Snowmobiling in Woodford

Woodford, VT holds a special place in my heart. My love of vehicles got passed on to me from my dad. Our family got into snowmobiling when I was pretty young. At the time, our family had a small vacation house in Copake, NY. The house sat on top of a small mountain (ok…maybe big hill is a better description but I’ll stretch it for the story) overlooking a lake, and backing up to what seemed like endless forest trails and farmland. The farmers gave locals permission to ride on their property making it possible to link trails and fields together in loops that lasted hours. Or, we used the snowmobiles to carry us up the hills for repeated toboggan runs, and when there was too much snow for my dad to get the family Jeep Wagoneer up the long driveway, the snowmobiles were our driveway shuttles. When snow patterns began to change, our opportunities to snowmobile on the back trails and fields became less and less frequent…so Dad went searching. The search landed us Snowmobiling in Woodford, VT.

Woodford, VT is location for one of the largest snowmobile clubs in the US…The Woodford Snobusters…

On a good snow year, it’s possible to ride into New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and all the way up to the Canadian border from little ‘ole Woodford. The trails are groomed by volunteers in snowcats, maintaining hundreds of miles within the Snobuster trail network reach.

My Own Ride

Once I got old enough to buy my own snowmobile and transport it myself, my trips to Woodford included my childhood friend Nick. We would pack up my truck with our skis, hitch up the trailer with the snowmobiles, and head to VT for the weekend. Nick was also one of my bump skiing friends so those weekends included long miles on the snowmobiles and intense days on bump lines. Sunday nights were an exercise in helping keep other awake on the drive home, and managing the aches and pains of a weekend spent just the way we liked it.

Fast forward a few (ha ha ha) years. While Becky was putting her birthday present to Jay in action at close by Mt Snow.  Nick and I were making our way to go Snowmobiling in Woodford. Spring 2018 brought some fantastic Nor’Easters to VT, dropping 80-100” of snow over 3-4 weeks. All that fresh snow gets bumpy pretty quickly on the snowmobile trails, despite the best efforts of the trail groomers. Thankfully longer travel modern snowmobiles, combined with the control and compliance provided by the FOX suspension www.ridefox.com on these current machines made riding until lunch time still fun and pleasant.

Another Week, Another Storm

One week later and another Nor’Easter gift left overnight, my son Geoffrey and I made the same trip to Woodford Nick and I had the week before. As good as the conditions were with Nick, this Geoffrey and I day was a contender for a top snowmobile conditions day ever.

About 1 foot of snow fell overnight on top of the very deep and well groomed base snow. As silly as it sounds, normal snowmobiles don’t work well in deep snow. In the western mountain states, snowmobiles are equipped with extra long and deep lugged tracks to navigate deep powder conditions. In the East, the trail oriented snowmobiles work best on groomed conditions. Deep snow, in the wrong hands, causes a frustrating and tiring day of getting stuck and unstuck repeatedly. Especially when off the trail, the snow is multiple feet deep.

For Geoff and I, these are the conditions we dream about. Fresh snow of just the right depth. Groomed base underneath. Untracked. Yehaw. We spent most of the day breaking trail. Switching between who would lead and who would follow. Laughing in our helmets the entire time.

Thanks Woodford for consistently delivering all these years and for a fantastic handful of memory making days in 2018!!! Oh yeah, thanks Dad for finding this place.