The World Around Us
The clouds were hanging pretty low as we got to Yellow Pine so we didn't see that the town is completely surrounded by mountains, but that was quickly evident as we embarked on an afternoon ride to the east, toward the old mining town of Stibnite. The ungroomed trail (Stibnite Road) follows the East Fork and then the South Fork of the Salmon River through a narrow canyon with steep mountains on either side. There were a couple of small slides that had previously fallen across the road, but they weren't impassible. It's 
not until you get close to Stibnite and other mining locations several miles from Yellow Pine that the terrain opens up and you can get a feel for how big the country is here. We stopped at the edge of Monday Camp, a mining site where Tungsten and antimony were mined during World War II. Evidence is still visible today of some of the mining activity but as you go farther into the backcountry toward Stibnite you see huge mine tailings that remain from those earlier years. Some of the tailings create a nice hillclimbing 
area while others appear to be a wide open meadow buried deep with a blanket of snow. You can't ride too much farther east before you come to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, which, of course, is off limits to sledding.
We played on the tailings near Stibnite for a long while before heading back toward Sugar Creek, where a narrow road/trail splits off from the Stibnite Road and follows Sugar Creek towards the Cinnebar Mine. Cinnebar was our goal but heavy snowfall and deep snow proved to be too much for some of the sleds in our group and we eventually had to turn back. There was a lot of fun in trying, though.
Riding in this area is around 6,200 feet and a little higher, depending on where you go, and it's a steady descent back down to Yellow Pine, which sits at about 5,000 feet (depending on where 
you are in town as it's very hilly). Average snowfall in town is about 110 inches but as we found out, as you climb out of town into the surrounding mountains, snowfall increases as quickly as the elevation. Yellow Pine is snowmobiler friendly, too, as sleds are allowed on city streets as long as you obey traffic laws.
We overnighted in Yellow Pine and then rode the same trail back to Warm Springs parking area but it was most decidedly different on the trip back. Several inches of snow had fallen the day before and overnight and we busted trail all the way back to the trucks. At a couple of spots along the way the sun even poked out from behind the clouds and glistened off the newly-fallen snow as well as on the surrounding mountains. It was impressive while it lasted.