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Wow, I don't know where to start! Three great days of riding began for me with our Thursday trip to Gunsight Peak. Our original group of 7 included:
Justus (rkymntkg)
Karl (Karl)
Steve (Triple Threat)
Terry (TriNitro-T)
Jake (TUG)
Shawn (sandman)
myself (Cat_Tamer)
We met at the Pack River Shell station and after inhaling one of the Blue Heron's homemade breakfast burritos, we proceded up Pack River road to the unloading area. We rode away from the pickups without knowing exactly where we were going, but we knew we were going riding, and that's about all that mattered.
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Karl tries out the King Cat
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Sorry guys, I didn't get much for pictures that day. We had a little sunshine for maybe 45 minutes or so, but for the most part it was gray and ugly. Besides, the snow was too good to be standing around taking pictures!
We had an interesting trail ride, beginning with a moose in the trail that simply had no desire to step aside and let us by. After following him for 1/2 mile or so from 50 yards back, I decided I'd push him a little thinking maybe he'd step up off the trail and let us go past. The moose didn't seem to be quite as impressed with the King Cat as everyone else was, and when I got within about 10 yds, he stopped, turned, and lowered his head to me. I thought I was dead meat and my new sled was about to become part of the terrain, but fortunately Bullwinkle changed his mind and turned again, this time stepping off the trail far enough to let me blast past him. Eventually the rest of the group managed to make it past him too and we were all on our merry way once again.
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Our progress was once again halted when Jake's immaculate 700 Polaris tried to eat itself from the inside out. Apparently a chunk of piston skirt broke off and played pinball inside the engine for a short while. Aluminum deposits on the spark plug dictated that the sled would be towed back to the pickups rather than ridden. Steve and Jake had driven up together, so Steve towed the dead sled back to the trailer and they called it an early day with only about 8 miles of trail riding. Sorry TUG, that bites. Best wishes to your sled for a speedy recovery.
Now only 5 in number, the rest of the group continued up the trail. At the junction where the road split, a quick "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" determined that we would ride The Gunsight Peak area rather than the more popular "Jeru". I broke trail into the area simply because I was the only one who'd been there before.
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rkymtnkg on an Arctic Cat?!
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Terry's sled tried to eat a belt. Closer inspection revealed that at idle speeds, the primary clutch was shaking violently, but it smoothed out somewhat as RPM increased. We noticed that his torque bumper wasn't snugged up against the engine. Did tightening that up cure the problem, Terry? I never did hear the outcome.
Upon arrival into the area we were treated to some sunshine and a whole mountain that hadn't been touched since the previous snowfall. Snow was excellent, probably 14-18" of fresh that had fallen in the 2 or 3 days prior. We had a blast ripping up the face of the ridge in the sunshine. Our sunshine didn't last long though, and it soon turned the typical dull gray overcast we have come to expect from Pack River. Visibility remained good however, and we actually had a very good day tearing up as much of the untouched stuff as we had energy for.
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