8576-R1_MSA_December2023_Newsletter

MSA Club News

work done on the lot. The big pile of debris in the middle of the lot is gone! Thank you to Jeff Chambers at T.R.A.M.M Construction for the excellent job! We are having him go up on Schoodic Mountain trail to clean that up a bit as well. Mike Delong from JoMary Riders loaned us his “new” brushing machine and Pete has been putting it to good use. What a lifesaver! All major trails (that were accessible) have been brushed using “The Beast”! Thank you so much Mike! The club was able to purchase two full sets of used tracks from the Coburn Summit Rid ers Snowmobile Club over at Parlin Pond. Pete had some much needed and very MUCH appreciated help, disassembling the used tracks to remove all cleats and hardware. We want to send a BIG EBEEMEE SNOWMO BILE CLUB THANK YOU out to Al Cayotte, Gabriel Hileman, Randall Goff, Mike Jackson, Paul Blanchette, Christopher Smith, and Pete Plourde for getting it done! The new belting and hardware is onsite and ready for the next step… Rebuild! That sounds like another great time! It looks like the Merther Road is closed for logging again this year and next. That means the trail from Gauntlett Falls heading over to KI/Saddleback will not be opened. Wilke Mountain Trail will be open to the Gauntlett. We are looking at the Ebeemee Mountain Trail and being told that may be impacted as well. More to come once we see where all the equipment lands! I can’t stress this enough though… Please respect our landowners. If it says it’s closed, please don’t push your luck. WE all depend on them letting us use their land. Without our landowners, there would be no trails. We all know that but sometimes it’s easier to just say the heck with it and ride there anyway. Those are the only closures we are aware of currently and hoping that is all there is! JoMary Trail (111 from Wildwoods to US Route 11) will be wide open this year for your riding pleasure as well. The forester assures me they will be done and out by December 15 th ! We are continuing our fantastically suc cessful Adopt-A-Trail campaign again this year. It’s a great way to support the club and get some trailside advertising as well. Check it out on our website at: esc-ebeemeesnow mobileclub.com. WE really, really appreciate your support. It is a huge help! Signs are being ordered and cedar posts are ready to paint Ebeemee Red! So, I guess I would have to say in closing, put your sum mer toys away and start readying those winter toys! Remember, It’s all about the Smileage! Laurie Plourde, President Ebeemee Snow mobile Club esc-ebeemeesnowmobileclub.com NARROW GAUGE RIDERS Monson, ME Hello Fellow Snowmobilers, it is time once again to be thinking about riding and we are gearing up for what we hope will be an awe some riding season. We are excited about our new (used) BR groomer that will help us keep our trails in tip top shape. Adding this to our existing equipment will help us groom our trails in a more timely fashion. Thanks to all the volunteers who have showed up for our work days to help brush and clean the trails. They also replaced a bridge on the Pole Line. Great Job everyone!! Membership flyers/reminders have been sent out and thanks to everyone who has renewed. Membership is an important part of keeping our club viable, so please remember to renew. We also want to send a big THANKS out to all the landowners who help make our trail system. Their willingness to allow us to access their land for our trails is what creates our local trail system and gain access to in-town local businesses. We continue to meet the second Wed. of the month at 6:00 pm in the Monson Town Office Meeting Space. Everyone is welcome to join us. Thinking Snow Sue Killam, Secretary

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EAST BRANCH SNO-ROVERS AND ATV CLUB East Millinocket & Medway, ME The club volunteers have been busy main taining and improving trails and getting ply wood and 2 x 4s prepared for signs.

The BRRSC has been very active with trail work and signage. The groomers and drags are ready to go and we have several operators waiting in the wings. Membership is growing and we’re looking into Paypal to make pay ing for memberships and contributions quick and easy, especially for those who don’t carry cash. Our annual CASH CALENDAR is available. Here’s how it works; For $10 you get your name in the drawing. There is a drawing every day in February for a cash prize ranging from $100 - $500 and the last day drawing is $1000! You can buy Calendars from Dottie at 207-205-0413. We have designed trail signs for the lake crossings between Kineo, The Birches, the Boat Landing and near the Moose River inlet near Rockwood cottages. The reflective signs will show the color-coded trails and should help riders, easily and safely, find their way on these crossings. As usual, please STAY ON THE MARKED TRAILS there is unsafe ice in several areas of the lake, As usual we do have a couple of trail changes that we’re dealing with and still look ing for a permanent fix for some of our wet spots. We are working on short term and long term plans to address these. Next meeting is on January 20 at Darren Milliken’s garage 41 Maynard Rd Rockwood. (Meetings are always on the 3rd Saturday of the month. Sept-April except no meeting in Dec) Now all we need is cold weather and SNOW! See you on the trails Mike EASTERN MAINE SNOWMOBILERS Holden, ME EasternMaineSnowmobilers.com Find us on Facebook It’s almost Winter!!! As I write this it is just days till Thanks giving and just a few weeks till Winter and Christmas! We have had 7 Sunday morning trail work sessions, 3 monthly membership meetings and done repairs on the clubhouse and garage. We thank you all for the time you share with us. Upcoming Events Sunday December 17 th (Xmas party) Board of directors 5:00 p.m. This will be a pizza party meal and Christ mas party with gift exchange immediately following an abbreviated meeting Sunday January 21 st Board meeting 5:00 p.m. It seems our club along with what I hear is pretty much every other club in the State is struggling to get volunteers to help work at the clubhouse and work in the woods with us building trails etc. Luckily our small but very dedicated core group of members has been meeting every Sunday to do the necessary clearing, brushing, bridge repair and replace ment etc. We have a lot more miles of trail to check and signs to put up before snow. If you can spare some time, we could use the help! Thanks are in order to our board members Michael L for stepping up as treasurer and Nancy G. for staying on as rentals chairper son. We very much appreciate your dedication and time you give to the club. Please join a club or two, volunteer if you can and get ready for Winter and Christmas season! Don’t forget to do your snow dance! See you at the club or on the trails Troy G Trail grunt Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Club meeting 7:00 p.m. Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Club meeting 7:00 p.m.

future Mrs Kaiden, who we call Jaz. You probably have never seen Kaiden because he works so much. You may know Jaz. She goes to our local 2-year college and helps Brinda at the store on busy weekends. At the last club meeting 5 Young Guns attended. The medium age average of our club membership dropped drastically. I know of no other way of this happening, unless I quit the club. Wait a minute! We decided to have one big raffle prize this year and “pull it” at our special January 10th Pizza Meeting. That prize will be an Eskimo Pop-Up 4/5 Man Ice Fishing Shelter, a Jet Sled, and an ice drill auger. Tickets are $10 each and can be bought at The Pine Tree Store. Les will train members on our well equipped, professional groomer, the Snow Rabbit. That way a 2-person groomer team with food and supplies could be sent out for as long as they want. I think it would be a week day because of way less snowmobile traffic on the trails. You know who to talk too. Thanks to Les, Danny, Brad, DLLT and I’m sure others, there is a rescue helicopter land ing pad, close to completion, at the 2nd Els more Landing sign. When the official’s GPS it, I’ll let everyone know. Plans are being made for grooming east of the dam. A member has a drag there and we may strategically park another nearby. That way members can just drive up with a club sled, hook up to our club drag and start groom ing. Plans are being made. Work/Clubhouse & Garage (See Les): remove garage wood stove and wood; add a garage door so we can drive sleds and drags in one way and out the other; fix clubhouse roof and check if clubhouse furnace has water damage. This could be any day or night work. Work/Signage (See Les): Les has received signs and is looking for a few members to put them up. Some old signs need replacing. Some signs can’t be seen and need the branches around them trimmed. You and friends can make fun work & lunch rides out of something like this. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read about our snowmobile club and our spe cial little town. Please take the time to trim the below lines of information and pack it away with your registration and insurance info. You never know. NEXT MEETING: Every 2nd Wednesday @ 6:00, at the GLS Fire Station. PINE TREE STORE: Hours 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, 796-5027. NON-Ethanol Gas. Always remember, for food, drink, supplies and fun, “You can’t go wrong at The Pine Tree Store.” HELP NEEDED: Call 796-5027, Les, Brinda, or store worker. TRAIL PROBLEM: Call 796-5027, Les. He will solve or assign the problem. LODGING: Call 796-5027, Les, Brinda, or store worker. Please ride our trails and make our friendly little town a stop on your snowmobile adven tures. I guarantee you will be back. Mike mikeremillard@mgemaine.com EBEEMEE sc Brownville, ME Happy Trails everyone! I apologize for the lack of newsletters over the last two months! Just like everybody else, lots going on and I just couldn’t seem to tap into my literary juices to come up with something interesting. As most of you that follow us on Facebook know, we have had a lot going on up here in Ebeemee Township. We received an anony mous donation of $30,000., earmarked for an Amish shed for storage of our grooming sleds and all that goes with them! The 14 x 36 building was purchased from Sturdi-Built and is fantastic! It even has a bright red metal roof! We used some of the money we raised from our B-Me Snack Shack to have sight

Some end of season ATV trail work remov ing some large rocks and covering up some culverts.

The veterans ride raised $816. Thank you to everyone who donated and thank you to all workers who made this ride possible. Donations were given to the Millinocket American Legion, the Medway/East Millinocket Veterans Memorial, the Travis Mills Foundation, Patriot Guard, House in the Woods, and An Officer and Two Gentlemen. We look forward to the next veterans ride in 2024. We are fortunate and grateful to have received a grant from the MacKenzie Founda tion. We will add to the entryway upstairs, fix bathrooms, make at least one handicap com pliant, and refinish a floor. The money will be put to good use and we appreciate it beyond words. The Country Music Jam and Dinners con tinue on Tuesday nights. I hope your Thanksgiving was great and may your Christmas be even better. Nancy Deschene ndesc@myfairpoint.net COASTAL REGION I hope everyone had plenty to eat over Thanksgiving, hunters got their freezers full, and shoppers survived their Black Friday adventures. There’s a chill in the air today… a sign…? Well, I’m happy to let everyone know that the Westbrook trail system is in tip-top shape and ready for a freeze-up and a blanket of snow. Asst Trailmaster Jason kicked butt on the eastern side of the trail system repairing several bridges, bush-hogging, placing trail signage with several Saturday work crews. Trailmaster Anthony and the crew took on the West side doing the same, rebuilding bridges, placing signage, and bush-hogging compli ments of Marc Lapierre. All old bridge boards were removed from trailside and hauled off (special thank you to Jeff Todd for the extra effort on that). As you ride our trail system take note that the work to maintain these trails are done by a very small club. A lot of weekends are given up through the fall months by a few individu als who are truly dedicated to the club. Heck some don’t even ride the trails they are giv ing their time on. Show your appreciation by dropping a big them “Thank You” on our web site or if you see them on the streets, let them know they matter. Better yet, join the club!! You don’t have to live in Westbrook. Hopefully you scored a table at our Annual Christmas party at Frog & Turtle. A report on that next month. Check our website for details on the Bonfire. We’re going to revive that if WESTBROOK TRAIL BLAZES Westbrook, www.westbrooktrailblazes.com

GRAND LAKE sc Grand Lake Stream, ME

At the top of the next column is a photo of Kaiden, one of the Young Guns, who we elected Vice President. Also pictured is the

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