When Matt and Jen Roesner rounded the turn on NFD 306 Road deep in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, what they saw surprised them.
An RV. Jeep in tow. Stuck. On a log.
“What in the world are they doing?” Matt Roesner said. “They weren’t going anywhere.”
Bruce and Peggy Gustafson were overjoyed to see someone, anyone, miles from civilization.
“We couldn’t believe it,” Peggy said.
The couple from Okoboji, Iowa, was on day nine of their 15-day RV trip June 29 and were trying to make their way through the Bitterroot Mountains. They stopped in Prichard, chatted with locals for directions, before heading to West Glacier, Mont., a trip they expected to take about three to four hours.
It took nearly 13 hours.
They missed the turn to Thompson Pass, and instead, followed the Coeur d’Alene River Road until it turned to gravel.
“I should have turned around there,” Bruce Gustafson said from the comforts of his home in a phone interview with The Press.
But he didn’t.
Instead, they kept going. And going. Deeper and higher into the mountain range.
The road narrowed. Rockier. Ruts. Potholes.
They kept going.
Their GPS told them to take a right on another dirt road, which led to a series of switchbacks, hairpin turns and steep climbs that forced them to drive a few miles per hour.
At this point, there was no turning back, as there was no room to maneuver to turn their 37-foot motorcoach around.
“We were committed,” Bruce said.
Peggy said they had no cellphone reception. Fear began to set in as their RV passed between mountainside and cliffside. At one point, the Jeep nearly went over the edge.
“I began praying silently to God to help us,” Peggy said.
As they approached another tight switchback, a log was in the road. Bruce said he had no choice but to try and go over it.
He didn’t get far.
A minute later, the log jamed into the RV’s wheel and undercarriage.
“We were stuck,” Peggy said, who by then was a nervous wreck, trying not to cry.
As Bruce was trying to figure out what to do, an ATV with two people, Matt and Jen Roesner, approached. Matt had wanted to take a look at the 306, a road he had cleared of brush about five years earlier.
“I was so relieved to see someone,” Peggy said. “I’m sure they couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw us.”
The Roesners, of Athol, stopped to help the shaken couple.
“I don’t know how they made it up that, to be honest with you,” Matt said. “Man, for him to get that far, he was pretty calm.”
He didn’t blame them for getting into such a mess.
“Once they got in there, they were committed,” he said. “There was nothing you could do but go through.”
Matt retrieved his chain saw, cut the log into pieces and pulled it free of the RV. But he said he knew they couldn’t leave them. They still had miles of tough terrain ahead, certainly nothing their RV would be able to handle.
“It didn’t feel right,” he said. “They couldn’t have made it out on their own.”
He told the Gustafsons to follow them as they cleared logs and pushed aside large rocks for the next roughly 18 miles until they reached pavement.
The Gustafsons were overwhelmed with relief and joy.
“Finally, the road flattened and we were heading toward the town of Clark Fork,” Peggy Gustafson said.
The Roesners declined a monetary reward from the Gustafsons and offered comforting words.
“When we tried to tell them how stupid we were for getting ourselves in that predicament all they said was to not think that way. It’s all OK now,” Peggy said. “Matt asked me if we have grandchildren. When I said yes, he said, ‘Well you’ll have a big story to tell them with a happy ending.'”
Peggy said the Roesners knew the mountains, the roads, the dangers of the high country.
“Unlike us, they were armed with knowledge and years of experience. Fearless,” she said.
Peggy said so much more could have gone wrong, but didn’t, thanks for the courage and kindness of the Roesners. They reached West Glacier that night with grateful hearts. Their RV was scarred and beaten, but still running.
“God sent us two angels in an ATV with a chain saw,” Peggy said.
The Roesners are experienced in the forests. They own and operate American Development Forestry Management, a family business that’s been around over 40 years.
It offers a range of services, including forest fuel reductions, wildlife habitat, private and commercial land development, hazard tree felling, stream bank and shoreline rehabilitation, and boulder and rock retaining walls.
“At ADFM, we pride ourselves on caring for our customers and protecting the beauty of the great Northwest. With three generations of wild-land firefighter heritage, we approach every project with the desire to improve safety by thinning the threat and providing defensible space,” their website says.
Matt Roesner said it was a good thing he and Jen had camped out in the area the previous night and he wanted to take a look at his work on the 306.
“You wouldn’t have seen anybody until the following weekend,” he said. “They could have been there a week.”
Matt Roesner said he hopes the Gustafsons come to look back at what happened and laugh. He said such experiences are the kind of things you remember and treasure.
“It’s going to be a great story to tell,” he said.