It's been years since I've been on a good night ride (that was intended to be a night ride, anyway). But last weekend I took a friend out on a loop through the mountains in Island Park. We left at 10 at got back around midnight.

The first thing I noticed is how we have taken headlights for granted in our mountain sled tests. Since we weren't on a trail and we were going up and down the whole time, snow buildup and having a wide beam of light are big issues.

The other thing is that if you're going off-trail, you better know the area better than the walk from your bed to the john, because when it's dark, you lose all your landmark points of reference. There were a couple spots where I was looking at snow drifts trying to confirm that we were where we were supposed to be.

In a cycle of rides that seem to run together, a night ride reminded me just why snowmobiling is such a fun sport.

-RH