A Senior Moment
Why ride a snow mobile?
By Ron Mack

Why would otherwise sane people go to a place where the temperature hovers around zero, the snow is about five feet deep, and if you get lost, you are truly lost? Well, why not?

Why not, if you are looking for a truly exhilarating, adventurous vacation? Why not, if you are seeking deep green forests, tinged in white snow? Why not, if you are seeking majestic mountain peaks set against a deep blue sky? Why not, if the thought of gliding along snow-covered trails, through a curtain of snow flakes sets your adrenalin flowing? Why not, if the sight of a moose or a herd of elk within a stone's throw sets your heart to a rapid drum beat? Why not, if racing up a 45 degree slope or cutting a 90 degree turn on a powerful machine in a white field of deep powder thrills you to your marrow?

Folks, for my wife Helen and I, the answer to all these questions is yes, yes, yes! Having recently returned, with nine other adventurers from a snowmobile vacation in the heart of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and Grand Teton National Park, at the foot of the Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming, we can only say WOW! Unless you have actually experienced the thrill of riding a snowmobile in this winter wonderland, my words are probably inadequate to describe the exper i e n c e . No other vacation and no o t h e r place we have gone can hold a candle to snowmob i l i n g under the peaks of the Grand Te t o n s , and it is probably our favorite.

The accompanying pictures to this column will also paint a picture of the awesome beauty that God created in the Grand Teton Mountains. They are like no other mountain range. Rising from the basin of northwestern Wyoming,

they have no foothills. There is no gradual change from flatland to foothill to mountains; there is just flatland and then the Tetons.

And then there are the trails, meadows, and f o r e s t s t h r o u g h which we ride. This area is a snowmobile mecca where manufacturers bring their machines for rigorous testing on this challenging terrain. Yet the region is so vast, that instead of being crowded, most of the time you and your group seem to be the only human life within a hundred miles.

I truly hope that sometime in your life before you die, you take the opportunity to experience a snowmobile vacation in the shadow of the Grand Teton Mountains.

Viso Gero!