Sightseeing during the winter months is a delightful way to enjoy the beauty of Red River and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Snowcat tours are the specialty of Red River Off-Road which provides tours seven days a week in special tracked vehicles that carry multiple passengers. Touring through snow-covered meadows and past abandoned gold mines and old miner cabins from the glory days of the 1800s is the adventure of a lifetime!
Run by snowmo veteran Jason Akerson, Sled Shed is Red River’s longest-running snowmobile tour company. Offering 2-3½ hour tours in the Carson Forest, the machines can accommodate two people. Snowsuits, helmets and goggles are provided. Sled Shed is located on W. Main Street which is New Mexico Highway 38.
Bobcat Pass Wilderness Adventures is located at the top of Bobcat Pass, five minutes from downtown Red River. Henry and Sue Lewis offer all the riding gear and 2-hour guided tours on private land. Playtime in the large open meadows is a must.
The state of New Mexico requires that any driver under the age of 18 be certified on off-road vehicles. You can do that at www.b4uride.com. If they have taken a safety class in another state on ATVs, watercraft, etc., that certification will work in New Mexico.
Tracked vehicles were created as transportation for the purpose of work. They were designed to be used in cold climates which saw a lot of snow during the winter.
Law enforcement and emergency personnel like Search & Rescue, doctors and nurses, utility workers who needed to service electric and phone lines, and even salesmen who had to deliver vital products to snowy and oft-times remote areas needed trustworthy transportation through blizzards and drifts. (Taverns can’t survive by just selling soft drinks.)
The use of tracked vehicles also appealed to hunters and trappers who needed to get off the regular roads and trails into mountainous and timbered terrain.
The first such vehicles were built over 110 years ago and were primitive by modern standards. They were long, underpowered and steering was an adventure best categorized as an act of faith.
Recreational snowmobiles began to develop in the early to mid-1950s. The slick, agile machines seen bounding over meadows and up across frozen lakes today are the result of major design and manufacturing advances.
Competitive snowmobile racing and hill climbs were part of the natural evolution of recreational riding. Oval track events, snowmobile drag racing, hill crossing and hill climbing competitions have grown for 50 years. The 43rd Annual National Hill Climb Championships are March 21-24, 2019, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Here in Red River, the annual “Race The Face” Hill Climb is set for January 19 at the Red River Ski & Summer Area as part of the 60th Anniversary of the ski area.