Q: So what do you when your RV home breaks down and will take a week to fix?
A: Go snowmobiling in West Yellowstone, of course!
Actually, we had been planning a snowmobiling trip for some time. Vicki, who has always been the driving force in our snowmobile adventures, but rarely the driver, needs a fix every few years. We had sold our former snowmobile back in March of 2016, so it was time. From Escondido, we rented a AWD Jeep and drove to West Yellowstone forthwith. As noted in the previous post, we had already planned to do this trip this week, with motel and snowmobile reservations already in place.
It was a marvelous trip. The 2-day driving from California to Montana and back bookended a week of great weather, great snow and grooming, and sparse company both in town and on the trails. The government and citizens of West Yellowstone pretty rigorously observed relevant Covid-19 protocols, although their tourist/yahoo visitors were not so rigorous. More American exceptionalism; nothing new. Historian Patricia Limerick once observed that about 10% of any population are jerks. In the US, it's about 35%, I'd say. And not just jerks, either.
We stayed at the Day's Inn, enjoying ample nice accommodations, socially-distanced hot breakfasts, and a soothing hot-tub to ourselves after our three day-long rides. Temps were in the single digits over-night, but up into the 30s by the afternoons. Skies were mostly clear every day. Snow levels were fine in the valleys as well as in the high country. Trail grooming from West Yellowstone and from Island Park, ID, is done almost nightly, and on several occasions we were clearly the first to hit an extra virgin, cold-pressed trail. In this snowmobiling mecca, trail signage is excellent, and one is never out of cell-phone range.
We were five full days in West Yellowstone, three on the trail, two resting back in town. Our snowmobile rentals were from High Mark and Yellowstone Adventures, both four-cycle Ski-Doo Grand Touring machines, two-ups (two seats), 900cc and 600cc respectively. We've been dealing with Yellowstone Adventures since the turn of the century, first rentals, later actually buying one of their lightly-used four-cycle 1000cc Ski-Doos in 2003, and having it serviced by them periodically. The only downer was the expected fatigue and soreness resulting from hours on the sleds. But at our age, fatigue and soreness are expected from almost any activity.
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West Yellowstone street scene; all the streets are kept snow-
covered, except for the two highways that intersect: US 20
and US 287 |
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First day out, first picture
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| Heading for Two Top, a perennial favorite |
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| Winter Wonderland, what Vicki likes most, en route to Two Top |
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| Tetons in the distance (magnified) |
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| Atop Two Top; as high as the trail goes |
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The top of Two Top; we learned in 2003 not to take a heavy
two-up off the groomed trail |
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| Panning around |
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| Another view of the trail and the Tetons |
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| Us on Two Top |
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| Vicki in a cold but happy place |
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| Looking toward Yellowstone country |
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| Big Spring |
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| In Island Park, a pretty good indication of the snow level |
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| Extra virgin, cold-pressed freshly groomed trail |
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Me, drinking to that; unfortunately it was just
black coffee |
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Another day, heading for Mesa Falls, Tetons again, from Idaho
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| Thus, Lower Falls |
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Up closer
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Along Henry's Fork (of the Snake River)(which issues from
Henry's Lake): Henry's Swan |
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Headed for Lion's Head...behold! we are on the Continental Divide Trail...our favorite snowmobile adventures were on the CDT, a hundred or so miles east of here, in Wyoming; too high and isolated for us nowadays; plus no one would rent a two-up for solo use |
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| Looking toward Lion's Head |
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| Looking out across Lake Hegben; not our tracks |
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| Looking back toward Yellowstone |
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Extremely thin ice on Lake Hegben; note bevy of extremely
noisy swans... |
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We didn't get into the Park this time (we would have had to
make reservations in 2017) nor did we encounter any bison |
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But we did encounter this critter, not 200 feet from town, which
we like to think was a wolf; but more likely a coyote
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To see a couple dozen more such posts, just enter "snowmobiling" in the side-bar search box.
