to Mongolia and back. 2 months in an ancient soviet car (Lada 1200 from
1984).

We got proper stuck by a salt lake in Iran. A local tried to pull us out, only
to get his car stuck as well. First tractor could get him out, but not us.
Ended up getting a bigger tractor which essentially lifted us out.. Took about
4 hours in total.

Here's a pic:

[https://i.imgur.com/yA92DZA.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/yA92DZA.jpg)

~~~
Melting_Harps
That's sounds like quite the adventure, what car was what in, a Lada? I don't
recognize it at all but looks very Soviet/Russian like.

Any chance you got more to put in an album?

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Luuseens
The ca is a Lada 1200 (or VAZ 2101 "Zhiguli" in USSR). It's visually almost
identical to the Italian Fiat 124, the Soviets bought the design and modified
it to be more suitable for the rougher road conditions and weather.

Here's [1] a mish-mash of my favourite pictures from the rally, roughly in
chronological order - from prep all the way to the finish. And here's the map
of the route we did [2]. Nearly a year after finish, I still haven't finished
writing up the whole trip though.

[1]
[https://photos.app.goo.gl/9dzr7vR3DPssv2J79](https://photos.app.goo.gl/9dzr7vR3DPssv2J79)

[2]
[https://www.ivankathetanka.com/map.html](https://www.ivankathetanka.com/map.html)

~~~
082349872349872
You have written up the colophon, which is the most important part, however:
[https://www.ivankathetanka.com/#/2019/05/01/web](https://www.ivankathetanka.com/#/2019/05/01/web)
:-) (as we all know, Archimedes never moved the world because he started on
the design of the perfect length lever first.)

TIL it isn't always true that "К Жигулям — литые диски!" What was the truck
with the jet-like thing on the bed? Did you ever see the mongolian stick/rope
thing being used to catch cattle, or just to drive them?

~~~
Luuseens
Yes, can't believe _every_ Ленинград lyric! In seriousness, we wanted to go
with some reinforced alloys at first (magnesium ones from Kazan), but due to
various constraints went with steelies instead. Main reason - they don't
shatter. By the end of the rally, we could lift the car, take off a ruined
wheel, hammer it back into shape, re-inflate the tire and re-install the wheel
in 5 minutes or so. Alloys have a tendency of shattering instead.

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blkhp19
I've visited this place once. My girlfriend and I drove out quite a ways - the
salt flats are prettier / more reflective, like what you'd see in popular
Instagram posts, once you drive for 5 minutes away from the road that everyone
parks on.

A storm was approaching from the direction that we came. I was counting the
time between the rumbles of thunder and the strikes of lightning. It was about
5-10 seconds, which was close enough for me to rush back into the car after
getting a couple of nice pictures.

My girlfriend and I parked our car toward the storm and watched for about 10
minutes. About half a mile back the way we came, we saw lightning strike the
middle of the flats. It must have vaporized some of the mud / salt on the
ground because there was a clear line of smoke coming up from that part of the
ground. I was surprised that it struck a completely flat part, rather than our
metal SUV, since we were definitely the tallest things around.

I insisted that we drive back, because despite knowing that we'd be relatively
safe in a car, I wasn't looking to experience an electrical fire or, at a
minimum, the worst jump-scare of my life. As I drove back to the parking lot,
what shocked me the most was seeing people still out taking pictures back near
the parking lot from which we came. The lightning strike occurred between our
car and the people out taking photos, which means they were easily in striking
distance. I was honestly scared I would witness someone get struck - these are
salt _flats_ - anyone out taking photos is the tallest thing in the area for
several miles.

~~~
MisterTea
> I was surprised that it struck a completely flat part, rather than our metal
> SUV, since we were definitely the tallest things around.

Given that a lightning bolt is anywhere from about 1-20km long, the ~1.5 - 2m
height differential of your vehicle is background noise.

~~~
paulcole
Does this mean the people are pretty much safe, too? Can’t imagine many of
them are over 2m.

~~~
ableal
A few years ago a young woman jogging on the beach near Lisbon was struck and
killed by lightning.

I wouldn't bet my life against those natural shortest path algorithms ...

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celrod
My dad passed away late last year. He was a member of the 200 mph club, and
still holds a few records he set in the 70s/80s.

Perhaps my favorite story was of the motorcycle he used to break 200mph on the
saltflats. Some called it the high speed ditch witch. It had no fairing,
making drag a night insurmountable obstacle. Adding more power just meant it
would start digging deeper into the salt, and leave a ditch behind it as it
went.

My mom's favorite story was about the time a powerful wind blew over a
portapotty, knocking it onto the door, trapping the occupant inside.

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Melting_Harps
For anyone intrested in the Rich History of Bonneville, the story of Burt, the
first man to break the 200mph land record on a homemade bike he made in his
shed in NZ was made into a movie a while back.

Awesome movie and still speaks to me about the real reason why I thought
motorsports was the best thin back then in my Life.

[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/)

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beavertrilogy
I was on a commercial film shoot a few years ago for a production company from
the east coast (New York area, I believe). They wanted to shoot on the salt
flats but many had no knowledge of the flats or the challenges associated with
them. They had all the proper permits, gear, clearances, and even a handful of
local salt flat production veterans. But the shear lack of knowledge about the
salt flats lead to four vehicles getting stuck in the salt, more than half of
the day lost (it was a two day shoot), and what I was told was a very
expensive bill from the towing company (who had to use an old snowcat) and the
BLM who manages the land and is responsible for cleaning up the divits. Lesson
learned: never take the salt flats for granted.

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pontifier
Many years ago I took a trip with my mother west from our home near Salt Lake
City toward California in our crazy 6 wheeled van. I was a fairly new driver,
so when we got to the giant concrete tree I decided to drive out to it.

As we were leaving I decided to drive around it a bit where I saw a bunch of
other tracks had made circles in the salt. My mother got nervous when she saw
what I was doing and started yelling "STOP! STOP!", so I did... Wrong move!
While I had been moving, our speed and fresh salt had been holding us up, and
when I stopped we immediately sank up to our axles like the motorhome here.

When the wrecker came they didn't want to come off the road at all. They had
to leave and come back with a much longer cable. It took a few hours, but we
managed to escape and finish our trip with no other major problems :)

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3nf
There's a youtube channel for an offroad recovery company in Utah, and they
recently were called to a nearby salt flat [0]. They almost got stuck
themselves.

[0]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSpD_waiEQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSpD_waiEQ)

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appleflaxen
Those are amazing pictures.

What was the outcome? Were all the vehicles able to be pulled out?

~~~
celrod
They got an even bigger wrecker (with a third axle, helping to spread the
weight). The end of the article said it freed the home, Big Blue, one yellow
wrecker, and was then working on the last.

~~~
firmnoodle
I can confirm. I was there a couple of times over the last month and none of
this mess is remaining. It was all white and flat with a fire burn marks from
tires and fire pits.

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supernova87a
Do people get fined or cited for ripping up the terrain due to negligence or
is this a free for all land that you can drive on without much repercussion?

I just recall reading that at Burning Man for example, lighting a fire on the
playa gets you a fine for permanently scarring the landscape. So, in this
case, a truck leaving a 2 foot gash in the salt -- is that not something that
carries a penalty?

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derethanhausen
Are those trenches and pits permanent? It was my understanding that the flats
are from prehistoric lake Bonneville, which would make it seem as if they
aren't going to regenerate until the next ice age.

