SNOWMOBILING

Dokken: Rob Hallstrom looks back on ‘3 Old Guys’ snowmobile trip to Newfoundland

Brad Dokken — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 12:00:00 GMT

They’re home now, back from a 3,700-mile snowmobile trip from northern Minnesota to Newfoundland and Labrador.

And quite a trip it was for the “3 Old Guys,” one of them says.

“It went real well,” Rob Hallstrom said. “There were a couple of little hiccups along the way, but that’s what makes it adventure travel, I guess. Nothing serious at all, so overall, a real nice trip.

“It was great.”

The “3 Old Guys” – Paul Dick, 74, Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Rex Hibbert, 71, Driggs, Idaho; and Hallstrom, 67, of Park Rapids, Minnesota – departed from Dick’s home near Grand Rapids on Thursday, Feb. 13, and arrived at their destination in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, on Thursday, March 6 – two years to the day after departing from Grand Rapids on a 5,000-mile snowmobile trek to Fairbanks, Alaska.

The trio of senior snowmobilers flew from Newfoundland back to Winnipeg on Sunday, March 9. Hallstrom’s wife, MaJeana, picked them up at the airport, “and I was home Sunday night,” he said.

In a phone interview Tuesday, March 11, Hallstrom said they had excellent riding once they got past the sketchy snow conditions in Minnesota and Wisconsin on the first leg of the trip. Unlike the trek to Alaska in 2023, which required breaking trail through the wilderness in places, the 3 Old Guys were able to travel on groomed trails much of the way to Newfoundland, Hallstrom says.

“It’s amazing the trail system that has been put together largely by volunteers,” he said. “It’s almost like a highway system. The fact that you can ride that far on a trail system is amazing.”

All three drove Arctic Cat 600 Riot snowmobiles.

“They were flawless,” Hallstrom said. “We had no problems at all with the sleds.”

Their longest day on the trail was 340 miles in a remote area of Quebec. That was partially planned and partially “low snafu,” Hallstrom says.

The day’s plan was to ride about 300 miles to a lodge they’d been told would have plenty of room. But when they got there, there was no room at the inn, Hallstrom says.

“It was already after dark and they got on the phone and found another lodge that was like 60 kilometers down the trail and said it’s ‘right on the side of the trail, you can’t miss it.’ ”

Hoping to reach the place before the kitchen closed at 8 p.m., they immediately hit the trail again, Hallstrom says.

“We could not find that place,” he said. “It’s a remote area, there’s not a light anywhere – nothing. We’re driving around dead end trails and just could not find the place.”

Finally, about 10 p.m. they came across a heated warming shelter on a snowmobile trail.

“It was maybe 50 degrees in there,” Hallstrom said. “It wasn’t real warm, but it was good enough for us. We had enough miles on so we thought, ‘let’s just stop here.’ ”

As with the trip to Alaska, the 3 Old Guys encountered numerous people who reached out to buy them meals or offer a place to stay on their ride to Newfoundland and Labrador. They’ve become social media stars, thanks to daily updates Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol, posted on Facebook beginning with the Alaska trip. Her “3 Old Guys ride across North America” Facebook page has 48,000 followers and has attracted literally millions of views, Hallstrom says.

“She’s just unbelievable,” he said. “She’s such a good writer, and it’s because of her that everybody knows about us. We have such a following.”

The people are what make the trips memorable, Hallstrom says. On Saturday, March 8, for example, when the trio drove their sleds to an Arctic Cat dealership in Birchy Head, Newfoundland, about 50 miles from where they were staying, they became like the pied pipers of snowmobiling.

“We stopped at two different warming huts, and there’s groups of people waiting for us, so by the time we got to the dealership, we had 30 to 40 snowmobiles in a line (following us),” Hallstrom said. “They had a real nice reception for us – kind of an open house with some snacks and treats, and we got to sit around there and visit with everybody for a few hours. It was really a nice way to wrap up the trip.”

Arctic Cat is hauling the snowmobiles and sleighs back to Minnesota.

With the trip to Newfoundland and Labrador behind them – an adventure filled with beautiful scenery and wildlife such as moose, caribou, ptarmigan and lynx – Hallstrom says there are no plans for any big homecoming celebrations like there was after they returned from Alaska.

What’s next on their agenda remains to be seen.

“I'm sure there'll be more adventures,” he said. “It’s too early to say. We don't even talk about it when we’re out there. We take them one at a time. We just got home, so we’re still unpacking from this one.

“Give us a couple of months of sitting around, and I’m sure we’ll get antsy to do something else.”

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Update: ‘3 Old Guys’ reach their destination in Newfoundland, ending 3,700-mile snowmobile trek

Brad Dokken — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 22:32:00 GMT

The “3 Old Guys” snowmobile adventurers have finished their 3,700-mile trek from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Newfoundland and Labrador, reaching their destination in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, on Thursday afternoon, March 6.

Chalk up another adventure for the books.

The trio – Paul Dick, 74, Grand Rapids; Rex Hibbert, 71, Driggs, Idaho; and Rob Hallstrom, 67, of Park Rapids, Minnesota – departed from Dick’s home in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol, shared a photo of the trio standing by their snowmobiles in Corner Brook on Thursday afternoon. They arrived in Corner Brook about 4:15 p.m. Newfoundland time, Plekkenpol said, which would be 1:45 p.m. Central Time.

Plekkenpol has been posting regular updates on the trio’s progress on the “3 Old Guys Ride Across North America” Facebook page, which has attracted more than 48,000 followers.

In a Wednesday night Facebook post, Plekkenpol said the trio had encountered some challenging conditions on the second-to-last day of riding, which took them through an area of high country that some people call “the Bermuda Triangle of Newfoundland riding.”

The high country, according to the Facebook post, features “wide open rolling hills, rocky and stunning, stretching as far as the eye could see. At one point, facing deep powder snow and no trails, the trio wondered if they should turn back or push forward to an uncertain destination.

“Then, just as darkness truly set in, luck was on their side. They hit an unplowed road with numerous snowmobile tracks and were pointed toward KM29 – a cabin of welcoming riders that not only had access to gas but also happened to be serving up a hot spaghetti dinner,” the Facebook update indicated. “Walking in felt like stepping into a remote men’s club, a warm welcome after a long and unexpected challenge.

“While Wednesday’s ride was breathtaking, it was also one of the more physically demanding on this trek. But that’s what makes this journey unforgettable.”

The trip from Grand Rapids to Newfoundland and Labrador marks the third major trek the “3 Old Guys” have taken in recent years. In 2019, they snowmobiled from Grand Rapids to Churchill, Manitoba, on Hudson Bay and back. In 2023, they rode from Grand Rapids to Fairbanks, Alaska, a grueling trek that covered some 5,000 miles.

In a text message, Plekkenpol said Thursday’s arrival in Corner Brook marked the two-year anniversary of their departure from Grand Rapids to Fairbanks.

“They essentially crossed North America in exactly two years to the day, with a winter off due to no snow,” Plekkenpol said.

The “3 Old Guys” drove Arctic Cat Norseman snowmobiles on the 2019 and 2023 excursions but this year drove Arctic Cat 600 Riot sleds to Newfoundland and Labrador.

The trio has scheduled a “Ride-in and Meet and Greet” for noon Saturday (Newfoundland time) at the Arctic West power sports dealership in Birchy Head, Newfoundland, according to a Thursday Facebook update.

The “3 Old Guys” plan to fly home from Newfoundland, and Arctic Cat will haul the snowmobiles back to Minnesota. In her text message, Plekkenpol said flights haven’t been confirmed, “but I think they may be coming back Sunday.”

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The ‘3 Old Guys’ hit the trail on 4,000-mile snowmobile trek to Newfoundland and Labrador

Brad Dokken — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 12:31:00 GMT

As I reported in a story a couple of weeks back, the “3 Old Guys” are embarking on yet another adventure, this time snowmobiling from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock the past few winters, the “3 Old Guys” are Paul Dick, 74, of Grand Rapids; Rex Hibbert, 71, of Driggs, Idaho; and Rob Hallstrom, 67, of Park Rapids, Minnesota.

“They literally left moments ago,” Hallstrom’s wife, MaJeana Hallstrom, told me Thursday morning.

All three of the “Old Guys” have extensive snowmobiling backgrounds that include participating in the grueling 2,500-mile Cain’s Quest endurance snowmobile race in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I first wrote about the “3 Old Guys” back in 2019, when they made a round-trip snowmobile trek from Dick’s home in Grand Rapids to Churchill, Manitoba, a trip of some 2,950 miles. In March of 2023, they kicked it up a notch, steering their Arctic Cat Norseman snowmobiles from Grand Rapids to Fairbanks, Alaska, bushwhacking their way through deep wilderness for large swaths of the journey.

The going should be easier this time around, as they will largely be riding groomed trails on a route of some 4,000 miles that will take them from Grand Rapids through Wisconsin along the southern shore of Lake Superior and north into Ontario, through Quebec and eventually to the Gulf of Labrador before taking the ferry to Newfoundland, according to an updated posted Feb. 11 on the “3 Old Guys Ride Across North America” Facebook page.

This time around, the “3 Old Guys” are driving Arctic Cat 600 Riot snowmobiles, which Rob Hallstrom described as “sportier” than the sleds they drove to Churchill and Alaska.

As she did during their 2023 trek to Alaska, Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol, is posting regular social media updates on the trio’s latest adventure.

In a text message Thursday morning, Plekkenpol said the senior snowmobilers’ initial stop will be at the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, Wisconsin, where they’ll be spending the weekend.

“They are NOT being inducted, but one of the sleds from (the) Alaska trip will be on display, and they have many friends being inducted,” Plekkenpol said. “(It) should be a fun weekend with legends and history.”

‘Four Days to St. Paul’

Speaking of snowmobiles, I recently went down a YouTube rabbit hole on a trek that took me back to a colorful era in Northland snowmobile history.

Some background:

Beginning in 1966 or thereabouts and continuing until 1980, the Winnipeg to St. Paul I-500 snowmobile race was a big deal for those of us who grew up in northwest Minnesota and – to a lesser extent, perhaps – North Dakota.

I can remember kids bringing transistor radios to school to keep tabs on the most up-to-date results as the racers bounced their way along ditches and roads less traveled over the course of the four-day race. A friend and I even skipped school one day to catch the racers as they made their way down U.S. Highway 59 somewhere near Halma, Minnesota, en route to Thief River Falls, their stop on the first leg of the race.

One of the “celebrities” to participate in the race that year – I’m thinking it was 1978 – was Bob Lurtsema, the Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman affectionately known as “Benchwarmer Bob,” a nickname he embraced. I can’t say for sure, but I have it in my mind that he drove a Viking snowmobile.

From what I could find on the internet, Lurtsema finished in 34th place, a very respectable showing for someone who wasn’t a professional racer.

A few days ago, a documentary about the 1971 Winnipeg to St. Paul I-500 popped up in my YouTube feed and it sucked me in. Titled “Four Days to St. Paul,” the documentary features grainy video of that year’s race (along with one of the cheesiest theme songs I’ve ever heard), but provides an entertaining look at what the racers went through on machines that were downright primitive by today’s standards.

If snowmobiles and their colorful history are your thing, it’s definitely worth a look.

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The ‘3 Old Guys’ gear up for their next epic snowmobile adventure

Brad Dokken — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:04:00 GMT

They became social media celebrities during their snowmobile trip from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Fairbanks, Alaska, a trek of some 5,000 miles, in March and April 2023. Now, the “3 Old Guys” – Rob Hallstrom of Park Rapids, Minnesota; Rex Hibbert of Soda Springs, Idaho; and Paul Dick of Grand Rapids – are gearing up to hit the trail again.

This time, the snowmobiling seniors are steering their sleds – snow conditions permitting – from Grand Rapids to the eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, a distance of “between 3,000 and 4,000 miles,” Hallstrom said.

If all goes according to plan, they’ll hit the trail sometime in February and complete the trip in three or four weeks, traveling about 200 miles each day.

In the meantime, they’re hoping for more snow.

“Overall, the snow has not been very good,” Hallstrom said. “Snow is pretty iffy. Just taking off in Minnesota here, I think it’s going to be touch and go.”

At 67, Hallstrom is the youngest of the crew; Hibbert is 71, and Dick is 74.

Smoother sledding

While the trip to Fairbanks was a test of man and machine that required bushwhacking through extensive areas of wilderness, the trio this time will ride an established network of snowmobile trails.

From Grand Rapids, they’ll head south around Lake Superior, cross into Canada “someplace by Sault Ste. Marie” in Michigan and ride through Ontario and northern Quebec, Hallstrom says, following the north side of the St. Lawrence Seaway all the way to the Labrador coast.

Or, at least as close to the coast as the snow will let them go.

“Last time, we were trying to find a trail or route through the wilderness,” he said. “This time, we might be trying to chase snow and find routes that have snow on them.”

They’d hoped to make the trip last winter, Hallstrom says, but lack of snow forced them to put the adventure on hold.

“It was really frustrating, and this year hasn’t been much better, but at least we have a little bit of snow,” he said. “They are starting to get some snow on the East Coast now, so that’s good.”

Appetite for adventure

A retired electrician who lived in St. Hilaire, Minnesota, as a teenager, Hallstrom’s appetite for adventure dates back at least to his early teens and winter camping trips with a buddy to the Fourtown, Minnesota, area at the edge of Beltrami Island State Forest, his wife, MaJeana Hallstrom, said. As a teen, Hallstrom and a friend took the ferry from Grand Marais, Minnesota, to Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior to hike and camp.

He also worked as a wrangler for a hunting outfitter in Alaska (driving a Ford Bronco from Thief River Falls), made several canoe trips with friends and family to remote parts of Canada and once rode the 3,000-mile Canada-to-Mexico Continental Divide route on a dirt bike with two other motorcycle adventurers, she said.

To name just a few.

“In 2018, he and I drove our modified 1972 Ford Bronco 6,000 miles round-trip from Minnesota to La Paz, Baja, Mexico,” MaJeana said. “We met up with 12 other vintage Bronco enthusiasts in Yuma, (Arizona), where the Baja adventure began.”

More recently, the 3 Old Guys snowmobiled from Grand Rapids to Churchill, Manitoba – and back – in 2019. They also have raced in Cain’s Quest, an endurance snowmobile race in Labrador that’s more than 1,800 miles long.

“All three of us have competed in that a number of times, so we’ve been out (to Labrador), but we’ve never driven snowmobiles all the way there,” Rob Hallstrom said. “And there are so many famous riding areas. The U.P. (Upper Peninsula) in Michigan is famous for snowmobiles, and Quebec, especially, is known for its beautiful trail system.”

About the snowmobiles

The 3 Old Guys will drive Arctic Cat 600 Riot snowmobiles, which Hallstrom describes as “sportier” than the Arctic Cat Norseman sleds they drove to Churchill and Alaska.

“The (Norseman) was more of a utility sled,” Hallstrom said. “This one is not a utility sled.

“We’re kind of excited to try it out. We’re also not used to riding it, so we hope it works out good for us. I’m sure it will.”

Because they’re riding on established trails and expect to stay in towns along the way, Hallstrom says they almost decided to travel without sleighs for the upcoming trip. Ultimately, though, they decided to pull sleighs to carry enough gas for daytime refueling stops and avoid the hassle of trying to find gas stations in the middle of the day.

They’ll fuel up the sleds and the gas jugs in communities where they stay each night. “Just in case,” they’ll also carry sleeping bags, Hallstrom says, but don’t plan to bring a tent or wood stove.

“We just don’t see any reason to have it on the trail system we’ll be (riding),” he said. “We’ll be coming into motels at night, things like that. ...

“But you never know what’s going to happen – that’s what makes it an adventure.”

‘Very accustomed’

Their spouses “are pretty used to us” making trips like this, Hallstrom says. No surprise that, perhaps, considering all of the adventures he’s had over the years.

“My wife just kind of rolls her eyes when I start bringing out the maps or something,” he said. “She knows I’ll be doing something.”

Over the 45 years she’s been “hanging out” with him, MaJeana Hallstrom says her husband “most certainly” has given her reason to worry from time to time.

“My mind has imagined grizzly bear attacks, taking a canoe over an unexpected waterfall, going through the ice, having a medical emergency in the bush, and, of course, freezing to death,” she said. “When they took their trip to Churchill, he added a new one to that list: They met up with a wolverine.”

Still, MaJeana says, she has become “very accustomed” to his adventures over the years.

This trip seems mild compared with some, she says, and Rob spends “hours and hours” meticulously planning the trips he takes – route mapping, contacting local snowmobile clubs, making arrangements for lodging, finding points of interest and making phone calls.

MaJeana says she’s most worried when Rob seems uncertain, as was the case before the 2023 Alaska trip, when he expressed concern about crossing the Richardson Mountains, a rugged mountain range in northern Canada between the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The number of followers the 3 Old Guys have accumulated on Facebook and the information people share also has helped alleviate concerns, MaJeana says.

“Right now, I think the only uncertainties they have going into this trip is running out of snow and how they are going to get the snowmobiles back to Minnesota,” she said.

Initially, Rob Hallstrom said he didn't think Arctic Cat would be able to haul the snowmobiles back to Minnesota, as they did after the Alaska trip, but he learned Friday morning, Jan. 31, that the company indeed will be able to bring the sleds back.

That came as a pleasant surprise, he said.

Facebook updates begin

As with the Alaska trip, Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol, will post regular updates on Facebook, with highlights from the 3 Old Guys’ time on the trail, and historical and background information about the stops along their route.

Perhaps they’ll build even further on the celebrity they gained during their trip to Alaska. The 3 Old Guys Ride Across North America Facebook page has more than 40,000 followers.

Truth be told, Hallstrom says, he’d just as soon “fly below the radar” a bit.

“We didn’t plan on that happening – it just happened,” he said of their Facebook celebrity. “And on that trip, it was extremely important, because we would come into a town of 300 people that doesn't have a hotel at dark and need a place to stay and need something to eat. And because of Facebook, they knew we were coming, and they would be welcoming us. It was just unbelievable.

“People definitely know who we are.”

Editor's note: This story was updated Friday morning, Jan. 31, to reflect that Arctic Cat will be hauling the 3 Old Guys’ snowmobiles from Newfoundland and Labrador back to Minnesota, upon their completion of the trip.]]>

Minnesota man to travel 1,000-mile Iditarod trail with vintage gear

Elizabeth Vierkant — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:00:00 GMT

PERHAM, Minn. — Most people couldn't imagine traveling 1,000 miles across Alaska mid-winter in modern gear, let alone with only vintage gear. Lance Woods of Dent, however, isn't most people. At the end of this month, he will be traveling across the Iditarod trail only using equipment made in 1973 or earlier. While this will be his fourth time on the Iditarod, this will be his first time doing so with vintage gear.

"It's just a challenging trail," Woods said when asked what originally gave him the idea. "There's going to be a lot of bad days. But there will be some good days too, and those are the ones you remember ... just the scenery and the weather and the serenity."

Some of the gear Woods will be taking with him on his journey includes a 1973 Ski-Doo Elan snowmobile, a 1948 British arctic mountain tent, a 1950s U.S. military casualty bag for sleeping, 1936 Swedish arctic books, a 1904 Stonebridge candle lantern, a 1972 Coleman single burner stove, 1944 snowshoes and more.

Preparing for the trip has taken Woods about two years. He purchased a lot of equipment on eBay and jokes that a lot of "Google hours" went into the project, as just searching for all his vintage gear took quite a lot of digging.

On top of the searching and purchasing, he had to almost completely rebuild the 1973 Ski-Doo Elan, which is the snowmobile he will be riding on the trail. A lot of the parts were worn out when he received the vehicle, so he had to put in numerous hours of searching for parts to ensure the snowmobile would run. He even rebuilt a 1972 Coleman single-burner stove to guarantee it was in top-notch condition.

"It's actually good gear," Woods said. "It's just heavy and bulky compared to the state-of-the-art new stuff." While he takes to the trail, a lot of the gear will be secured to a sled, which he will pull behind his snowmobile.

Though he's a bit worried about the trip not panning out after so much planning, Woods is also no stranger to long-distance travel. With three successful Iditarod trips already under his belt — one on skis and two on snowmobile — one of his longest trips makes the famous Alaskan trail look short.

He once rode his motorcycle from the northern tip of Alaska to the very bottom of Argentina. Put together, that's about 15,000 miles of travel for a single motorcycle trip. And he's been on many more journeys in his time.

Throughout the years and the many memories made, there's one story from the time he skied the Iditarod trail that sticks out to him. There was a day when the weather started to warm up for a bit. Though it was snowing at first, that snow quickly turned to rain. He had a high-tech tent that was supposed to be state-of-the-art, but it turned out to be the complete opposite.

"It leaked like a sieve," Woods recalled. "It rained for two days, and then it turned 20 below. You step out of your tent even with your skis on, and you're up to your waist. You're just stranded; you can't go anywhere until the trail breakers came through. So you lay in this depression because the snow is melting under you and all the water just absorbs in that depression into your sleeping bag."

On the fifth day, he was finally able to start skiing again, but he was cold beyond belief.

He continued, "I started seeing parking lots and church steeples and hallucinating ... (The temperature) went right down from 35 above to 40 below or 20 below."

Despite that scary experience, Woods was never deterred from returning to the Iditarod. And now, he's prepped to head out on his vintage journey.

When asked what people have said when he's told them about his plans, Woods simply laughed and said, "crazy." But he quickly added, "You've got to follow your passions."

To follow Lance Woods on his journey through Alaska, check out his Facebook page, "All Vintage Trans Alaska Sno Go Expedition." He will head out on Tuesday, Feb. 27, and if successful, the journey will take about two weeks.

"I've just got a passion for the Arctic," Woods said when asked what keeps bringing him back to the Iditarod. "It's the challenge and that one day that's absolutely perfect. Like, there's no better place in the world to be."

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The ‘3 Old Guys’ and family members look back on epic snowmobile trip from Minnesota to Alaska

Brad Dokken — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 22:00:00 GMT

They’re home now – their successful snowmobile trek from Minnesota to Alaska in the rear-view mirror – but for the “3 Old Guys” and their families, the stories of that epic adventure, the hardships they overcame on the trail and the people they met along the way are memories they’ll treasure for years to come.

The “3 Old Guys,” as they dubbed themselves – Paul Dick, 72, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Rex Hibbert, 70, of Soda Springs, Idaho; and Rob Hallstrom, 65, of Park Rapids, Minnesota – completed the trek Wednesday evening, April 12, more than five weeks and 5,000 miles after leaving Dick’s home March 6.

In the process, the trio – who drove identical Arctic Cat Norseman 8000 snowmobiles – became surprise celebrities, thanks to a Facebook page that attracted more than 36,000 followers by journey’s end.

“It’s almost spooky to us to have this many people watching us,” Hallstrom said. “Everywhere we go, people know who we are. It’s really different.”

A retired electrician originally from St. Hilaire, Minnesota, Hallstrom had launched the Facebook page a few months earlier, mainly for friends and family to follow the trip. But with daily updates from Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol of Minneapolis, and his wife, MaJeana, the Facebook page took on a life of its own.

Sometimes, Plekkenpol would craft those updates from little more than a few words Hallstrom would send with the Garmin InReach satellite communicator he carried on the trip. She’d often add bits of history about the remote areas the 3 Old Guys visited along the way.

“I would be working all day, and a lot of those posts would take me an hour or two to formulate and so I would often be up till midnight, preparing content for the day,” Plekkenpol said.

The updates highlighted not only the triumphs, but the setbacks, such as when Hallstrom’s snowmobile caught fire after a stick unknowingly became lodged in the engine while they were clearing brush on a remote trail near Flin Flon, Manitoba. Hibbert’s snowmobile caught fire toward the end of the trip, as well, possibly from a pinhole leak in the fuel line, which they fixed by replacing the original fuel line with copper tubing and “some farm engineering,” Hallstrom says.

Those are just a couple of examples.

In many ways, Plekkenpol says, those Facebook posts became a lifeline, often drawing the attention of people in remote communities who stepped up to offer everything from northern hospitality to assistance on the trail.

“It took off like wildfire,” she said of the Facebook following. “And what I quickly realized was that, particularly after they hit Flin Flon and had the first snowmobile fire, that Facebook was going to be a tool for me to be able to help. And if we could keep the followers engaged and have a support system from back home where we can get in touch with other people, this was really the only way I knew how to keep them safe.

“And so it just sort of spiraled. We are still just in shock at the following they’ve received.”

End of the trail

The original plan had been to snowmobile to Fairbanks, but the trio scrapped that idea the last day of the trip, when the engine on Hibbert’s snowmobile locked up a few miles past Circle, Alaska. Hallstrom’s machine had broken down the previous day, so with only one snowmobile to carry the three men and three sleighs, the decision was made to round up a trailer and haul the sleds to Fairbanks.

They had crossed into Alaska from Canada’s Yukon Territory on Thursday, April 6.

“Our goal was to ride to Alaska, and we were 60 miles from Fairbanks,” Hallstrom said. “We didn’t feel like we needed to spend a week fixing snowmobiles to ride 60 miles.

“It just didn’t make any sense, so we called it a trip.”

Despite their experience as long-distance snowmobilers in such grueling events as Alaska’s Iron Dog and the Cain’s Quest Snowmobile Endurance Race in Labrador, Canada, nothing could match the challenge of snowmobiling to Alaska through some of the most remote, rugged wilderness country in North America, they say.

“Every day or every bend in the river brought up a new challenge, and every leg of the trip was traveling across rivers or lakes or old trails,” Hallstrom said. “All of them had a different kind of challenge.”

There was no day that was either the hardest or most enjoyable, he says. They spent many nights staying in cabins set up in various remote locations along the trail for use by people in need.

“It was just a super adventure, where it didn’t really matter if things were going good or bad,” Hallstrom said. “It seemed like you’d go around the next corner, and there’d be a new challenge – something different. It might be easier, it might be harder, but it was constantly changing.

“It’s almost like somebody was just throwing up a challenge in front of us constantly.”

Still, Hallstrom admits, there were days when he wondered if they’d make it.

“We don’t give up very easily, but I know when my sled was on fire, I kind of thought that was going to be it,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a snowmobile that caught on fire where you can survive the fire and keep riding.

“We did that twice, so I think that was kind of a miracle.”

The trip had “so many miracles,” MaJeana Hallstrom says.

“When they were up in the Richardson Mountains (in the Yukon Territory) and it was storming and it was really bad, they couldn’t see the trail, and along comes a native person” to show them the way, she said.

Also, the breakdowns that ultimately led them to end the trip before Fairbanks would have been much worse if they’d happened in the roadless areas they traveled just a few days earlier, MaJeana says.

“These final breakdowns, they all happened on the road, basically, between Circle (Alaska) and Fairbanks, and I think that’s a miracle,” she said.

Quiet trails

The lack of activity on the trails came as a surprise, said Hibbert, a rancher back home in Idaho. But the price of gas and other necessities, coupled with lower fur prices, likely were factors. It wasn’t unusual to pull up to a gas pump and spend $500 filling up the snowmobiles and gas jugs.

“You'd get within 20 or 30 miles of a village, and you might run into an old snowmachine track,” Hibbert said. “I thought we’d be on more broken trails – trapper trails and stuff – but man, we broke hundreds of miles, 1,000 miles (of trail) and just nobody had been there.

“That was very interesting, very challenging, but I was kind of surprised by that.”

Paul Dick, a retired beer wholesaler and elder statesman of the crew, says his riding partners deserve a lot of credit for their GPS skills in navigating the rugged wilderness country.

“There’s no way in hell we would have made it without them,” Dick said. “I don’t even carry (a GPS), but these guys did one heck of a job getting up and around over the Richardson Mountains and a lot of the other areas.

“I mean, there’s no way I could have done it without those guys because of their skills.”

Daily routine

Waiting for daily updates became a routine, MaJeana Hallstrom says. Updates would then be shared via a group text between about 10 members of the men’s families.

For the most part, MaJeana says, she didn’t worry too much about her husband and his snowmobile partners, given their mechanical savvy and long-distance riding experience.

“There were times when they were breaking down in the remote areas, and I got very worried,” she said. “And then, they would move along a little farther into a more remote area with a storm (coming) and that made me worried because I knew they were going to go into an even rougher spot.

“Before they got to Fairbanks, those last two or three days or four days, it was really tough going as far as weather, terrain (and) snow, so I guess I took it pretty calmly for the most part.”

The snowmobilers carried an array of spare parts, but there still were times they needed parts flown into remote areas. That’s where Dick’s son, Brian Dick of Thief River Falls, came into play. With connections in the snowmobile industry, the younger Dick was able to handle the logistics of getting parts where they needed to go – sometimes through sheer luck and coincidence.

“One guy sends you one way and if he can’t help, they try to find another way,” Brian Dick said.

Perhaps the most striking example occurred in the remote Northwest Territories community of Inuvik, where Brian was finally able to get spare clutch parts flown in after making numerous phone calls. Long story short, he eventually found Listers Motor Sports, a power sports dealer in Whitehorse, the Yukon Territory capital nearly 800 miles to the south, that was able to scrounge up some parts to get the “3 Old Guys” back on the trail.

A few days later, Brian says, that same dealer took parts from two brand new Arctic Cats of different models that were still in the crates and had them flown to Old Crow, the only community in the Yukon not accessible by car.

“They’re amazing people, to do what they did to keep (the 3 Old Guys) moving,” Brian said.

Because of that savvy and help from people along the way, there were only a couple of days they weren’t able to ride, Rob Hallstrom says.

“A lot of the days were sunup to sundown – very physical riding, so it takes a beating on everything,” he said.

Still friends

Despite the trials of the trail – Hibbert lost 30 pounds, Hallstrom lost 20 pounds and Dick dropped 10 pounds – the 3 Old Guys never had any harsh words along the way, Hallstrom says.

“We got along fine the whole time, and that probably is in large part because none of us can hear each other so it kind of helps,” he joked. “You say something bad to your partner, and he’ll just respond, ‘Yeah, I think I’ve got enough gas,’ or whatever.

“We’re pretty lucky that we were still friends after going through all that.”

The people they met were a highlight, the 3 Old Guys say – especially in the remote northern communities.

“I enjoyed meeting all the people we did,” Hibbert said. “It was mostly First Nations villages (in northern Canada), and they were unbelievable. The same when we got into Alaska, like Fort Yukon. That would have been the first village we came to, and boy, they didn’t want to be outdone by anybody, so they were super accommodating.”

With the trip of a lifetime behind them, a meet and greet for the 3 Old Guys is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at the Timberlake Lodge Conference Center in Grand Rapids. The men will share stories from the trip, and the hope is to livestream or record the event to post later. The event is open to the public, but organizers ask that people RSVP if planning to attend in person.

As for the snowmobiles, Arctic Cat is having them shipped back to Thief River Falls, Rob Hallstrom says. A volcano eruption in Russia delayed their flights from Fairbanks, but the trip home for the surprise Facebook celebrities was much less eventful than their memorable journey to Alaska.

“Not only did Facebook blow up for the guys, a volcano did, too,” MaJeana joked.

What’s next for the 3 Old Guys, only time will tell.

“We don't have any plans for another long snowmobile trip, but I certainly hope this is not my last big adventure,” Rob Hallstrom said. “I love adventures and hope to go on many more, but we don't really have anything on the books right now.

“We’re just going to drink coffee and read Facebook for a couple of months and think it over.”

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Minnesota State Sen. Torrey Westrom involved in snowmobile crash near Alexandria

Al Edenloff — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 02:12:29 GMT

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — State Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Alexandria, was injured in a snowmobile crash on Lake Ida, north of Alexandria Sunday afternoon, March 12.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call at about 3 p.m. from Trista Stamness, who reported a single vehicle snowmobile accident on the north end of Lake Ida.

Deputies and first responders arrived to the scene and found Westrom about 200 yards from the shoreline.

A 13-year-old male was operating a 2009 Arctic Cat two-up snowmobile, which is designed to safely accommodate two passengers. Westrom, 49, was a passenger.

The snowmobile struck a packed snowdrift on the lake, causing Westrom to be thrown clear of the snowmobile, according to the sheriff's office.

Westrom was complaining of upper body pain at the scene. The juvenile, whose name was not released, wasn't injured.

North Ambulance and Leaf Valley First Responders tended to Westrom on the lake. Westrom was

transported by snowmobile rescue sled to a nearby public access and transported to Alomere Hospital by North Ambulance.

Westrom was elected to the Senate in 2012, after serving eight terms in the House. He is the first known blind person to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature.

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Dokken: ‘3 Old Guys’ story leads down a rabbit hole to ‘Wild Bill’s Run’

Brad Dokken — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 12:58:00 GMT

My recent coverage of the “3 Old Guys” – Paul Dick, Rob Hallstrom and Rex Hibbert – and their 4,000-plus-mile snowmobile trek from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Fairbanks, Alaska, prompted a call from Jeffrey Waldhal on Tuesday evening.

The trio of snowmobilers left Grand Rapids on Monday morning and after spending the night at Oak Island on Minnesota’s Northwest Angle, reported with the Canada Border Services Agency and rode into Canada on Tuesday morning, according to an update on their Facebook page. They spent Wednesday night in Swan River, Manitoba, and if all goes according to plan, the trek through some of the most remote country in North America will take about a month.

I was off the clock for the day and away from my desk when Waldhal called Tuesday, and so his call – a Duluth number, according to my Caller ID – went to voicemail. He’d seen my story and wondered if I knew about the snowmobile trip Bill Cooper and a crew from Willow River, Minnesota, made to Alaska in 1969 and another trip they made in ’72.

“The first trip was … to Fairbanks, and then the second one was Willow River ultimately to – well, they ultimately made it all the way to Greenland,” Waldhal said.

His father-in-law made one of the trips, Waldhal said, and his wife’s uncle went on both of them.

“There’s a lot of history,” Waldhal said in his voicemail.

I wasn’t familiar with the Willow River crew’s two trips, but Waldhal’s voicemail piqued my curiosity. Some poking around on Facebook led me down a rabbit hole to a Dec. 28 post on the “3 Old Guys ride to Alaska” Facebook page, which describes a 1972 trip in which Cooper and a half-dozen young, adventurous snowmobile partners set off on an adventure they dubbed the “Trans World Snowmobile Expedition” – aka, “To Moscow with Love on a Moto-Ski.”

They ran Moto-Ski snowmobiles, a now-defunct brand manufactured in Quebec that ceased production in 1985.

The Facebook post also included a link to a website about “Wild Bill’s Run,” a 2012 documentary by Minnesota filmmaker Mike Scholtz about the snowmobile expedition. The website describes the film as follows:

“This is the strange but true story of Wild Bill Cooper. Part Arctic adventure and part crime caper, ‘Wild Bill’s Run’ is an unforgettable ride with a true American folk hero.

“In the winter of 1972, Wild Bill Cooper led a ragtag crew of mechanics, ranchers and photographers on a grueling expedition across the polar ice. During some of the darkest days of the Cold War, their goal was to snowmobile 5,000 miles from Minnesota to Moscow.

“They didn’t quite make it.

“After the expedition returned home, Cooper embarked on a startling new adventure. Accused of leading a massive drug smuggling operation known as ‘the Marijuana Air Force,’ he was named one of America’s Ten Most Wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service. But the wily outdoorsman was never caught. He refused to surrender to the law, just as he’d refused to surrender to the Arctic. Even today, his whereabouts remain a mystery.”

Continuing further down the rabbit hole, I came across a July 22, 2012, story in the Duluth News Tribune about the film and Cooper’s wild pursuits. As explained in the story, “Wild Bill’s Run” was named Best Documentary Feature Film at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival earlier in 2012.

I did some more poking around online trying to find the film, only to hit dead ends, so I sent Scholtz an email to see if “Wild Bill’s Run” is still available out there somewhere in the clouds.

He replied early Wednesday evening.

“It used to be on Hulu and Amazon and a bunch of other places, but time marched on, and now it’s only available on DVD through old-fashioned mail order, by contacting me via the website,” Scholtz replied.

He did, however, send me a link to a password-protected site that allowed me to see the one-hour film.

All I can say is wow, that’s one heck of a story!

The documentary is probably old news to Duluthians, but it was news to me, a cool story I never would have known about, had it not been for Waldhal’s voicemail Tuesday evening. I tried returning his call Wednesday but hadn’t heard back before the deadline for this column.

Venturing down rabbit holes can lead to some cool places, and the story of “Wild Bill’s Run” certainly did just that.

For more information on the documentary or to order a copy by “old-fashioned mail order,” check out the website at wildbillsrun.com or email Scholtz at mikevscholtz@gmail.com.

For daily updates on the “3 Old Guys,” check out their Facebook page.

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NE Minnesota woman dies in snowmobile crash Saturday

Staff reports — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 15:32:53 GMT

FINLAND, Minn. — A Hermantown, Minnesota, woman died in a snowmobile crash Saturday morning on the North Shore State Trail.

Dispatch received a call at 10:58 a.m. Saturday, March 4, about a snowmobile crash on the C.J. Ramstad/North Shore State Trail crossing on Airbase Road, according to a news release from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Kellie Brickson, 52, of Hermantown, was pronounced dead after being transported to the medical helicopter landing zone at the Clair Nelson Center in Finland.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office, Lake County Rescue Squad, Lake County Ambulance and LifeLink helicopter responded to the scene.

A memorial service is planned for Friday, according to Brickson's obituary.

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The ‘3 Old Guys’ set off on 4,000-mile snowmobile journey from northern Minnesota to Alaska

Brad Dokken — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 15:23:09 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. — And they’re off.

The “3 Old Guys” — Rob Hallstrom, Rex Hibbert and Paul Dick — departed this morning (Monday, March 6) from Dick’s home in Grand Rapids on the first leg of their epic snowmobile journey to Fairbanks, Alaska.

A video showing their departure was posted on their Facebook page.

If all goes according to plan, the trio will complete their 4,000-mile adventure in about a month. As the video posted Monday morning shows, they’re hauling all sorts of gear, spare parts and gasoline jugs for those portions of the journey — and there will be many — when towns are several hundred miles apart.

They have an outfitter tent they will heat with a wood stove for camping along the trail in those remote areas.

As I wrote in a story posted Saturday, Feb. 25, they are driving identical Arctic Cat Norseman 8000X snowmobiles with 800cc engines. They drove similar snowmobiles — but with 600cc engines — in March 2019, when they snowmobiled to Hudson Bay at Churchill, Manitoba, and back. I wrote about that adventure, as well. This time, they plan to leave their sleds in Fairbanks, fly home, and figure out later how to get their snowmobiles back to Minnesota.

The three men, all experienced long-distance snowmobile riders, range in age from 66 to 72. Hallstrom, a retired electrician from Park Rapids, Minnesota, is originally from St. Hilaire, Minnesota. Hibbert is from Soda Springs, Idaho, and Dick is from Grand Rapids.

I’ll post occasional updates from their trip as information becomes available. For more information, go to Facebook.com and search for “3 Old Guys Ride to Alaska.”

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