Combing snowmobile trails in the backcountry

BONNEVILLE COUNTY — Just about the time you’re starting your gloomy, winter day, Craig Daniels is ending his.

He’s one of four groomsmen in Bonneville County combing snowmobile track in the backcountry. The more it snows, the more he goes.

“The last three years have been a bummer, but this year is just taking off,” says Craig Daniels, Bonneville County Parks and Recreation manager. “We’re going out every week. We just continue to put down the best trial we possibly can. So far people have been pretty happy.”

Grooming takes hours, but not as many hours as it took a few decades ago.

In the 1990s, it took 14 hours to groom 60 miles. Now, thanks to advances in snowcat technology, those same miles take seven hours.

“When you’re grooming snow, you want to go over the top of it and take as little as possible,” Daniels says. “Fix whatever bumps are there and go as fast as you can because it will take you a long time to groom the snow.”

It takes Bonneville County groomers a week to groom 400 miles of snowmobile trail, which also includes Bingham County.

Outdoor journalist Kris Millgate is based in Idaho Falls. See her work at www.tightlinemedia.com.