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Wednesday, September 16th, 2026

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Snow, cats, tire tracks: Unwelcome excitement on unmaintained mountain road at night

Snow and sleet made for a slow, scary crawl down a mountain road after the author and his son pulled a trap line on Dec. 23, 2022, in a remote section of Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain. (Photo courtesy of Tyler Frantz)

If you’ve never experienced one of those white-knuckle, heart-pounding, “say a prayer” driving situations at any point in your life, consider yourself among the lucky ones. 
One such occasion, which potentially shaved a few years off my life for the stress of it all, occurred last winter right around the holidays. The week before Christmas, my son and I had traveled about 30 minutes from our home to set bobcat traps along a remote section of the Blue Mountain accessible only by a dirt road, which received no winter maintenance and offered limited cell phone reception.

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