It all started during the winter of '94/'95. That was the year I had picked up my first sled - the Puma 2-up. With my new ride, I thought it would be fun to take a trip up to northern MN where my family had a log cabin located far from civilization and accessible only by snowmobile during the winter months. My family used to take winter trips to the Cabin during the 70's and early 80's and they were only a dim memory in my mind. Dad picked up on my desire to head up there and put together a "guys only" trip.
Stopping for a breather on Big Johnson Lake - winter '96. From left to right: Mike S., Mike R., myeself, Nic, my mother, Andrew
Due to school obligations, the trip was set for the President's Day break in February of 1995. There were 10 of us that prepared to go: Myself, Dad, Andrew, Zac, Sam (The Captain; Zac's dad), Mike R. and Nic, Ardie, Mike S. and Ben. Our sleds comprised a rag-tag group of machines, some literally revived to get us where we needed to go. I had my Puma, dad had his '79 Polaris Gemini (a bullet-proof sled with a tough 250cc twin), Ardie had a 1970 AC Panther 303 Wankel (wish I knew where that machine ended up), Andrew was to use our '74 Scorpion Super Stinger (I had to graft 399cc jugs and pistons onto the original 290cc crankcase becasuse it had burned down for the second time in 2 years), Ardie also had a 340cc Panther which Nic used (hence his early nickname - pun intended - "Chainsaw"), Sam and Zac had picked up a '91 Pantera and a '90 El Tigre, Mike and Ben rode together on Mike's '73 AC Cheetah 400
What a crew we had for the '97 trip -14 of us!
It took a few spark plugs, spare parts, new belts, some welding, and lots of elbow grease, but we managed to bring everything together the night before we were planning to head out.
Winter trips had generally consisted of short rides on the lakes and through the woods, hauling a chainsaw to pick up some firewood, and then resting or playing games the remainder of the day. That was the plan for this trip as well. Zac and Sam took off and explored a trail system that I never knew existed. Dad and Ardie and the Mikes took off one afternoon and played around - unintentionally - in some slush they encountered on the lake. Fortunately, no one got stuck. Sam and Zac later returned with all this great news about the trails. Trail riding? Well, I suppose we could try that out. Most of us had never done it before, so we decided to head out for a short ride. With that first taste of the trails, winter riding for us would never be the same.
Posing in front of the Grassy Bay Cliffs on Sand Point Lake in Voyageurs National Park - February '96.
That first trip was a huge success. The Scorpion limped home, and the Cheetah had to be towed the last couple of miles to the trailers. But these were the only casualties. We had great times on the snow and off (just ask Nic about his udder balm experience and his 13th birthday celebration). As a result, another trip was planned for the following year. We had a new group for this trip. Zac and Sam couldn't make it, Fran (Ardie's wife), Connie (Nic's mom), Colby (Nic's brother), and my mom joined the remainder of the first group.
For the second trip, gone were most of the old sleds. My dad had picked up a '96 Puma 2-up, Mike R. bought a '95 Puma, Mike S. bought a '96 Cougar 2-up for himself and a '96 Puma for Ben, and Andrew bought his first machine - a '93 Jag.
Testing out the powder capabilities of my Puma.
Twelve strong, we headed up to the Cabin, ready for another fun weekend. That trip turned out to be a bummer for me as I came down with a terrible cold that weekend and had very little energy to ride much. I did get out each day, but wasn't able to take in the crazy adventures of Mike R. and Andrew doubling up on the Jag, bumping and bouncing to the Cat dealer to look at the rear shock; nor did I get much of a chance to test out the BIG machine - the Cougar 550! It was that very sled that eventually led Andrew to buy his own '95 Cougar.
Andrew on his uncle's Polaris 440 during the '97 trip.
For 1997, we were joined by Andrew's dad, Nathan, and his brother Anthony who were making their first trips up to the Cabin. This was our biggest group to date - 14. We had another wonderul time hanging out with friends, and taking advantage of the trails. As always, the weekend flew by too quickly. Unfortunately, we wouldn't make it back to the Cabin for 3 years.
The parking lot in the back yard of the Cabin on Little Namakan Lake - February 2000.
As all midwest riders were aware, the three seasons after 1997 were very poor for riding in most areas. Low snowfalls combined with mild temperatures gave us a looooong winter where we had to endure the gleafull utterances of tv and radio personalities who assume that everybody enjoys warm weather and brown scenery. I could rant about that, but I'll digress; suffice it to say that our "annual" trip had to be cancelled in 1998 and 1999 due to lack of snow.
For 2000, we planned the trip just as we had every year previous. Snow was marginal again, but better than the two years previous. At the last minute, we decided the trip was a go, and we pacekd up and headed out.
That year we had 12 people with Randy, Micah, and Jonathan McGowan as the newcomers. Jonathan had retrofitted the 1974 Scorpion Super Stinger with a 340cc Suzuki Spirit motor and he used that during the trip. It worked well at the beginning, but developed ignition trouble, and was laid up for the remainder of the trip.
The trails had just enough snow to keep them groomed, but tended to get rough without much traffic. We kept to the lake trails for the most part as these never got rough - and took us as far as we needed to go anyway. We also tooled around our own lake and also drove around on the connecting lake. Snow wasn't deep, but there was enough powder to keep us happy considering the conditions of the past 2 years
The weather was warm each day we were there, and the thermometer topped 50 degrees the day we left. It turned out that this trip was the last snowmobiling any of us did in Minnesota for the rest of the season. President's Day 2000 marked a warm-up that melted pretty much all the snow across the state over the next couple of weeks. Nevertheless, we did have another successful trip, and the snow held out for us all weekend. It gave us all an anticipation for the 2001 trip, which turned out to be the most exciting trip (at least for me) of them all.
