At least twice in February motorists went astray and got stuck on area snowmobile trails. The folks pictured here took a turn off the Caribou Trail in Lutsen onto Hunt Road (which is actually a private driveway) and then onto the snowmobile trail. Brett Hansen, groomer for the Lutsen Trailblazers Snowmobile Club, was called to pull them out with the club’s 2010 Tucker Terra-2000 groomer.
At least twice in February motorists went astray and got stuck on area snowmobile trails. Groomers from local snowmobile clubs were called into service to rescue the stranded drivers.
On Sunday, February 20, Lake County Law Enforcement received a call at 10:59 a.m. requesting help for a woman whose vehicle was stuck “in the ditch” by the Toohey Lake campground in Cook County. Lake County contacted the Cook County law enforcement dispatcher who contacted Nelson’s Towing of Tofte.
Pam and Paul James realized that the car was on The Lower Grade, a road that is not plowed in the winter. They set out to assist the stranded vehicle, with Paul James in the Tofte Timberwolves Snowmobile Club groomer. Pam James went ahead with her personal snowmobile to let the stranded motorist know that the groomer was coming—at eight miles per hour.
In the meantime, a family of snowmobilers had come by and had helped the motorist out of the ditch. The driver continued down the road a bit farther and got stuck again. When Pam James arrived at the place where the stuck car was supposed to be, it was gone, so she turned around, as did Paul James in the groomer. Cook County Law Enforcement was finally able to reach the driver by cell phone and the location of the car was determined to be just two miles from the Sawbill Trail. Paul James returned with his plow truck to try to get the car out and he became stuck as well. He was able to winch his vehicle out, but by then it was getting extremely cold, so instead of continuing to try to get the vehicle out at night, Pam James drove the passengers out on snowmobile. She made two trips, bringing the driver and the passenger to safety.
Paul James returned the next day with the snowmobile groomer to extricate the vehicle. Pam James said it took two hours.
She said she didn’t fault the two women for becoming confused about the ability to travel the road. She said they had visited the area before and driven The Lower Grade in the summer. She said it had been plowed sometime during the year and a pickup had made it down the road to Toohey Lake. “The road did have banks and the wind had blown, so there were areas that were clear, so I can see how they were misled.”
On Saturday, February 26, Pam James received another call of a motorist stranded on a snowmobile trail, this time in Lutsen. James was unable to answer the call, so she contacted Brett Hansen, groomer for the Lutsen Trailblazers Snowmobile Club. “What better vehicle to get a car off a snowmobile trail than a snowmobile groomer anyway,” asked James.
The car in need of rescue took a turn off the Caribou Trail in Lutsen onto Hunt Road (which is actually a private driveway) and then onto the snowmobile trail. They became mired in the snow about 100 yards in. Hansen was able to pull them out with the club’s 2010 Tucker Terra-2000 groomer.
Brad Ludlow, trail coordinator for the Lutsen club, said, “This happens to us at least once or twice every year. It is quite expensive for us to send the groomer out.”
Ludlow said the couple stuck this weekend was charged $200. In the past, the groomer has had to travel much farther to rescue stranded cars, once almost all the way to Lutsen Mountains. Ludlow said the trek to Lutsen Mountains cost that driver $400.
In a somewhat related incident, Cook County received a call of snowmobilers on the wrong trail on Saturday, February 26. A party reported that some snowmobilers had damaged cross-country ski trails in the Bally Creek area.
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