TL;DR - The question for me when it comes to recovery tracks is, are they worth it? For me, I think the answer is still "not yet," but I'm more on the fence than I've been in the past.
I've avoiding getting any type of recovery traction device - like MaxTrax or TRED PRO - because they're super expensive and because I feel like any time I'd use them, they'd be so disgustingly dirty that I wouldn't know what to do with them.
Both of those things would have been true on this trip as well - using a traction board may have even resulted in the board being buried and unrecoverable due to mud suction - but I think they may have gone a long way to helping me get out of the situation I was in, more easily.
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