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San Juan
Backcountry Snowmobile Tour Review
::Continued::
As for the snowmobiles, they offer both Yamaha
Venture Lite 2-up touring sleds and single Ski-Doo
Summit XP 600 sleds. With 1 hour, 2 hour, 4 hour,
and full day tours available, they have plenty
touring options to meet your time frame, and tour
prices starting at $85 for a single and $100 for
a double.
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San
Juan Backcountry offers everything to keep
you warm & safe on the trail
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If you didn’t pack any cold weather gear,
no worries, they have you covered. They have everything
you need from boots, riding suits, gloves, and
helmets to keep you warm and safe on your ride,
which was perfect for us since we didn’t
come prepared to go snowmobile riding.
The only thing you will need to operate a sled is a driver’s license or a snowmobile license, and there isn’t any age restrictions on the passengers, but the youngest they have taken out was a four year old.
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This
would be the first time ATVriders.com's
Harlen Foley would experience riding a snowmobile
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With nearly thirty years of experience riding ATVs and three wheelers, this was my first time driving a snowmobile because we really don’t get enough snow in Maryland to justify having one, so I was really excited about this opportunity, so after a brief overview of controls, which are very similar to what you would find on an ATV, it was time to head out for a couple hour long ride.
Immediately, I noticed how much more you need to lean into the turns for the sled to actually want to turn. Just turning the bars wasn’t enough, you had to move your body weight to the inside of the turn and lean into it before the front skies would dig into the snow and turn, but it was easy enough to get use to after a few turns.
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After a few minutes, we
starting feeling comfortable with the controls
and how the snowmobile handled. The controls
are similar to an ATV, but it takes much
more body English to turn |
After I started feeling comfortable with the sled, we headed out on some of the tighter trails through the pine trees with some hills, which were a lot of fun, and having the trails packed and groomed makes a big difference over trying to ride through deep powder, which can suck up a snowmobile if you don’t stay on the gas. I quickly found out how deep the snow was when I got off the sled to walk out into the snow for some photos, and after I got off the groomed trail, I sunk into the snow up to my waist, so I was really thankful for the groomed trails.
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The tighter
trails through pine trees was like a winter
wonderland with the trees covered in snow
& fresh snowing falling most of the
day |
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