How I Became a Sledhead

I write about waiting for our first Michigan snowfall of the season and our upcoming snowmobile trips on different social media outlets and most of my friends cringe and say, STOP USING THAT FOUR LETTER WORD! 🙂 I’ve lived here in Michigan all my life, and had always hated winter until I discovered snowmobiling at my ex-boyfriend’s brother’s house, I think it was December of 1993. He had a sled (no idea what model) and trails behind his house in Milford, MI. Standing out in the backyard in the glistening snow, it started something like this:

“Here, try it out”

“No, thanks, I don’t know how to ride one”

“Get on it.”

“No, really, I don’t know what I’m doing”

“Get on it.”

“Dude, seriously, I might hit something and wreck it”

“GET ON IT!”

And the next thing I knew, I had a helmet on and took off into the darkness, going slow, as that was the only thing I knew to responsibly do, as I’d never ridden a snowmobile before. I found my way back a little while later, and the nervousness wore off. I hit the throttle and actually got a little air going up a hill. I still think of that frigid, starry night and I thank him for forcing me to get over my apprehension and discover something I’ve loved ever since.

Life continued and I didn’t get started snowmobiling myself until a few years ago. I remember a winter, sometime in the late 90s, we had a huge dumping of snow, and sitting in the living room, saw a flash of light zip by, and the sound of a four stroke engine zooming down our snow covered residential street.  Since then, I’ve wanted one. How cool would it be to take a quick jaunt down the street and back into the garage before the police notice? Unfortunately I don’t live in a rural area where snowmobiling on the side of the road is accepted, but my yard now is big enough for a small track to satisfy our cravings until we can head north.

We found my Kawasaki LTD in November of 2008 and I’ve had a blast with it ever since. Like others in Southeast Michigan, after a good dumping of snow, we load up the trailer and head north on I-75. I’ve collected trail maps for trails throughout Michigan, but so far we’ve visited regularly the Harrison and Copemish areas, and have become familiar with the trails and amenities. One year, as we were speeding through the woods, we happened upon a raccoon, who had crossed the trail in front of us, and was frantically trying to climb the two foot snow bank. We stopped before we got too close, turned off the sleds and waited, thinking the noise from the sleds was scaring him even more. He finally made it up the snow bank, and scurried up a tree.  Continuing on a bit, I stopped, looked back and took a picture, zooming in the best I could with our 5mp point and shoot.   It wasn’t until later when I viewed the picture on my computer that I saw he was looking right at me.

Snowmobiling fills the void as we wait through winter for the snow to melt and the temps to rise as the crocuses poke through the melting snow, promising that motorcycle season is right around the corner, the days when 50 degrees feels so warm, as opposed to the way it felt last fall, as summer slipped away. I look forward to the upcoming weekend, when we pop open the trailer and take a look at what needs to be done for our first trip. There are so many events planned for the upcoming season, races, shows, festivals. I’m not one of those people who puts up their Christmas tree after Halloween, but it’s the 21^st of November and I’m in the spirit. Not just the Christmas spirit, but the winter spirit.  Something I never had before I became a sledhead.