There’s a New GMC Canyon AT4 Stuck on a Colorado Hiking Trail at 14,000 Feet (UPDATE)

A 2023 GMC Canyon AT4 has been stranded near the top of a 14,000-foot peak in Colorado's Rocky Mountains for days now—maybe even more than a week. The first attempt to recover the off-road pickup truck was reportedly unsuccessful, leaving authorities to resort to extreme measures that one imagines the driver will foot the bill for.

UPDATE 9/9/2023: The truck is now safely off the mountain with the help of volunteer teams and a very brave Bobcat driver. You can read more about the incredible effort here, and the original story continues below

The truck got stuck on the Decalibron Trail, a seven-mile hiking route that tours four mountain peaks above 14,000 feet (locals call them "fourteeners"). Its name is a portmanteau of those four peaks; Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. The disused mining roads around the area now reportedly see as many as 30,000 hikers annually.

However, the trail is partially situated on private property. Between a new risk of liability to the owner, as reported by the Colorado Sun, and poor condition of the trail indicated by 5280, the Decalibron has been effectively closed for most of the year, reopening only in late July. It only took a month for a 2023 GMC Canyon driver to remind the owner why they limited access in the first place.

A photograph of the immobilized truck was shared to the 14ers.com Facebook group, where the poster said it had been taken between Mount Cameron and Mount Bross en route to the latter. The GMC had clearly slid off the side of the trail onto a slope of loose rocks, the driver having evidently lost traction and dug into the loose surface. The exact location specified in the images below is suspected to be around 13,800 feet, or almost as high as you can get in Colorado's Rockies.

From piecing together anecdotes from comments under the photo, we gather that the truck has been there since at least Monday, Aug. 28. The driver is speculated to have accessed the trail via a road that approaches Bross, Cameron, and Lincoln from the east, but terminates in a trailhead or becomes a former mining road. One comment indicates the route isn't well-marked, and that it's not unheard of for drivers to get lost and try wheeling up the footpath.

But this driver apparently didn't realize how far they were off the beaten path until they got stuck. A witness said the truck had dug itself in up to its differential, posing the risk of rolling if the driver tried to power out. Another hiker who said they spoke to the truck's driver reported they had thought the trail was a road. Multiple commenters indicated the truck had an Arkansas license plate, suggesting the driver may be unfamiliar with mountain terrain.