About a month ago, a few friends and I spent a half day snowmobiling in the Leavenworth area of the Cascade Mountains. As you probably know, I set up a rafting trip every year. This year, Mikey couldn’t go because his baby girl is due right around when peak spring snow melts makes for good rafting. Thankfully, we got this trip in because I’m thinking no rafting is happening this spring for any of us.
I don’t think any of us had been on a snowmobile before. We figured if we were going to make the drive (2.5 hours from Seattle; 4.5 from Portland) we’d pick the longest tour the guide company offered. It says advanced riders, but we all felt comfortable with our mix of ATVs, mountain biking, wilderness experience, motorcycles, and snow sports to skip the beginner stuff. In hindsight, we made the right choice. If you’re intimidated by machinery or speeds approaching 50 mph while sitting on a bench feet off the snow I’d probably recommend dialing it back a bit. All the tours are on private or public snow machine trails (love Washington does this!) and with a guide, so the whole thing is very approachable regardless. The guide tailors speeds to the group and she said were faster than most. That’s not a #humblebrag – I want to contextualize what “advanced” really means.
I absolutely loved the experience. The snow was still 4-6′ deep up on the mountains and even though we were on groomed trails, there was some STUNNING scenery. Imagine riding down a heavily wooded path with snow everywhere, including on the branches of countless evergreen trees. Oh, but that’s not all. The wind was blowing, so snow dust was falling from the branches and refracting the sunlight while you rode through it. It was like snowmobiling in a glitter bomb and it was magical. No shame in my game. There were several times when I really wanted to capture what I was seeing. Then I decided those memories were just for me and I soaked as much of it in as I could. Our group agreed we didn’t feel the need to jump back out there the next weekend and do it again, but that’s probably more of a function of being with a guide on not making fresh tracks in untouched powder.
I was surprised how physical the activity was. The machine is constantly jumping from tracks to tracks on these groomed trails, especially if you’re following someone, which was surprising. The guide cautioned us and told us not to fight it and she was absolutely right. The quicker you learn to loosen most of your muscles and allow your core to act as a stabilizer, the easier things become. I would actually liken it to riding a galloping horse. My dad had a horse farm when I was younger and I’ll tell you this – I much prefer machines because horses have wills of their own. For both activities (and I guess most activities in general? lol), form really does make a difference. I’m certainly not current on my physical fitness, so my quads were pretty cooked by the end of the day. I sweat way more than I thought I would and rode most of the day with the zipper open on my (provided) snowsuit.
We also drank beer at night in Leavenworth. Probably too much beer. No ragrets.