snowcat voyage

Well the wife and I have a few shovels rounded up, snowcat loaded, chase snowmobiles loaded, and a survival kit. If you do not hear from me again send out the search party!! Will be somewhere in the northern Big Horns Seeing if mighty mouse will float on the snow?? Maiden long voyage for mighty mouse!!!

Don't forget the camera!!!

Good luck tomorrow. Dress warm as it is already -15 on the south end tonight. If I would of known earlier today, I could of loaded a snow cat and met you on the north end. Too late and too cold now. Save some snow for next weekend. Have fun and post some pics....

Also don't kill all of the snow snakes tomorrow.... save some for another time.

Sorry mtn topper, I did not know I was going for sure until about 5 loaded everything up, posted it, snotel says it is 11.2 at Burgess at 6am should not be to cold I hope. I think it will prob be alot of tinkering anyway. Hope to get together with you soon.

Ok Mike, you are either having a great time or are maybe not. Its now 6:28 PM and dark. Do I need to load the LMC 1200 and head to the north end?

Nope I am back details to follow.

Well good time was had by all, we ended up driving around for about 3 hours, forgot camera in truck so I only have a couple pics by parking area. The snow ranged from minimal at places to well over 2 feet in others and alot of deep drifts in between. The temps and weather were beautiful, sunny, 45-50 degrees, it was hot in the snow cat. The cat worked good, little underpowered it ran pretty rich I think I will mess with the jetting. Nice part was it ran for 3+ hours and it burned .75 gal of gas. and the only other prob my alternator pucked about 2hrs in. Just to prove 2 Batts can be a life saver, did not need second one but if I had been farther in the boonies??? It could have been an ugly day. The snow was powder to the ground so you had to be careful of rocks and stumps, But their were lots of sleds out and lots of broken sleds!!!!Well I now know what I need to tinker on and keep me busy at night.

Glad everything worked out. Where did you unload at? Where did you venture too? The temps went up last night from about -12 at 7:00 PM to about 15 degrees above by daylight this morning. If you don't like the weather in Wyoming, just wait 12 hours it will change......

I think I will mess with the jetting. Nice part was it ran for 3+ hours and it burned .75 gal of gas.

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Maybe you want to richen it up. It takes fuel to make horsepower..... The air is too thin at that altitude to make any ponies..... in many engines.

We ended up leaving from granite pass heading towards Bald Mtn. Very open country up there, very pretty. Have you ever traveled the paintrock trail from the south end to the north end??

mbsieg said:

We ended up leaving from granite pass heading towards Bald Mtn. Very open country up there, very pretty. Have you ever traveled the paintrock trail from the south end to the north end??

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I operated a snowmobile groomer in the Granite Pass/Sawmill Divide area at night for a couple of years. Very nice area with lots of great snow and limited visibility when it storms. Spent many nights looking out the side window of the cat wondering where the heck I was..... In a good storm the front windshield is almost impossible to see through with the blowing snow especially if you are running the front blade. Just find a fence or tree line or highway and watch it beside you....and hope you don't fall off the trail....or into a creek with that long drag behind you.... Not a job for the faint at heart...

It is actually about 100 miles from my front door to Burgess Junction/Bear Lodge via the Paintrock snowmobile trail. Only about 6 to 8 miles are left ungroomed now near Cement Mtn in the bottom of the canyon. It has been a couple of years since we made the trip. The wife and I try to pick a good weather day and have snowmobiled across and back home in one long tiring day. Do you want to try it sometime? The 6 miles left ungroomed is one rough and tough section that is not good on man or sled....