In Search of Snow and Something New: Snowmobiling at Lookout Pass

: Do you ever have those moments where you can’t stop dwelling on your week? Work gets busy, and despite your best efforts to stay on top of it you are drowning. Or you just aren’t jiving with your closest friends. Whatever the cause, you just can’t shake some thoughts from your head. It seems like a mild form of PTSD on a recurring loop.

Last week I had one of those moments. Lucky for me, I live in the Northwest, where it is pretty easy to shake off the workweek blues.

While everybody was planning their big Super Bowl blowouts, I received an unlikely offer. Since Dylan is out of commission with his skiing injury, he decided that his snowmobile should still be fired up and ridden. So instead of making plans for a Super Bowl that meant nothing to me (sorry majority of the PNW who suddenly became Seahawks fans) I put my brain to work figuring out how to make snowmobiling a reality.

Snowmobiling is completely new to me. It is different than anything I’ve ever done before. So I made plans with my friend Ryan (whose been on a sled since he could walk) and we decided to check out the St. Regis basin on the Idaho/ Montana border. Now if you are on the west coast and reading this, you know we have a serious lack of snow this winter. According to Cliff Harris (local climatologist), we average 69.8 inches of snowfall in North Idaho. Currently, we’ve gotten less than 30 inches in Coeur d’Alene this year.

Regardless of the snowfall, I was determined to take this rare opportunity and try something new. Ryan was determined to put my resolve to the test. We started out on a cat track at the base of Lookout Pass, and Ryan gave me a few pointers about the 700 cc sled. To say that I became more familiar would be a gross overstatement, but I had to become comfortable quick because it wasn’t long until we got off the cat track and started heading into the backcountry. We didn’t make it very far before reaching a creek, and my inexperience kept us from crossing. So we took a couple of other routes, but it was the same story everywhere we went. Not enough snow.

Despite the conditions, my mind was engaged all day. Trying to learn something new took me out of my funk. Fear of getting the sled stuck or worse, rolling it over, was enough to put me in a different frame of mind. It was exactly what I needed. And Ryan was a good sport, even though his wanderlust was most likely not satisfied. Last weekend reminded me that we are so lucky to live in Coeur d’Alene. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our everyday routine, and while you may not have a friend with a bum knee and a snowmobile there is no shortage of ways to break the routine and start living life in the great Northwest. I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and tell us how you like to break the routine.