We had a well thought-out plan. Or so we thought.
The plan was to have someone from the Dirt Toys office drop a couple of us off in Alpine, ride our two Polaris Aces up Grey’s River Road past the Box Y Lodge and then turn east and head over McDougal Gap and then out to U.S. Highway 189.
There, we would get picked up, make the drive back to Alpine and then ride the Aces from Alpine to the Ririe Reservoir Dam, which is east of Idaho Falls.
Seemed simple enough—until we hit the snow at high elevations.
The Aces are light enough, we thought. that we could ride over the top of the snow. We only had to go 50 or so yards of snow to beat and then the road was clear again. We estimate we were within a mile or so of McDougal Gap when we got stuck.
We never made it. Instead, we dug and lifted and used a dead tree as a lever and all manner of work to get the Ace, which didn’t exactly go across the top of the snow but instead got mired, unstuck. High-centered. Going nowhere. Stuck with a capital S.
Our kingdom for a shovel.
After getting unstuck, we retraced our trip back to Alpine, had lunch and then continued our ride from Alpine to the Ririe Reservoir Dam. No snow on that section of the ride.
Despite our minor setback, the ride was great. We saw lots of wildlife: deer (more than we could count), elk, moose and a bald eagle. Yes, we got rained on, but we had prepared with the right gear (thanks Fly Racing for the riding gear) so that wasn’t a big deal. And the scenery in this part of Wyoming and Idaho is nothing short of amazing.
So we’re all good.
