Just a couple words of caution if you head west to trail ride. Signage is nothing like your used to in the midwest. In fact, it's basically non-existing except for intersections. There will be no sign telling you a 90 degree hairpin is coming up. If your a hot rodder and you blow a corner, you may end up at the bottom of a thousand ft ravine! Also, pit stops, watering holes, and gas are generally few and far between. Be mindfull of your fuel level and plan ahead. Be prepared for weather to change instantly and have enough survival gear/knowledge to be able to get through at least one night on the mountain. It's quite a different ball game out there!
back up plan
- Thread starter momoney2123
- Start date
momoney2123
New member
Thanks for the advice. Def going to fill the linq with food/water/firestarter. Probably a first aid kit as well. Anything else you guys reccommend? Yea there is no way we are gona go fast, not the style, especially in unchartered waters. We just have new sleds and want to ride them and get them broken in and enjoy a new area. As long as we can locate ourselves on the map at intersections, that is all i can ask.
trail's just west and north of Pindale when I was theer were outstanding, amlmost zero traffic, I think I seen like 7 sleds in 10 days?/ hundred's of miles of trails, and off trail riding all over, NOT a ton of places to get gas, so had to watch the fuel at times, but they were grromed almost every night it seems, flat as a board every morning!
Stayed at Green river guest ranch, in a cabin, nice warm dry, sold gas, had food, also close by was a place called Elk ridge lodge(they sold since I was theer and have a new name which I cannot recall), the Line Shack was also about 40 miles away off ttrail, and a stunning huge log lodge that both rents rooms, and sleds and supply's food too!
but yes the west has tons of great trails, as very few folks go there to trail ride it seems?? its all about off trail riding IMO to most folks out there??
Stayed at Green river guest ranch, in a cabin, nice warm dry, sold gas, had food, also close by was a place called Elk ridge lodge(they sold since I was theer and have a new name which I cannot recall), the Line Shack was also about 40 miles away off ttrail, and a stunning huge log lodge that both rents rooms, and sleds and supply's food too!
but yes the west has tons of great trails, as very few folks go there to trail ride it seems?? its all about off trail riding IMO to most folks out there??
We ride the Cora, Wy area that is north of Pinedale. You have a bar called The Place with cabins right off 352 towards the Green River trail head. Then off the same road to the north west is an awesome place called Kendall Valley Lodge. They have cabins, bar, food and 91 non-ethanol for sale. Cabins are $99/night w/ free breakfast. The Green River trail will take you right through an Elk Feeding area. Around 4:30pm you will see hundreds of elk with a dozen bulls on the trail playing around. 3 very good mountains to explore. Elk Ridge, Pass Peak & Tosi Peak.
Kendal valley lodge, is the new name, old name was Elk Ridge Lodge, I mentioned above LOL. And the green river guest ranch I mentioned above, is also called " The Place"
I agree this area is very rich with wildlife, I seen seveal wolves and mule deer, and tons of Elk on my trips there.
and the trails were awesome, coming from a trail rider, off trail was all I could ask for, and like I said, I didn't see anyone pretty much for my 10 day stays, was like having a million acres, and 600 miles of trails to ourselves, and that was priceless to me LOL
momoney2123
New member
garyl62
Active member
No better deal you'll find than the Tog package up for bid right now for the Make-a-Wish ride-in. If I had someone to go with me I'd be bidding it up, but without someone to split it with it's just beyond my price point. I'm looking for someone though. Momoney, if you've got more than 2 total, you could add more guys to the reservation and split it up between all of you. If you've never been out there before why not go to the place everyone here talks about, especially if you can save a couple bucks and help out a good cause at the same time?
momoney2123
New member
Its not out of the question, we are going to have a meeting with my buds next week to decide where we want to go. The only disadvantage to tog is the 8 hour or so of extra driving. if we were flying would be different, but we have new sleds and want to ride them. We may be staying in the midwest just have to wait and see right now. But if this meltdown is bad enough, and the snow doesnt come, west we go
- - - Updated - - -
Actually after reading it again, the bidding ends the 31st. We are leaving christmas day wherever we go.
We stayed at the old corral hotel. I would recommend staying up on the hill so you don't have to deal with trailering every day. Driving up and down the elevation can be a pain. For what you are trying to do I would recommend going here instead of all the way to tog. If you go that far, might as well rent mountain sleds. Albany lodge is near old corral also and I have heard good things about that too but never been there
http://oldcorral.com/
Here's the website. Prices were reasonable if I remember right. Good food for dinner there and another place for dinner across the street. Place next store good for breakfast too. I wouldn't be too concerned about gas there - it is more desolate but there are 3 or 4 places in that general area to get gas. If you play it safe, you'll be fine. Ten Mile is on the other side - that's the farthest we went. We typically headed out in the morning and filled up mid-afternoon, just to be on the safe side (topping off then was 4 or 5 gallons). I don't know if we topped 100 miles on any day we were there, and we definitely did more trail riding than most, as we were all on 121's. Even if you trail ride, you can't ride fast out there with the terrain, and there are no railroad grades to burn up miles. And you can't help but stop and explore off trail. We did the trip at the last minute and bought clutch weights at the dealerships in the nearby town and dropped them in ourselves.
Just a heads up, there is no gas on the east side of the mountain other than in town. So if you were to stay up on the mountain as Hoosier suggested, you would have to trailer down to town every night to top off. Albany Lodge is your best bet for trail ridding. Everything you need right there and you don't have to cross Libby Flats every day to ride, which is the highest point on the mountain. It can be a real bear to cross over at times. Complete whiteout conditions even when it's not snowing! You can also drive another 2 hours and stay on the west side of the range. Either of those would be a better option for trail ridding than staying in Cenntennial, in my opinion.
I rented sleds out there, at the time, the place I stayed at rented sleds, I put on a little over a 1,100 miles in 10 days, had my grilfriend with me, last time out, and she never rode a sled before LOL
but 1,100 miles in 10 days for a first time rider, was pretty good I thought
she didn't enjoy getting stuck, and didn;t have the skills for off trail riding, so, she stayed on trails mostly, and watched me and a buddy play in the powder, ELk RIDGE lODGE, now, Kendal valley lodge,
I know they will still rent sleds, they don't stock sleds, if you set up a date, and stay with them, they will get you sleds, I think several places near by work the same way, The Line Shack, used to have a fleet of rental sleds, but I know that place has been for sale for about 8+ yrs, so they haven't been sinking a ton of money into things, but MAN if I had the cash, I'd buy that place, its one HUGE log lodge, set right on the trail system, stunning place..
IF yout NOT into longer distance riding, or sure of your self, "the Place, and Kendal valley lodge, might not be the best best for you, as from there to say the next BAr gas/place to eat, its about a 40-50 mile ride one way!, there both set up off the beaten path so to speak, but right on the trails, trail are marked very well, several warming huts for trail said estops
BUT its not like, tourist travel trail system, where you can bar hop or??
its all about riding and exploring from these places
, you can get to togwotee lodge and several others, but there a 80+ mile one way deal
can also get to several hot springs too
if your looking for good trails , good snow, normally, and no crowds, both the above places are great
if your looking for lots of entertainment, places to stop at, this sin't that!
head to Island park, or west yellowstone
they will have a TON more to do, and maybe even better packaged deals, some places throw in a free tank of gas every day, and at todays prices, that alone is a deal
Isn't there gas right next to the old corral? Maybe its not there anymore
Yes, but that is in town, not on the mountain.
Ok I was thinking in-town meant the bigger town off the mountain. Can't remember what it was called off the top of my head.
You can easily ride from the Old Corral, on trail sleds for sure. I think it's at like 8,000 feet. I remember those looking for powder only trailered from the Old Corral higher up the mountain, but it's not that long of a ride, IMO, especially for someone looking for a split between trail and off-trail.
Were you referring to The old corral as being up on the hill? The majority of the time you can't ride out from there due to low snow. Most people that stay there trailer up to Greenrock parking area every day.
Didn't know that - when we were there, the snow close to the old corral wasn't great but it wasn't unrideable either. So I figured there was normally snow there. Probably 2 to 3 miles down the trail and at higher elevation it got considerably deeper. Some of the people were trailering up to Greenrock when I was there - perhaps that's just par for the course most years. If that's the case, I'd suggest Alpine. Ten Mile is supposed to be a better place to start from, but because of seasonal roads, it's a much longer drive.
When you were talking about staying down the hill, I assumed you meant down in Laramie, which is more of a "modern" town - dealerships, fast food, etc.
10-4. Sometimes you get lucky and can ride out from the Old Corral but its more the exception than the rule. Thats why I suggested Albany Lodge. You can ride from there and it isn't really much further than going to Old Corral. Trails are generally in better shape down there as well.
The more i think about it I think I remember being told alpine would be better but they were booked when we went. We were booking days out due to no snow in the Midwest