7909-R2_MSA_Mar2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

ferent reasons, the virus as everyone has expe- rienced, and we have had some serious trail issues. One was a major old trail that we got shut off from and town. The other was logging operations ongoing both at different ends of our small town and on major trails. Thanks to a lot of help from the landowners and club members as of right now we have finally got them all cleared and useable as the Piston Bully has been able to groom them all. We do have one of the small clubs as Ripley has only about 400 people living in it but we have over 46 family memberships. We have a lot of members that just like to help with the club and don’t own or ride a snowmobile, unusual I know, but we all have a good time doing dif- ferent things in town. This fall we did have our annual club auc- tion in Ripley. It was different as we did it out on the town office lawn with no food, due to the virus, and it proved very successful again for us. It is the only thing we do each year to raise money to help operate our club. On a sad note, we did lose some key people this year as one was stated in a previous print- ing of the MSA paper: Gary Hanson a very active club member and landowner, Ronald Sinclair a landowner and helper on the trails and George MacCourt a club member and landowner. The trails in Ripley are the best they have been in years due to all of the hard work the volunteers have done over the past few years and the upgrade of equipment that we have invested in. Come out and give them a try. It’s a connector trail from Dexter of the ITS trail to Bingham ITS trail and also to the SnoDevils in St. Albans. It’s a great place to ride if you like the woods and country type of riding. Jay Hanson President The club has been busy working on trails, bridges and the clubhouse. It is so nice to have extra hands helping with this work. Not only do we have local members helping, but many members that spend their vacation time and long weekends in Harmony and Wellington. Their help is a real boost! We have purchased a new small drag to use with the club sled. Our exciting news is the acquisition of a new to us Trail Groomer. A 2004 Tucker. Fund raisers are ongoing so keep your eyes and ears open for the opportunities to feast at the club house, purchase raffle tick- ets and more. The club is looking forward to future events to thank the land owners in person for allow- ing our trails on their properties. Happy sledding! Stay safe! Thank you to those that stopped by for our Snow Fest on February 19th. It did snow and it was “festive.” It is our privilege to share the day with the Embden Pond Association and our visitors. Special thanks must be made to those that made the trip to us on icy, crusted trails. Unique conditions, caused by two 40-degree temperature swings in one week with significant rains two nights before the Snow Fest. I heard the food was great and I know the hot chocolate was the “best ever.” A fair base remains on our trails, even at road crossings. Any snow will be enjoyed by those that venture out. However, not much is happening after the 3-6 inches of snow in the immediate forecast. When riding, stop by the BRAAAP Shack on Dunbar Hill weekends. It is well signed and the warmth of its hosts is equal to the comfortable temperature inside. The next scheduled meeting of ETSC is Saturday, April 9th at 7PM. It will be held at the Embden Community Center. This meet- ing will be highlighted by the nomination and HEART OF GOLD sc Harmony, ME Club Reporter Marie Lougee EMBDEN TRAVELERS sc Emden, ME Find us on Facebook

voting for Officers for the 2022-2023 season. Please plan on attending and participating in the future of your club. As always, if there are changes, they will be presented on our Face- book page. Closing now with a hope for great riding for the remainder of the season. It has been said before, but it must be said again: No matter the price, no matter how new, the best safety device on your sled is YOU! Your Cub Reporter Hi Y’all It’s unbelievable! It’s already March! It seems like it’s been a short season for snow this year. Punxatawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2nd and said we had 6 more weeks of winter. We’ll that brings us to now. Hoping and praying for the snowfall to extend our season. We have been taking advantage of the time to re-sign and trim back branches on our trails. Thank you to all the volunteers, especially Cathy, and Paula who have helped me with that enormous task. I would also like to take this opportunity to relay some thoughts on the volunteerism and landowner stewardship, that we and all clubs rely on. When you are out traveling on the trails in our Lexington Highlanders snowmo- bile club system, in our absolutely amazing part of the state, realize that most of our trails are on private property and extend through much wooded areas and are not fields, old roads, or rail beds. Therefore, it is much more difficult to groom and maintain these types of trails. Most of the trails, especially those that run through the woods, require more amounts of snow to cover the rough terrain. Some of these trails are actually unwalkable in the summer months, never mind trying to get a maintenance vehicle through, especially our trail through to Kingfield. It is a new trail, and it will probably take another year to fully complete the development. So, when you have the opportunity, take a moment to thank those volunteers, when you see them out working diligently on the trails, or stop by a club and make a contribution. It is also extremely important that you follow the signs and requests to stay on marked trails and respect and thank our landowners. We would not have the over 63 miles of trails through our mountains and woods without them. In closing a quick reminder, our monthly meeting at the club house is March 9th at 7pm, all our invited to attend, and our meeting on March 26 th is a pot luck dinner starting at 6pm. Enjoy the trails, pitch in and ride safe! Lori Nunes, club reporter, sign and safety officer Hello everyone, in the last newsletter we were waiting for snow. Well, it came and as of today it has just about all gone. We had rain and it is 60 degrees. But don’t lose faith as the weather report calls for cold and another 6 inches of snow. We plan to jump on it and be out and grooming as soon as we can. Enough of the gloomy weather report. If you had a chance to go out and see, the trails were all groomed and we received great reports as to the good grooming. Our last meeting was postponed from Feb.8th to the 15th. The Town Hall didn’t have any power. The Face- book Vinmo has worked out well. We had 23 respondents that gave us 19 new members. We are planning more bridge construction for bridges on the West side trail and cleaning up a section of Perry’s trail. We also have hope that we might be able to regain permission to reopen a section of trail that was closed 2 years ago. We have been using the Ranger now for 5 grooming sessions and it is a big improvement over the Skandic SWT that it replaced. Stron- ger, easer, and a lot warmer. It looks like the LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS sc Lexington Twp, ME ROME RUFF RIDERS Belgrade Lakes, ME

little town a stop on your snowmobile adven- tures. I guarantee you will come back. mikere- millard@mgemaine.com CENTRAL REGION

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MATTAWAMKEAG ROAD RUNNERS Mattawamkeag, ME

Hello All, What an interesting month since I last wrote to you. We have had a couple good storms since but unfortunately this past week has brought warm temperatures and rain. Our trails were in great shape and now they are rough in areas. If you plan on riding our trails in the future please stay alert for washouts, bare spots, and icy conditions. Our groom- ing operations are at halt right now until we get more snow, Barney has been very busy grooming for us this year and our trails for the most part have been in very good condition until now. All of us in the club are doing the snow dance in hope to get a few more weeks of riding this winter. Stay hopeful and thank you for your continued support! Nate Peters

EMBDEN TRAVELERS sc Embden, ME Find us on Facebook

January 22 found the temperature brisk at -15 degrees F and the trails marginally good considering how dry the snow pack is. Also brisk, and evidence that riders were on the trails, was the brisk business at the opening day of the Braaap Shack where donations only are accepted for the tasty treats offered. The weekend’s supply of the Braaap Dog was gone by 4PM. Opened on weekends only, there will be more next week. Plans for the Embden Pond Snow Fest for February 19th are complete. It is being held at noon at the boat launch area adjacent to the dam on the south end of Embden Pond. All are welcome to enjoy the food and games provided by members of the Embden Pond Association and the Embden Travelers S.C. Located next to the snowmobile trail, there is ample parking for cars and trucks. Please join us. On January 14 th on our Facebook page one of our groomers shared some thoughts on Trail Loss 101 as off trail riding highlights a lack of landowner respect and the consequences that could follow. It also touches on the frustration felt by those of us that dedicate much effort to provide avenues to access the outdoors. You can see evidence of use by walking, snow- shoeing and cross-country skiing in addition to snowmobiling. There is a lot written about Trail Loss 101, but it is only read by those of us that know what can result from the “cog- nizant decision” made by a few disrespectful operators. Should we now ask licensed snow- mobile operators to take an oath of respect before allowing registration? Maybe include on the back of the sled registrations some short statements that advise respect and safety. Looking forward to a great season. Your Cub Reporter Hi y’all, We had our first substantial snow storm of the season on January 17th. We are starting snow- fall late again this year, but hopefully it will continue to fall heavily. Due to lack of snow in some areas, trails cannot be groomed to usual standards, so we are urging riders to use caution. As I stated in our last newsletter, we had an incredibly successful open house and rib- bon cutting ceremony on January 15th at our newly expanded clubhouse. We were pleased to welcome our former and new Somerset county commissioners Lloyd Trafton ( who cut the ribbon) and Cyp Johnson, our MSA executive VP Alan Swett and our MSA Cen- tral Region VP Jack Lord. A special thanks to all who baked and participated in our event. We also hosted our first of the year and first at our newly expanded club house pot luck dinner on January 29 th . As you can see, we are thoroughly enjoying the new place and hope to host many new events that we are looking forward to having you all attend. So stay tuned to our Facebook page for any of our upcoming dates. Remember, we have our monthly meeting on February 9 th at 7pm at the clubhouse, as always and our first of the season progressive dinners on the 26 th starting at 3. As always join a club and lend a hand. See you out on the trail or at the new clubhouse! Stay safe! And do your SNOW DANCE Lori Nunes, club reporter LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS Lexington Twp, ME

GRAND LAKE sc Grand Lake Stream, ME

One day Trail Master Les took 9-year-old Alden for a grooming ride in the Snow Rab- bit. They were out 2 hours when Alden fell asleep. Les later stopped and asked Alden if he would take the loppers and cut all those small branches. Then, Les started wishing he could fall asleep. Several hours later they got back to the store, both smiling and very happy. It was very nice of Les to take a young per- son out grooming. I’m sure Les showed Alden what each Snow Rabbit bottom does and even let Alden press a few. I bet as each snowmo- bile went by, Les pointed out to Alden a few different design features. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll be say- ing, “Trail Master Alden…”. I hope everyone got snow and they got out on a trail or two. We never lose our base and always have enough snow to ride on. We did get almost 3 FT of snow and some say 8 FT drifts that you could ride up on. Down by the lake I walked on top of 3 FT drifts that were hard as a rock. PINE TREE STORE: Hours 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Things are jumping with all the snowmobile business. Everyone is gabbing, comparing sleds, laughing, gassing up, eat- ing… The store has a wide menu, supplies, equipment, oil’s, trail maps, gifts, a liar’s bench, and plenty of ethanol free gasoline. If the store’s young female cooks are laugh- ing and very happy, can someone please check the walk in cooler to see if Dick the Cook has been tied up and thrown in there? You can’t go wrong at The Pine Tree Store. HELP NEEDED: Call 796-5027, Les or Brinda. TRAIL PROBLEM: Call 796-5027, Les. He will solve or assign the problem. You proba- bly have seen him in our Snow Rabbit, pro- fessional groomer, keeping our town open to snowmobilers and keeping area trail systems connected. TRAIL CONDITIONS: See www.mesnow. com. Updated weekly. LODGING: Yes, call 796-5027, Les or Brinda. CLUB MEETINGS: 2nd Wednesday of the month @ 6:00, at the fire station or clubhouse. ICE FISHERMEN NEWS: The trail com- ing off/going on West Grand Lake has been slightly moved. Just pay attention, it’s marked and real easy to find. Please ride our trails and make our friendly

RIPLEY TRAIL RIDERS Ripley, ME

Hello from the central Maine area. We have had an unusual two years here for dif-

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