Over the (Henry’s Fork) River and Through the (Island Park) Woods

We are holding our annual staff planning conference in Island Park this year. Jim Everson donated the use of his cabin. Dave Kirk and I drove up there to check things out and scout out locations for our team building events (x-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling).

The day dawned cloudy and cold as we headed north. I was pulling a trailer with two snowmobiles we borrowed from Robin Stewart. It was snowing lightly but the roads were clear—until we arrived in Island Park. There is a LOT of snow up there and the temperature had dropped below zero.

We made our way to the cabin about five miles west of Pond’s Lodge. I had some trouble turning around with the trailer on the narrow roads. The snow is so deep they have to use snow blowers to clear the roads and it’s like driving through four foot deep ditches. We checked out the beautiful cabin and, like Goldilocks, found it just right. We drove out in the truck to find a location for our snowmobiling activity. I turned onto a narrow road but after a short distance we saw it was not cleared very well and, contrary to the map, it was not a through street—in the winter. I stopped and tried to back out but quickly got stuck. After a few futile attempts I stopped trying. There was no way we were backing out with a trailer behind us.

We unloaded the snowmobiles and unhooked the trailer. We spun it around and pushed and dragged it about one-hundred feet until we got it off the road. I tried to back the truck out but it kept sliding off the road into the soft snow. But with each attempt I gained a foot or two so I kept at it. When I was about halfway out the truck got so stuck it wouldn't move at all. It was right up against the snow bank on the driver's side and the top of the snow was even with bottom of the truck’s window. It was time to break out the shovels.

We returned to the cabin and borrowed two shovels and started digging. After we moved quite a bit of snow I was able to drive forward out of the hole. After several more backward runs the truck finally made it out and back onto the good road (thanks to prayer and four-wheel drive.) All this effort, so easy to write now but very strenuous then, used up about an hour and we were quickly running out of time. We had to be back in Idaho Falls for evening meetings.

We hitched the trailer back onto the truck, turned around (on good roads), and parked it in the cabin's driveway. We then used the snowmobiles to look for suitable sites for our activities. It was fun to ride the snowmobiles but way too cold at high speeds. After finding what we were looking for we went back to the cabin, loaded the snowmobiles, and headed out. We stopped at three restaurants in Island Park to find one that would meet our needs for a staff dinner.

It had been snowing all day and the roads were snow packed and slick. But as they say, all's well that ends well. It was a good day and we accomplished what we went there to do—except getting stuck—that wasn't in the plan.