Wyoming report 1-30-09 & 1-31-09

A couple of weeks ago I closed a deal on a 2002 Arctic Cat XL600 snowmobile from IDO’s infamous BK and headed to Wisconsin to pick it up. I took my wife along and we made a great weekend out of it. We attended the IDO GTG in Prairie Du Chien and met a lot of new friends and got to catch up with some old ones too. jjkrooked was kind enough to trailer the snowmobile to the GTG for me. It was fun pulling members from the landing to the gathering spot and back. I had a blast riding on the back waters but couldn’t wait to get it up in the mountains.

A couple of days before I left for the GTG, Bernie Mertzman, a friend of mine stopped by my shop to see if I wanted to go to Wyoming to go snowmobiling. He was going to take his sled out and said I could rent one. Well it couldn’t have worked out better. He had a 2 place trailer and I needed to get this new sled to Wyoming to leave it at my parents.

We left on Thurday morning and headed for Saratoga, Wyoming. I had made an appointment at the Arctic Cat dealer in Lairmie for Thursday afternoon. I had to get the sled ready to ride in the high altitude. It’s an EFI but it still needed to have the clutch springs and weights changed. After dropping the sled off we hit a cafe for a quick lunch and then picked up the sled and finished the drive. The winds were horrible on the way over Elk Mountain. With 60+ MPH gusts we were sure glad we weren’t on the mountain that day. After arriving at my parents we checked the weather forecast and seen that we were going to have 2 days of perfect weather for riding.

Friday morning we had a quick bite to eat and it was off to the mountain. My dad, Bernie and I dropped the sleds and headed down the trails. The snow was awesome as they had just had up to 5 feet of new snow in some areas on the mountain. We rode 40 miles before dropping my dad off and loading his sled. He had to get home to get a little nap in before heading back up to groom the trails for the night. Bernie and I headed back out for a great ride. We stopped several times to take in the scenery and other times to play in the meadows or do a little climbing. I had to be super careful with this new sled because it was a short track sled. At 122 inches you can’t get too carried away in the powder. Trust me getting stuck at over 10,000 feet will get you out of breath quick when trying to dig out. In all on day one Bernie and I rode 120 miles and we couldn’t wait to get back up there on Saturday.
There were a lot more sleds out on Saturday but it sure helped pack the snow in areas so I could get the short track off the trails some. We didn’t ride as far as we did Friday but spent more time doing some steep climbing and playing in the powder. I took a few videos and lot of pics.

I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. I’ve done quite a bit of riding in Minnesota before, but this was an awesome expierence. If you enjoy riding up North you should deffinately head to Wyoming and hit the Snowy Range area. Just leave the short track sled at home and go rent a 154 inch track sled or even a 163 inch sled and have fun. There are several places that rent cabins and sleds on the mountain and several great places to eat. I know the next time I head out I’ll let my mom ride the short track on the trails and I’ll be renting a long track so I can tear up the powder.

Sounds like fun!

The first couple of pictures are of my dad and Bernie enjoying each others company. They had a great time as they have both loved coming to the Snowy Range area for over 30 years.

The 3rd and 4th pics were taken at the Queely warming hut. The grey jays love to hang around the warming huts because they know poeple stop there for lunch and will feed them. They will swoop down and land on your hand and eat.

In the next photo my dad and Bernie are standing in front of my dads Tucker grooming machine. My dad decided to take a job for the winter and has found out it’s harder work than one would ever think. They have to go out no matter what the weather is.

The next several pics are from different stops along the trails. I love the pic with the snow on the cabin. I used to get $5-$10 for scooping when I was a kid. Sure glad I didn’t grow up in Wyoming.

The pictures of the deer were taken in my parents neighborhood in Saratoga. They are all over the place and some of the bucks get rather big.

The last picture is of a guy that got stuck while doing some high marking near Marie Lake. I did a little bit of climbing but stayed on the packed areas so I wouldn’t get stuck. Some of these guys are plain nuts.

Here is a video I took while riding through the trees on a trail. The snow on all the trees was awesome and it was fun to ride through them.

Here’s another video I took of the guys that get really crazy on the mountain. I can’t wait to get back up there with a sled that is capable of doing some real high climbing.

If you watch the top left of the screen at :38 seconds through the video you can see a guy come flying over the cliff. It was hard to get them coming over the cliff on video because you couldn’t see them coming. Cool stuff.

By the way, this vidoe does no justice to how steep and tall that mountain really is.

That looks like it a great time Glad you had a good trip

Great report, pictures and vids Ben!

Thanks for the pics and video, Ben. Looks like a blast!

I have hunted Elk Mt. and the wind is always blowing.

Fantastic Ben!!!!

looks like a ton of fun!