A Wyoming Original: When the Urge to Ride Meets a Nissan Sedan

Saturday morning on U.S. Highway 26 between Casper and Shoshoni delivered a sight that had drivers doing double-takes and reaching for their cameras. Parked on the shoulder, looking every bit like a scene from a modern-day tall tale, was a white Nissan Altima with a full-sized snowmobile strapped to its roof.

The snowmobile was lashed down at a dramatic, nose-down angle with ratchet straps running through the sedan’s open windows. The machine’s skis and bulk completely obscured the back windshield and hung over the trunk. The arrangement was so improbably jury-rigged that it left passing motorists in a state of amused disbelief.

“I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime, but I have never seen anything like that,” said Twila Mundschenk of Gillette, who made her husband turn their truck around for photos. She summed up the general consensus: “It was about as backwoods redneck as you can get.”

The local Natrona County license plate confirmed this was no tourist’s mistake. This was a homegrown Wyoming solution, born of pure, unadulterated determination to get a sled to the snow.

The mystery of the Nissan deepened throughout the day. Marcia McBeath first saw the spectacle while driving into Casper. Six hours later, on her return trip to Riverton, the car and its rooftop cargo were still there, prompting her own photo stop. By then, the vehicle had earned the official yellow “abandoned” stickers from the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

For experts, the photos prompted less laughter and more practical head-scratching. Will Mook, co-owner of The Mountain Riding Lab in Jackson, noted that even a modern “mountain sled” can weigh 500 pounds. While the front-heavy weight distribution might have been over the car’s axles, the entire endeavor was “questionably safe” at best.

“I’d say it was either somebody in a pinch or somebody trying to be funny,” Mook mused. “You make do with what you got, as long as it’s safe.” He pointed to sled decks in pickup trucks as the region’s standard, practical solution for transporting snowmobiles, especially on roads like Teton Pass where trailers are prohibited.

The tale of the Nissan had a resolution, spotted by Kaylee Humphries at The Fast Lane in Shoshoni on Sunday. The broken-down sedan was finally hitched to a trailer behind a green pickup truck. The snowmobile, freed from its rooftop perch, had been unceremoniously tossed into the truck’s bed. It turned out the driver did have friends with proper equipment—just apparently not before the epic, if ill-fated, roof-loading attempt.

For those who witnessed it, the image of that snowmobile teetering on a sedan will endure as a perfect emblem of Wyoming’s signature blend of ingenuity, stubbornness, and an unwavering commitment to answering the call of the mountains, no matter the logistical hurdles.

“That’s one diehard snowmobiler,” McBeath said with a laugh, admiring the tenacity even in the face of predictable mechanical failure. In the end, the Wyoming winter won, but not without a memorable fight.