Commentary: Late-season outing got off to slow start

Snowmobilers procrastinate.

Case in point - the Idaho State Ride in Cascade.

We were part of a group that waited until the week before to make a commitment to attend. When we made our reservations, only 23 riders had signed up for the three-day event.

Our club, the Lewis-Clark Sno-Drifters, has put on statewide events in the past and there is a lot of planning involved. Organizers have to make sure there is enough lodging and banquet space available. They have to plan meals, line up guest speakers and recruit local bodies to help out. It doesn't just happen magically. It takes effort from a lot of dedicated snowmobilers to put on one of these events.

The West Mountain Snowmobile Club was the host of this year's ride and I am sure they were sweating bullets. The day before the ride, the list of registered riders had grown to 126.

The club had enough guides to lead multiple groups into the mountains. They tried to limit the number of riders in each group to no more than eight. The bigger a group is, the harder it is to keep everyone together and moving.

They assigned riders to one of three groups based on their ability level - beginner, intermediate and extreme. They had groups leaving at 9 and 10 a.m. to suit both early risers and those who like to sleep a little longer.

Our group consisted of Lisa, Dan and Alli Gunter, Royal and Tracy Kingsley, ourselves, and leaders Craig and Sally Tarbet and Neal Smallwood. We met at the Cascade Lake boat launch parking lot at 9 a.m. and headed across the lake. Normally, we never ride across frozen bodies of water, but our guides assured us they had checked with ice fishermen who said the ice was very thick and extremely safe to cross. The ice fishermen who were out that morning were probably wondering where all of the snowmobilers came from. Hopefully, we did not disrupt their successful catch.

Our guide stopped occasionally to point out various landmarks and make sure we all felt comfortable with the terrain. The sky was cloud-covered but visibility was good with only patches of fog obscuring the neighboring peaks. A blanket of fog also laid across the lake. As we rose above the fog, we looked down on the lake from the mountains and enjoyed the beautiful scene.

We returned to Cascade around 3:30 p.m., with a 5:30 social hour and dinner scheduled for 6:30 at the American Legion Hall. The West Mountain folks put on a feast of barbecue ribs and Cornish game hen with trimmings fit for a king. The guest speakers talked about issues relating to snowmobiling such as endangered species, land access and the positions of political leaders on those issues. Another topic covered was ethanol-free fuel and its future availability. Ethanol fuel attracts water and since we operate our machines in extremely damp and wet conditions, we prefer not to have ethanol in our gas.

On Sunday morning it was pouring rain. At breakfast, most riders were still talking about the delicious dinner we had and how glad we were the wet weather held off. Most of us planned to head for home that morning.

By the time we reached McCall, the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek through. We passed some snowmobilers we knew heading to McCall for a day's ride and wondered if we should turn around and join them. With work to do at home, we continued on, knowing we were among the 126 riders who experienced a great adventurous weekend with the West Mountain Snowmobile Club and the Idaho State Snowmobile Association.

This is our last article for the season. With spring comes all of those homeowners' chores and gardens to nurture. But we are sure we will find time for another trip into the snow-covered mountain tops before we call it a year.

Get out and enjoy time with Mother Nature. She is beautiful this time of year.

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The Biekers are avid snowmobilers who live in Lewiston. They can be contacted at city@lmtribune.com.