Snowmobiling, The Early Days
- Thread starter Aerosled
- Start date
More Yellowstone.
The morning after an all night blizzard the park groomer had groomed the road to Madison Junction where we caught up with him. We took the road that goes north towards Canyon Village and started breaking trail. In a couple miles the snow started getting deep enough that I couldn't see where the road was so figured we better turn around.
Buffalo on the way to Old Faithful.
Crossing the Continental Divide near West Thumb. The Elan has a carry rack on the back that is carrying seven gallons of gas, a tool box and a lunch pail. I had changed it to the suspension springs and quad wheels from an olympique and also replaced the 250cc 12 HP engine with the Olympique 235 cc single cylinder engine. It had 18 HP.
On the way to Two Top.
Loaded up, ready to head home.
The morning after an all night blizzard the park groomer had groomed the road to Madison Junction where we caught up with him. We took the road that goes north towards Canyon Village and started breaking trail. In a couple miles the snow started getting deep enough that I couldn't see where the road was so figured we better turn around.
Buffalo on the way to Old Faithful.
Crossing the Continental Divide near West Thumb. The Elan has a carry rack on the back that is carrying seven gallons of gas, a tool box and a lunch pail. I had changed it to the suspension springs and quad wheels from an olympique and also replaced the 250cc 12 HP engine with the Olympique 235 cc single cylinder engine. It had 18 HP.
On the way to Two Top.
Loaded up, ready to head home.
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Some odds and ends.
On the way to Elk hunting camp near Naches, WA 1973. Notice the Elan is towing the sled.
Secret cabin.
Breaking trail on the road to Jubilee Lake near Tollgate, WA 1975.
On the way to the Shoestring Gracier on the southeast flank of Mount Saint Helens, 1974 before the eruption. You could climb up scary high on the hero snow in the spring.
On the way to Elk hunting camp near Naches, WA 1973. Notice the Elan is towing the sled.
Secret cabin.
Breaking trail on the road to Jubilee Lake near Tollgate, WA 1975.
On the way to the Shoestring Gracier on the southeast flank of Mount Saint Helens, 1974 before the eruption. You could climb up scary high on the hero snow in the spring.
An old School house we came across on a dead reckoning trip from West Yellowstone to Lions Head Mountain, 1978
Into the fog climbing to the top of Lions Head.
On top of Lions Head.
I couldn't quite make it to the top of Two Top on my Oly.
I had to borrow my wife's Elan to make it to the top. It was the only machine to make it to the top that day. There were a lot of flat landers on the bench below trying.
The view from the top.
Into the fog climbing to the top of Lions Head.
On top of Lions Head.
I couldn't quite make it to the top of Two Top on my Oly.
I had to borrow my wife's Elan to make it to the top. It was the only machine to make it to the top that day. There were a lot of flat landers on the bench below trying.
The view from the top.
Thanks. Here's a few more from the Ahtanum. The red flag in the back ground had something to do with some new mapping technology.
Darland Mountain Oct 1971.
Big drift on Darland. I think they call it the Super Bowl now days.
Darland 1980. First test drive for my wife's new Ski Doo Citation 4500. It had a slide suspension, oil injection and a 114 inch track. It was very comfortable compared to the bogie suspensions we were used to but it didn't turn very sharp.
Climbing up the Klikton Divide on the way to Cirque Lake. Probably about 1971
View of the Goat Rocks and Mount rainier from the ridge above Cirque Lake.
Maybe it is just because I was a younger man then, but I think it was more fun years ago. These days it takes tons of snow/crazy terrain to challenge riders. 30 years ago we loved the crust. Got to go places we couldn’t when the powder was deep. We would pull our hoods and ride until June. Thanks for the pics. Brings back lots of good memories.
Here's some history trivia about the Ahtanum. William O Douglas grew up in Yakima and wrote a Book, called "Of Men And Mountains". There is one chapter in the book about the Ahtanum. In that chapter he relates a story about a trip to meet some friends for a camping trip in Klikitat Meadows. They would leave early in the week by horse back but he had a job picking cherries and couldn't afford to leave until Saturday.
His friends would take his camping outfit by horse back and meet him on top of Darland Mountain on Saturday. He walked from the Tampico store to the top of Darland. It was dirt road to just above soda springs and trail from there.
They had an extra horse for him to ride the rest of the way down to Klikitat Meadows. Quoted from the book: "At last I saw the camp. It was at the junction of Coyote Creek and the Little Klikitat near the lower end of the meadows."
This cabin is in Klikitat Meadows where Coyote creek emptys into the Diamond Fork of the Klikitat. I took this photo in 2008. In the timber behind the cabin I found this sign. Old sheep herders would often write their names and dates like this. I recognize a couple as Yakima area names. I suspect it may be gone now. The timber was all dead and dieing, and that area is inside the new Yakima Reservation boundary.
I would highly recommend reading "Of Men And Mountains" by William O. Douglas for anyone interested in the east side of the cascades between Mount Adams and Mount Rainer. He walked, fished, and camped most of those hills.
His friends would take his camping outfit by horse back and meet him on top of Darland Mountain on Saturday. He walked from the Tampico store to the top of Darland. It was dirt road to just above soda springs and trail from there.
They had an extra horse for him to ride the rest of the way down to Klikitat Meadows. Quoted from the book: "At last I saw the camp. It was at the junction of Coyote Creek and the Little Klikitat near the lower end of the meadows."
This cabin is in Klikitat Meadows where Coyote creek emptys into the Diamond Fork of the Klikitat. I took this photo in 2008. In the timber behind the cabin I found this sign. Old sheep herders would often write their names and dates like this. I recognize a couple as Yakima area names. I suspect it may be gone now. The timber was all dead and dieing, and that area is inside the new Yakima Reservation boundary.
I would highly recommend reading "Of Men And Mountains" by William O. Douglas for anyone interested in the east side of the cascades between Mount Adams and Mount Rainer. He walked, fished, and camped most of those hills.
Love the Scorpion Stinger! Back in those days, with a few exceptions, there was no grooming... Running without hood... oh yeah in the springtime... and carrying spare nuts, bolts and wire so you could get back in if you broke down... and you might not see anyone else for the whole day!!!!
More snow mobile races at the Jefferson Ranch on Chinook Pass across the highway from the Gold Run cafe. December 1969. The one in the lead...or maybe he has been lapped...is a double track Ski Doo Alpine.
A hunters' cabin we came across in the Little Naches in 1973. It wasn't very far off the road. Probably gone now.
He blew a track on a 1967 Ski Doo Olympique. Coming down off Clemens Mountain in the spring of 1971.
Little Bald Mountain Lookout on the Naches Ranger District, December 1972. It burned down in the fall of 1978 while the lookout was gone on a day of. The cause was suspected to be a leak in a propane frige they had recently installed. The fire was reported by the lookout on Clemens Mountain 16 miles to the southeast. The Elan belonged to the girl that was the lookout in the early 1970s. She had a 1958 Cadillac she parked in the garage that is now a snow mobiler warming shelter. The rear two feet of the fins would stick out of the door.
Panoramic photo taken in 1934 shows the garage that is now the snow mobiler shelter.. The car belongs to the photographer that has a transit camera set up on the catwalk. You can see his shadow on the ground in front of the garage. The numbers along the top of the photo are the azimuths. Looking southeast towards Big Bald Mountain and Clemens.
A hunters' cabin we came across in the Little Naches in 1973. It wasn't very far off the road. Probably gone now.
He blew a track on a 1967 Ski Doo Olympique. Coming down off Clemens Mountain in the spring of 1971.
Little Bald Mountain Lookout on the Naches Ranger District, December 1972. It burned down in the fall of 1978 while the lookout was gone on a day of. The cause was suspected to be a leak in a propane frige they had recently installed. The fire was reported by the lookout on Clemens Mountain 16 miles to the southeast. The Elan belonged to the girl that was the lookout in the early 1970s. She had a 1958 Cadillac she parked in the garage that is now a snow mobiler warming shelter. The rear two feet of the fins would stick out of the door.
Panoramic photo taken in 1934 shows the garage that is now the snow mobiler shelter.. The car belongs to the photographer that has a transit camera set up on the catwalk. You can see his shadow on the ground in front of the garage. The numbers along the top of the photo are the azimuths. Looking southeast towards Big Bald Mountain and Clemens.
So COOL!!!!! Thanks for sharing 
Love the old pics of Ahtanum and Naches , those are my stomping grounds Buddy lives behind Jefferson's place. Yes the Cabin is still there @ Bear Lake , another buddies dad helped build it . I make a point to check it out every time im up on Bethal .
No photos of this trip, just a story. I wish I would have had a camera along. If anyone ever hears about or finds some gerry cans with the bottoms blown at at the bottom of the slope just above Huckleberry camp ground you will know how they got there.
I found a photo of Raven's Roost. On a peak with direct line of sight between Yakima and Seattle. They removed the Lookout and blasted 50 feet off the top of the peak to build a microwave relay in 1964.
1973
The Old Ravens Roost Lookout.
Ahtanum Ridge, Feb 1973. It was a good snow year with lots of snow down low. We unloaded on top of the ridge between Wiley City and Browns Town and rode up into the mountains.
Sea Dooing on the Columbia River
1973
The Old Ravens Roost Lookout.
Ahtanum Ridge, Feb 1973. It was a good snow year with lots of snow down low. We unloaded on top of the ridge between Wiley City and Browns Town and rode up into the mountains.
Sea Dooing on the Columbia River
Terry Star, Snowmobile Jumping King, Republic WA 1977
There was a local dare devil that lived in kettle Falls, WA. We went over Sherman Pass one time to watch him make an attempt at the worlds record snowmobile jump at the Republic rodeo grounds. Star was not his real name. He would change his last name to match his current dare devil trick.
The start of the races.
At half time Terry Star came out riding in a Twin Track Raider. It had stars painted all over it and he wore a suit with a cape and stars all over that outfit. He gave a speech saying he wouldn't count the jump as a record if he couldn't drive the snowmobile back to the starting line afterwords.
The jumping launch ramp. Notice the lights on wires at the top of the photo. He had the officials put props under the wires to raise them up so he wouldn't hit them.
His Jumping Machine was an Arctic cat. When he left the ramp he stood up on the snowmobile to let his cape fly out behind him like super man. he damn near hit the light wires and crashed down flat like a pancake on the hard packed snowmobile race track. The Arctic cat folded in half right in front of the seat. He sat there for a while and you could tell he was really hurting. He finally got to his feet and limped back to the finish line and gave another speech. It turns out he had a broken ankle.
Three years before this stunt he had gone over Spokane Falls in an in an inner tube. He used the name "Tubing Terry" for that stunt and was arrested for that stunt.
Here's a quote from a story about people trying to go over that falls.
"The only other "successful" navigation of upper Spokane Falls was also performed by a daredevil loner named Terry Brauner during the World's Fair in 1974. He wrapped himself inside several large inner tubes, which entrapped and nearly killed him before he was rescued at the Washington Water Power generating station." Link to the whole story https://www.inlander.com/spokane/falls-guy/Content?oid=2174885
I ran into him at the Kettle River raft races the next summer.. We had riden our Sea Doos up to the base of the last rapids. He saw those and and decided he wanted to do some kind of a dare devil trick to climb a water fall.
43 years later I think I'm still the Sea Doo trick riding king.
There was a local dare devil that lived in kettle Falls, WA. We went over Sherman Pass one time to watch him make an attempt at the worlds record snowmobile jump at the Republic rodeo grounds. Star was not his real name. He would change his last name to match his current dare devil trick.
The start of the races.
At half time Terry Star came out riding in a Twin Track Raider. It had stars painted all over it and he wore a suit with a cape and stars all over that outfit. He gave a speech saying he wouldn't count the jump as a record if he couldn't drive the snowmobile back to the starting line afterwords.
The jumping launch ramp. Notice the lights on wires at the top of the photo. He had the officials put props under the wires to raise them up so he wouldn't hit them.
His Jumping Machine was an Arctic cat. When he left the ramp he stood up on the snowmobile to let his cape fly out behind him like super man. he damn near hit the light wires and crashed down flat like a pancake on the hard packed snowmobile race track. The Arctic cat folded in half right in front of the seat. He sat there for a while and you could tell he was really hurting. He finally got to his feet and limped back to the finish line and gave another speech. It turns out he had a broken ankle.
Three years before this stunt he had gone over Spokane Falls in an in an inner tube. He used the name "Tubing Terry" for that stunt and was arrested for that stunt.
Here's a quote from a story about people trying to go over that falls.
"The only other "successful" navigation of upper Spokane Falls was also performed by a daredevil loner named Terry Brauner during the World's Fair in 1974. He wrapped himself inside several large inner tubes, which entrapped and nearly killed him before he was rescued at the Washington Water Power generating station." Link to the whole story https://www.inlander.com/spokane/falls-guy/Content?oid=2174885
I ran into him at the Kettle River raft races the next summer.. We had riden our Sea Doos up to the base of the last rapids. He saw those and and decided he wanted to do some kind of a dare devil trick to climb a water fall.
43 years later I think I'm still the Sea Doo trick riding king.
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I didn't get the correct photo in the description of the jump above. Here's the jump photo.
His Jumping Machine was an Arctic cat. When he left the ramp he stood up on the snowmobile to let his cape fly out behind him like super man. he damn near hit the light wires and crashed down flat like a pancake on the hard packed snowmobile race track. The Arctic cat folded in half right in front of the seat. He sat there for a while and you could tell he was really hurting. He finally got to his feet and limped back to the finish line and gave another speech. It turns out he had a broken ankle.
His Jumping Machine was an Arctic cat. When he left the ramp he stood up on the snowmobile to let his cape fly out behind him like super man. he damn near hit the light wires and crashed down flat like a pancake on the hard packed snowmobile race track. The Arctic cat folded in half right in front of the seat. He sat there for a while and you could tell he was really hurting. He finally got to his feet and limped back to the finish line and gave another speech. It turns out he had a broken ankle.
Believe it or not, this is a real job. Shooting Scion (the new growth at the top of the trees) out of Western Larch. It was collected from specific trees designated as "Super Trees" by a Silviculturist (Tree expert) and sent to a tree laboratory where it was grafted on to a genetically superior larch. The cones produced by that graft would have genetically superior seed and be sent back to where it came from to be used in reforestation projects.
Swale Cr near Heppner OR, Jan 1973
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My 1985 Phazer with a Polaris 133 inch track and suspension in the background. That was before Yamaha made a long track Phazer.
Aiming
Snow bank gives good support for a steady shot
Swale Cr near Heppner OR, Jan 1973
Loading
My 1985 Phazer with a Polaris 133 inch track and suspension in the background. That was before Yamaha made a long track Phazer.
Aiming
Snow bank gives good support for a steady shot
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