Snowmobiling Idaho (Hope: 2013, to buy, move)

[chevpu1967]

Awesome, Thanks. I saw a hybrid UTV in Grapevine, TX a couple of months ago and have been considering something like that for the trails. I have never done snowmobiling, but it looks like fun to me.

[banjomike]

Be careful if you do any high marking this time of year. Avalanches can start, and they go mighty fast.
Down here, we lose a snow mobile to one about once a year.

My cousin kicked off an avalanche 6 years ago high marking; he tried to outrun it and went on a traverse, but his machine wasn't fast enough, and it got him. The only thing that saved his life was a little pocket of air. He was trapped right next to his machine, and there was a tiny space that was still open, and one of his hands was in front of his face. He made a fist, and that allowed the trapped air to get to him.
He still goes sledding, but only stays on a trail these days. He said it was the most terrifying experience in his life, and he thought he was going to die. His buddies spotted his safety pennant on it's pole, and they were able to dig him out in time. He said he was a purple as a grape by the time they dug him out.

The snow instantly solidifies like concrete around you when you're buried. Stay safe and stay off the sidehills! The thrill ain't worth the penalty!

[elousv]

Might be a good place to talk about safety in general. First is do not go out alone. There are just too many things that can go wrong to strand you many many miles from help. We go entire days without seeing another person sometimes. Watch for falling trees. In the CDA forest there are a whole bunch of them, even branches can put a big hurt on you. Stay on top of the machine. A typical one weighs in at least 500 lbs and being under one is not a good place to be. Watch for animals as impacting one on an unprotected machine at speed can also put the hurt on you. It does not take an avalanche to drown you in snow. One big tree with snow laden branches can unload hundreds of lbs. of snow on you. Falling from 150ft, that can also put the hurt on you. Avoid crashing into imovable objects, you will be launched right over the handlebars. They can hide under snow, it may be a snowball or it may be a boulder. A branch under the snow can snag a ski and off you go. Another common thing to watch out for around here is washouts. You can be tooling along on perfectly groomed trails and all of a sudden there is a 3' wide by 3' deep washout. At a fast speed you may sail over it and at slow speed go down into it an out the other side. If you hit it wrong, there you go over the handlebars again. Space it at a premium on these things but I still try to pack a tow strap, shovel, bungees, extra fuel, a lighter, had saw, water, power bars, extra socks, hat and vest. On me I carry a knife and gun for sure. Some may think that these things can go anywhere and they do go many places that you would not even dream of doing in other vehicles but it really does not take much to get stuck. Just this past trip the guy in front of me was leading and all of a sudden all I could see was his arm reaching out of a hole. The left ski had gone over the hard wind driven drift and the right one into a hole 4 feet deep. he tried to recover but the track dug down in about a second and it was stuck. Could he have dug out himself, sure about 10 minutes of sweating. Two of us each grabbed a ski and pulled as he drove it and it was out in 30 seconds.

[elousv]

In addition to the normal Idaho registration, you also need a "groomer sticker" for the area you ride in. It is $12 here in Kootenai. It is well worth it as you would not get too far if these guys did not clear the trail. They also smooth out the bumps.




As you can see it is yet another horrible gloomy day here.

As I mentioned, sometimes you can barely see the trail in front of you and other times you can see forever. This is looking at Silver Mountain in Kellogg from the top of Grassy Mountain. You pretty much get a 360 view from this summit.





You can be in the dense forest and have no clue where you are then pop out and see this






You can cover tons of ground in one day, 90 miles on this trip. That is piece of Hayden Lake in this pic heading back to Fernan Saddle.




Telephoto of same direction reveals Mt. Spokane in the distance

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by chevpu1967

Can you get the 4 wheeler trails map in the same location?

You'll want the "Motor Vehicle Use Maps", they are free at any FS office and have the legal motorized roads and trails, and the listing of seasonal closures. Only thing is, they don't show any roads on non-forest service property. Much of these areas are a mix of FS, state and private land. I recommend both the MVUM and the "visitor's maps". It's $10, but has more information.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by elousv

Might be a good place to talk about safety in general. First is do not go out alone. There are just too many things that can go wrong to strand you many many miles from help. We go entire days without seeing another person sometimes. Watch for falling trees. In the CDA forest there are a whole bunch of them, even branches can put a big hurt on you. Stay on top of the machine. A typical one weighs in at least 500 lbs and being under one is not a good place to be. Watch for animals as impacting one on an unprotected machine at speed can also put the hurt on you. It does not take an avalanche to drown you in snow. One big tree with snow laden branches can unload hundreds of lbs. of snow on you. Falling from 150ft, that can also put the hurt on you. Avoid crashing into imovable objects, you will be launched right over the handlebars. They can hide under snow, it may be a snowball or it may be a boulder. A branch under the snow can snag a ski and off you go. Another common thing to watch out for around here is washouts. You can be tooling along on perfectly groomed trails and all of a sudden there is a 3' wide by 3' deep washout. At a fast speed you may sail over it and at slow speed go down into it an out the other side. If you hit it wrong, there you go over the handlebars again. Space it at a premium on these things but I still try to pack a tow strap, shovel, bungees, extra fuel, a lighter, had saw, water, power bars, extra socks, hat and vest. On me I carry a knife and gun for sure. Some may think that these things can go anywhere and they do go many places that you would not even dream of doing in other vehicles but it really does not take much to get stuck. Just this past trip the guy in front of me was leading and all of a sudden all I could see was his arm reaching out of a hole. The left ski had gone over the hard wind driven drift and the right one into a hole 4 feet deep. he tried to recover but the track dug down in about a second and it was stuck. Could he have dug out himself, sure about 10 minutes of sweating. Two of us each grabbed a ski and pulled as he drove it and it was out in 30 seconds.

Great post!
One thing you forgot to mention is wire fences. The barbed wire may be barely covered with snow, and will snag you or the machine in the wink of an eye. Fence posts are usually better seen, but they, too can be buried.

Another thing to watch out for are small creeks that have frozen on top enough to hold a snow load. Many of them are still running underneath the ice and snow, and wading around in one while you pull the sled out makes for a very cold ride home for your feet and legs.

Both can be avoided if you keep your speed down. Most riders who run into them are simply going way too fast. Keep the speed for cruising on the groomed trails.

[flatlander dave]

Finally some new snow up north. Spent a week between Island Park and McCall came home to couple feet of new snow. There was foot and half new on first lake at Roman Nose this past sat. I've attached couple pix of mcCall and Island Park.

[elousv]

Here is a nice ice-scape we came across:





Once in a while you come across a nice find like this 6X6:

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by elousv

Here is a nice ice-scape we came across:





Once in a while you come across a nice find like this 6X6:

Really nice rack! Could you tell if it was a wolf kill?

[elousv]

No telling how many animals had got to this one. Have seen others that were definitely wolf and one that had cat marks around it. Today was an awesome day and we saw many live animals.















and I finally saw one too, I was rounding a bend and boom he jumped across the trail and of into the forest!