Weekend Adventure: Backcountry Snowmobiling
MORAN, Wyo., Feb. 21, 2010— -- Forty miles outside Jackson, Wyo., the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail System, provides stunning views of the winter landscape of the Wyoming backcountry.
"You look around here and it's just endless hills and mountains," said Levi LaVallee, professional freestyle snowmobiler and SnoCross racer.
With annual snowfall measuring upwards of 600 inches, the trail system provides full access to the powder of the far reaches of the Bridger-Teton National Forest that are only reachable by snowmobile.
"A snowmobile's got tons of traction out here. It just stays up on the snow with the wide skis and the big track," said LaVallee. "All this amazing terrain and you can really only see this by way of a snowmobile. It would take you years to do it on foot,"
Togwotee Mountain Lodge, one of the premier snowmobiling destinations in the U.S., is the main access point to the over 600 miles of trails that make up the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail System. Along with a variety of rugged terrain, the trail system provides scenic views of the Grand Teton Mountain Range.
"The thing you get at Togwotee is you can go out and ride powder, have a leisurely ride and enjoy the scenery or you can find jumps and have a very challenging ride," said Tyler Tobin, a Jackson, Wyo., native and marketing director for SCS Unlimited, a snowmobiling and motorsports marketing company.
"And then, at the end of the day, you can just get off your sled and you're right at the lodge."
For "Good Morning America Weekend's" Weekend Adventure series, LaVallee, 26, and freestyle snowmobiler Heath Frisby, 25, took a break from their usual regimen of practicing acrobatic freestyle tricks to let loose in the backcountry of northwest Wyoming.
