7854-R1_MSA_Jan2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

Where can you stay in Island Falls? We have Vacationland Estates (207) 463-2884 & Birch Point Cabins (207) 463-2515 locally but they book up fast during the riding season! Call now to reserve your weekend. Thank you to Scot Walker, Owner of First Choice Real Estate for the help and bringing a Tucker 2000 into the fleet to help maintain the Big Valley Sno Club trails! Gloria Olko

bership form. Thank you for helping to grow the Groomer Fund. We have just over 100 members to date. This is not our usual number, it is a little low but due to the crazy weather we have had, we aren’t surprised. To make it easier for people to join online, check out our Facebook Page. The Membership form is pinned to the top of the Facebook Page with instructions on how to save, edit, sign and return. Also, there is a pinned post giving direct access to PayPal as well. If you have any questions, message the page for assistance. Hope everyone has a Safe Holiday Season and we get some snow sooner rather than later. Snow Dance is in order at this point. Charlene Fraser Club Secretary With Covid still looming over us the Club is still busy with meetings. Membership pro- motion is underway and events for members to enjoy in the upcoming months. There will be a Christmas Party in December, February members that want to participate will do an overnight ride to Madawaska and stay at Four Corners and in April there will be a Spring Dance/Raffle for all to enjoy. Had a great group of volunteers work Tues- day, November 16, 2021, performing trail maintenance. Thanks goes to Bub Anderson, Brent McKeen, Bill Weatherhead, Tom Camp- bell, Alex Laporte, and Denis Orthaus. While there was mixed precipitation most of the day, volunteers managed to get all the field mark- ers up and a lot of the signage refreshed on the trails. They reported trails were in pretty good shape with just a few areas needing attention with chain saws. The new section at the junc- tion of the Williams trails was made wider for easier access with the groomer. A small adjust- ment was made to the trail in this area to create a more convenient and safer trail by eliminat- ing one of the S turns. Thanks again everyone for the help. Many hands make light work. The groomer has had a complete mainte- nance check and will be ready for the trails this winter. Snow showers have begun in the county and hopefully this means we will be out enjoying the trails very soon. Ride safe and hope to see everyone on the trails ☺ NORDIC LAKERS New Sweden, ME Meduxnekeag Ramblers held a regular meeting on Tuesday Dec 14 with potluck sup- per, meeting and gift swap. Well, we are just waiting for snow. Groomers, drags and opera- tors are already to go. We are going to try to have our Saturday breakfasts starting Jan 1 st thru the end of March with the good Lord willing, and Covid stays away. We will be serving from 6am to 9am every Saturday. Come and join us for some good food, and great friendship. Club house is available for rentals, please call Kim at 207-538-6973. And any ques- tions regarding the breakfasts please call 207-694-0867. Respectfully submitted, Judy Big Valley is having the January meeting on January 8 th @ 6:00 pm. This is a potluck and anyone is welcome to attend! This will be held at Big Valley Snowmobile Club in Island Falls. We will be discussing club rides, trail work that still needs to be done, trail side barbeque and our 150 th town celebration on Feb 26 th , 2021! We will also be hosting an MSA club ride in March ~ more details to come on that! Happy Holidays! Barbara McKeen Club Reporters MEDUXNEKEAG RAMBLERS Littleton, ME BIG VALLEY SNO CLUB Island Falls, ME

Deadlines for club news is the 25 th of the month prior to the publications. Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

Picture yourself with some of that new ski- doo gear you got for the holidays, maybe even a new snow machine headed North to experi- ence what snowmobiling should be. So much white snow it’s hard to know where the trails begin and end. Breath taking scenery, frozen rivers, lakes, wide open spaces, fresh powder in your face. Meeting people who greet you with a smile because you’re sharing some of the best trails the North country has to offer. Our snowmobile club will be opening on Saturdays with a hot meal, (as of now) after January lst. Stop in and say hi, have a great meal, warm up next to our wood stove and be off again to enjoy the ride. On Saturday, March l2 th , 2022, we’ll be hosting our “Race your neighbor” races on the flats not far from Joe’s Country Store right here in St. Francis. We have a category for every sled. And Cash prizes too. Let’s see if we can put your name on our winner’s board. We have a facebook page, St. Francis Sno Angels, Check it out for our weekly meal spe- cials, trail conditions and race updates. We’d love to meet you. Respectfully, Kim M Ouellette, Secretary Hi Gang, Not really a lot going on right now. It is the 18th of December and we are all waiting for Christmas to come and go. There is no snow on the ground, and not much in sight. You guys can start the snow dances anytime. Trails are all ready to go according to Trail- master Pat Joyce, with 2 reroutes in place as I write. Signing is pretty much complete, and the bridge work is coming along nicely. The current memberships are around 100, with more coming in on a daily basis. On the social front, our annual Caribbean Cruise Raffle sold out for the 30th time and was won by Madeline Duffy, granddaughter of longtime club members Mike and Joan Duffy. Congrats. to Madeline - well done! A big THANK YOU to Randy Bates, Reid Stan- ley, Ken Delano, Alison Perrin, John Oxley, Tom Qualey and the Splanman for selling tickets this year. Please be watching for Facebook posts and local flyers, as the Snowgang will once again hold our annual fishing derby on Plunkett Pond on Feb.19th. We are looking for a big crowd, as this is also free fishing weekend!!! Well, I guess that is all the news, have a happy and safe new year, I have to go feed the mountain lion. Jim Splan Reporter @ Large P.S. Anyone want to buy a mountain lion?? P.SS. I hate beavers!! P.SSS. Saw Santa driving an Arctic Cat!! P.SSSS. .................................................! ROCKABEMA SNOW RANGERS Patten, ME Email: rockabemasnowrangers@gmail.com FB: Patten - Rockabema Snow Rangers Well, another month has gone by and mother nature did not cooperate for us to hold our monthly meeting due to icy conditions. However, the month was not lost. Some of the members have been out on the trails putting red sign posts up and attaching signs to them for instruction like Stop and Stop Ahead, directional signs, trail number signs or arrows. We were putting the lessons learned the month before into action. Our Sponsor a Mile renewal signs are displayed on the trails as well and a couple new Sponsors have joined in supporting the Groomer Fund for the Club. We would like to thank those supporting our Sponsoring A Mile Program, as well as those who sent in donations with their mem- BENEDICTA SNOWGANG Benedicta, ME

NORTHERN REGION

CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS SNOWMOBILE AND ATV CLUB Chapman, ME

WASHBURN TRAIL RUNNERS sc Washburn, ME Washburntrailrunners.org Facebook @washburntrailrunners

Dear Members, Christmas 2021 has come and gone. Covid is still here, but let’s aim for spring now and hope that covid has come and gone. Stay safe everyone! We are already for snow. We have had several high windstorms with snow, only to lose it to rain. We’ve had many blowdowns to remove. But right now, we have 5” and hope to pack trails tomorrow. We need to get a base laid. Let’s hope it stays. Last year we had a late start, Jan. 23 to pack and Jan. 24 to groom. WAGM television predicts this winter will be very much like last. Let’s hope they are wrong. Our trail system has no rail beds, so we must wait until the beaver dams and water holes are frozen. As of today, Dec. 19, all water is frozen. Here’s hoping! We are still postponing membership meet- ings and having directors and groomers meet. The last event we held was our annual indoor yard sale in September, which went very well for us. We will reassess the situation in January. The groomers are getting the tracks on the Ranger, our work vehicle for the crews. It makes it so much easier to put out signs, field stakes and danger markers, especially since many members no longer have sleds with sleighs to organize the trail materials. The sign crew mounts the signs (would that be Marc?) and a rack was built in the back of the Ranger to hold signs, stakes, screws and drills, chain- saws and gas. A big “thank you” goes to our trail crew. Few people realize the work that is required to get the trails ready, not to men- tion the hours and hours of paperwork. Our treasurer, Carolyn works every day! The grant work also takes many hours. For example, clubs are required to contact every landowner annually. We have written easements with some landowners, but we still make contact every year. This allows us to deal with prob- lems as they happen, lets them know that we want to cooperate with them, that we value their input and that we appreciate their per- mission to use their property. We have some landowners who only allow snowmobile trails and some that allow ATV and snowmobiles. It can be tricky! But somehow the work gets done, year after year. Remember there is always parking at our clubhouse for trailering to get closer to the trails and check us out on Facebook. Watch our video and send us your videos or photos of somewhere on the trails You can also donate to our fundraiser by making snow angels and sending videos, texted to Christina Olsen at 551-8255. She manages our Facebook page. Donations may also be made. In closing, I wish you great riding and a long winter. Stay right and enjoy the outdoors, we can at least do that. Sue Maynard Secretary When you are reading this, the rush for that perfect Christmas gift is over and the New Year has begun. Now our winter has begun in earnest and it is drumroll…. snowmobile season. Now is the time to give yourself a much overdue Christ- mas gift and head north for some of the few remaining wide open skidoo trails. Our new groomer made its first voyage this week and the trails are groomed and awaiting you. ST. FRANCIS SNO ANGELS St. Francis, ME

Happy New Year!!! As I sit here typing this, I can’t help but reflect on the year that was. 2021, similarly to 2020, provided all of us with many challenges in our personal life, work life and family life. I hope all of you reading this had a wonderful Christmas season with your loved ones and are all in good health. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the day we stop talking about that nasty word, COVID! Hopefully by the time you are reading this we will have ample snow on the ground, we have been grooming for weeks and the club- house kitchen is open for the season, making those delicious breakfast and lunch goodies we have all come to know and love. Cur- rently we are in holding pattern just waiting for Mother Nature to change her mind and let this rain we are currently having turn to snow instead. Who knows, maybe by the time you are reading this we will have taken delivery of our new Tucker and we will be out putting the first miles and hours on it. Fingers crossed!!! Just to give you an update of things we have been working on at the clubhouse, during the fall we were able to update our outside lighting to include new wall-pack lights for the park- ing lot, under the canopy where we park the groomer as well as one on the end of the build- ing to light up the ITS 83/105 intersection. Now stopping at the clubhouse in the evening won’t be so dark and desolate. We also worked on relocating the fuel tank as it was starting to lean to one direction, and we couldn’t have that! During the off season we will be looking to make a new pad to set it on so not to ever lean again. As far as trail work, we spent a lot of time this fall on 61, brushing & cuttings. We also replaced a washed-out culvert and made a transition ramp from the old trail up onto the new road that P&C has been building over the past few years. I for one cannot wait to ride that trail again! Other than that, we did some repair work to the bridges, have all the stakes out for the motel trail and 61 and made sure all our signage was in good condition. Once we get snow, we should be all set. As a reminder, the kitchen will be open this year! Friday, January 7, 2022, will be the first day we are open for the season. As usual, the hours of operation are Friday & Saturday 7AM to 2PM and Sunday 7AM to 12PM. We will also be open every day during February Break. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more information. Dick, Audrey, and the entire Kitchen Crew are looking forward to serving up delicious meals to keep you ready for many more miles of riding. Lastly, if you are a member stop by anytime and warm up in the clubhouse. If you are not a member yet, why not? Your membership is a fantastic way of showing that you support the efforts of our club and helps us keep things going. It’s as easy as going to our website, filling out the application and paying through PayPal. You don’t need a PayPal account to do it, just a credit or debit card will work. Club meetings are the 2nd Wednesday of every month starting at 6:30PM. We hope to see you there! We hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season and wish you a prosperous new year!! Kindly, Tim Stitham – President

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