February 8, 2009

IT'S FINALLY HERE!! We are going snowmobiling. When we got up, there was no fog. By the time we had finished our showers, we could barely see the house. The "fog monster" had moved into Polson -- again!! But we got dressed, got into the truck, and took off for Columbia Falls, MT and the snowmobiles. We were both afraid that we might get there and have made the drive for nothing. It didn't make much sense to go to the top of a mountain in the fog.

But a miracle happened. When we passed the town of Lakeside (that's after Arlee and Elmo and Big Arm), the fog just disappeared. The sun was out, it was crystal clear, and not a cloud in the sky. It's one of the best days I've seen -- and yet at the ranch, it stayed foggy all day. As it turned out, it was just Delores, me, and our guide Bob. We geared up at the store (got our boots, bibs, coat, gloves, and helmet), and then headed up to this mountainous area where they have groomed trails for snowmobiles.

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. When they wrote the lines about a "winter wonderland", they must have had this place in mind. White, fluffy snow amid big pine trees and streams. It was truly wonderful. We took off, and after a while, Bob stopped to make sure we were doing okay. We had all of our equipment on, and you couldn't tell us apart -- except I'm still the tall one. But the wind was coming into the helmet, and I thought my lips were going to freeze off. When you are driving 20-25 mph in 20 degree temperatures, it gets to the frost bite stage fairly quickly. Bob....being the great guide he turned out to be....was ready for us. I don't remember what he called it, but I'll just call it a nylon ski mask where your eyes and maybe nose is showing. As Bob said, "there goes your hairdos ladies!!". It's hard to believe this light weight nylon could totally block out the wind, but it did. And I was just toasty warm for the entire 4-5 hours.

So the rest of the trip was glorious. Bob would stop us a points on the trails where we could see the snow covered peaks of the Glacier National Park mountains. I can't even describe how breakthtaking it was -- so look at the pictures.

We went around trails through the mountains -- up slopes with steep drop off's on the side (so you definitely wanted to make sure the sled didn't slide too much). Delores is not fond of heights, so I noticed how Bob was sledding right next to the drop off, and Delores was totally on the other side of the road, hugging the hills. We went up steep hills and down steep hills. We hit pickets of snowmobilers along some steep slopes without trees (probably from avalanches -- tends to take out the trees). These folks spent the whole day running their snowmobiles as fast up the steep hill as they could get, and then they flew down the hill. (The picture is a place called the "Survival Hut" -- lots of snowmobilers stop here).

We even met up with a snowboarder (there is a big ski area called Whitefish Resort at Big Mountain), who wanted a "tow". This was hooking a rope around Bob's snowmobile and Bob towed him to the top of the next hill. That way he didn't have to walk. Apparently these guys go "out of bounds" and ski this back country.

Looking at some of the maps of the trails which had mileage listed, and we figured we probably drove between 30-35 miles around these mountains. We went up to the "summit" which is the highest part of Big Mountain, where all the chair lifts brought up the skiers. They had a snack bar, so we took a break, had some water, and talked to Bob. Apparently business is way down. He said in a normal winter, he guides every day, sometimes twice a day with no time off. This year he had only have 3 or 4 trips. And after we left, Jane sent me a notice about a public auction at the place where we rented the snowmobiles -- they were selling them, plus the gear, plus the RV's they had on the place. So another business done in by the economy.

We had to drive up a really (and I mean REALLY) steep hill to get to the Summit. Bob said to "gun it" and just keep going. Of course, at the top we got some awesome photo's of the snow covered Glacier mountains. Then we had to down the really, really steep hill. The "down" part actually lets you know how steep it really was. Absolutely no throttle -- just let the weight of the sled take you down, and keep pressing the brake -- on and off, on and off. You had to let go of the brake, otherwise the back of the sled just went sideways, and you really didn't want to go down these slopes backwards.

So then off the mountain we came. It was funny, because on the way back to the ranch, Delores said at times we were going 30 to 35 mph. I couldn't figure out how she knew that -- when she pointed out the sleds had a speedometer. It was probably best that I didn't know how fast I was going. But I did enjoy the speed. There were many spots on the trails where there were little "moguls", so you were just bouncing and bouncing over these.

Delores and I have been coming to Montana and Wyoming for probably 10 years. And in all that time, we've done almost every activity and seen every sign. AND BY FAR -- THIS WAS THE MOST FUN THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MONTANA. When I move to Montana, I'm getting a snowmobile. It was just a BLAST.

Then back to the ranch, and back into the fog. Delores is driving, and neither one of us can see a thing. The acres and acres of pasture are brown, the weeds on the side of the road are brown, the gravel road is brown, and mixing it all together is the fog. Delores kept yelling, "I can't see a thing!!" It was pretty funny, but we really had to watch the road as we are winding around these hills -- it's hard to know where to turn as every corner looks the same.

But we made it back -- to a full turkey dinner, complete with dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. It was like Thanksgiving.....complete with the expanding waistline. Then it was time for the PBR bull riding action on TV, before Delores and I had to call it a night as we were going to drop from exhaustion. BUT A GREAT DAY!!