24/7 dispatch
4.7681 Google reviews
WreckMaster and I-TECC certified
Family-owned in Evergreen
(303) 674-0198
Off-road recovery from D&J Towing gets vehicles unstuck and back to solid ground when they are buried, high-centered or sliding on trails, forest roads and 4x4 routes in the Colorado foothills. Out there, the most useful thing you can give dispatch is an exact location, so this page starts with how to get one.
Dispatch will ask for
Past the pavement there is no street address, and the nearest mile marker can be a long way back. Coordinates put the truck on the right road the first time. Pick your phone for the steps, or let this page read your location. Signal on back roads comes and goes, so grab the numbers while you have a bar.
On an iPhone
Compass shows your latitude, longitude and elevation near the bottom of the screen. Read those two coordinate numbers to dispatch.
In the Google Maps app, touch and hold an unlabeled spot on the map where you are. A red pin drops and the coordinates show in the place sheet.
On iOS 17 or later, open the conversation in Messages, tap the plus button, choose Location, tap the Map Pin button, then Send Pin. They can read the pin to dispatch.
On an Android phone
Wait for the blue dot to settle on your position before you do anything else.
Touch and hold an unlabeled spot on the map where you are. A red pin drops and the coordinates appear in the search box at the top.
Latitude first, then longitude. In Colorado the second number is negative, shown with a minus sign or a W for west. Say the minus sign out loud.
When the bars are dropping
The moment you see coordinates, take a screenshot so you still have them if the call drops.
The trailhead, gate, junction or road number you last passed tells the driver which way to come in.
Unless the vehicle is unsafe, stay with it so the truck finds you where the pin says. If anyone is hurt, call 911 first.
Tap the button and allow location access. Your coordinates will show here, ready to read to dispatch.
Your location stays on your phone. This page does not save or send it.
This readout needs JavaScript. The phone steps work on any phone.
Off-road calls look different from a slide-off on the highway. The ground is softer, the road is narrower, and the vehicle is often a long way from where a truck can park. Each situation calls for a different first question.
A ledge or boulder lifts the frame and the tires lose their grip. Spinning harder usually grinds the underside and changes nothing.
Tell dispatchwhich wheels are off the ground and what the frame is resting on.
Spring melt and early storms turn dirt roads soft. A vehicle sinks to the axles or gets caught in a drift and cannot drive out on its own.
Tell dispatchhow deep the tires are, and how far back the road is still firm.
A tire drops off a shelf road or the vehicle slides down a bank. Trying to drive it back up can turn a recovery into a rollover.
Tell dispatchhow far below the road it sits and whether it is leaning or tipping.
Soft parking areas, steep two-track and private land roads catch a lot of vehicles, including ones that were never meant to leave the pavement.
Tell dispatchabout gates, locks, gate codes and whether you have the owner's permission.
Slid off a paved road into a ditch, a snowbank or down a steep driveway? That is a winch-out service call, and the truck can usually work right from the road.
A tow truck is a heavy road vehicle. Whether it can get to you depends on the road in. That is why dispatch asks about access before a truck leaves the yard, and why your answers matter.
If an ordinary pickup can drive the road in good conditions, a truck can usually work from it.
These depend on the day. A winch line can reach past the spot where the truck has to stop, so a vehicle a short way off firm ground is often still workable.
Some places only a built 4x4, an ATV or a hiker can reach. If the road in is beyond a tow truck, it is better to learn that on the phone than after a long wait.
The Forest Service publishes free Motor Vehicle Use Maps that show which roads and trails are open to each type of vehicle. A road number from one helps dispatch.
The South Platte Ranger District sits next to the Denver metro area, and the Forest Service warns there that some forest roads are not passable due to snow, drifts and ice.
The Clear Creek Ranger District runs along the I-70 corridor in Clear Creek County. Tell dispatch which exit you left the interstate at.
Every trail recovery runs in the same order, even when the ground and the vehicle are different each time. Most of the work happens before anyone touches the winch.
Dispatch takes your coordinates, the trail or road name, how the vehicle sits and what the road in looks like, then decides whether a truck can make the trip.
The driver picks an approach the truck can handle and stops on firm ground, even if that is short of your vehicle.
Before rigging anything, the operator looks at how the vehicle sits, what is under it, how solid the ground is and where the pull can come from.
The winch line is run out and attached at solid recovery points, and the vehicle comes back toward firm ground at a slow, steady pace so nothing shifts or tips.
If the vehicle is sound, you drive it out. If it is damaged, it goes on the truck to a shop or your home.
D&J's crew includes WreckMaster and I-TECC certified professionals, and the company has worked the Colorado foothills and Denver metro since 1984. If the vehicle rolled, hit something or anyone was hurt, the job becomes accident recovery, and dispatch will plan it that way.
No two off-road recoveries are alike, so there is no flat price. Dispatch can talk through these factors on the call:
Equipment stuck on a job site or ranch is a different job. See heavy equipment recovery.
"Thank you to the kind and very efficient men who helped pull our car off a snowy mountain causing no more damage than was already done. They were kind, friendly, knowledgeable and very skilled."
Not sure whether your spot is reachable? Call and describe it. Dispatch would rather spend two extra minutes on the phone than send a truck down the wrong road.
Yes. D&J Towing answers calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, holidays included. Night and storm conditions can change how a recovery is approached, so expect a few extra questions about the road in.
Read your GPS coordinates to dispatch. On an iPhone, the Compass app shows them near the bottom of the screen. In Google Maps on iPhone or Android, touch and hold an unlabeled spot where you are to drop a pin and see the coordinates. Add the trail name or road number and the last junction you passed.
It depends on the trail. Graded forest roads and trailhead lots are usually workable, and a winch line can reach a vehicle a short way off firm ground. Technical routes that only built 4x4s can drive may be beyond a tow truck. Describe the road in and dispatch will tell you honestly.
There is no flat price. The cost depends on distance, terrain, time and conditions, the equipment the pull takes, and whether the vehicle drives out or needs a tow afterward. D&J accepts cash, Mastercard and Visa.
If the tires spin without moving the vehicle, stop. Spinning digs the tires deeper, can damage the underside and makes the recovery harder. On a slope or an edge, do not try to drive back up at all.
Have your coordinates, the trail or road name and a quick description of how the vehicle sits ready when dispatch answers. If you need something other than a trail recovery, see all of our towing and recovery services.
