8369-R1_MSA_May2023_MaineSnowmobiler

Northern Region MSA Showcase Ride By Denise Duperre, Northern Region Director

the Frenchville airport, then down on 83 to Roy’s Variety in St. Agatha to fuel and continue the journey on 83 south past the Lakeview Restaurant towards Route 161, Cross Lake. In good shape until then, we turned towards New Canada Roads trail, and had our first “opps I need oil” moments. So MSA President Al Swett and the group’s back rider and sweeper Bob Dugal ran over to St. Peter’s Store in Cross Lake to assist the stranded rider. The rest of the group continued towards Soldier Pond to wait for them, but miscommunication had them on their way and along a different route. No matter, the group rested at the Soldier Pond clubhouse and continued towards Fort Kent and down towards the Heritage Trail and Trail 92 into St. Francis. Getting into St. Francis and the SnoAngels Clubhouse an hour and a half behind schedule, their awesome volunteers waited patiently to serve and feed us the best chicken stew, ployes and a warm apple crisp with ice cream. Wow, homemade goodness, and we were all ready for a nap after that. Recharged and ready to book it back towards Madawaska. Luckily our wayward detour stragglers found us in time to join us for lunch. After a hearty meal we all headed back ontoTrail 92 and back towards Fort Kent, proceeding on ITS 85 through Ft. Kent, then down trail 73B back towards St. Agatha, and 81S down to the Madawaska clubhouse where a hearty spaghetti and homemade meat sauce were served for dinner. MSA President welcomed all those who were in attendance to the northern MSA meeting. He thanked Madawaska S.C. for their hospitality and spoke of

all the great vistas and trails ridden that day. Jokes were shared with the few ‘technical difficulties’, and a great day was had by all who participated, volunteered, and contributed. The meeting went on as usual, and prizes donated by Fort Kent Powersports, Central Building Supply, DSG Outwear and Polaris Ride Command were handed out to those who participated in the day’s activities. Anyone who wishes to receive more information on vistas and trails in Aroostook County can visit the Aroostook Tourism website, the Maine Snowmobile Association website, the Greater St. John Valley Chamber of Commerce website or follow northern region VP Matthew Stedman, (Ashland) Denise Duperre, (Madawaska/St. John Valley) Nick Morrill, (Caribou), Lendell Buckingham (Portage) or Jeff E Brooks (Island Falls) on social media.

E very winter sees a few days where the temps go up, the snow doesn’t fly and the trail conditions start to look like Spring is right around the corner, right? Leave it to Northern Maine and the County to pick a mid-March ride to showcase the region on a weekend that made you believe that this was the ‘last of the last’ rides, but Mother Nature in all her glory proved us wrong yet again, as Aroostook County saw more snow the following week and riding well into mid-April. The northern region MSA Showcase Ride was hosted by Madawaska Snowmobile Club on Saturday, March 18th. A full day, with a bit over 100 miles of northern Maine snowmobiling was planned by Northern Director Denise Duperre and club President Mark Guerrette, who was the groups leader for the day’s guided ride. 39 registered snowmobilers arrived at the Madawaska clubhouse to register and get ready for the 9:00 a.m. departure. Riders were taken on a scenic ride from the Fournier Road clubhouse, north on ITS 83 into Madawaska and up towards

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