8620-R1_MSA_February2024_Newsletter_Web

MSA Club News

Saturday February 17 th is the Annual Pie Auction at the Portage Municipal Building. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 10 times. This event will not disappoint you! Bring your checkbook/credit card/cash, your cooler, and a designated driver. Oh, and your dancing shoes too! Guilty Pleasure will be the entertainment once the auction is over. If you want to join our club, check us out online at portagelakers.org, Facebook at Por tage Lakers or email us at portagelakersmem bership@gmail.com. As always, ride safe, ride right, and be courteous on the trails!! Happy Trails, Tammy Kenney CENTRAL REGION Dan and the Woodchucks have been busy keeping up with all the weather-related issues and one trail closing on the east side of the pond due to logging operations and a bridge outage that will not be attended to until next fall. A little snow, now, will help with the com fort of the ride. The Embden Pond Facebook page advises as of 1/24/24 that there is still open water on Embden Pond near the north end of the pond. The ETSC does not groom onto any ponds or rivers in town and advises that crossing water bodies is done at the rider’s risk. We are planning with the Embden Pond Association to have our annual Snow Fest on February 17 th Noon to 3PM. Sled on over or drive to the boat landing on Embden Pond to enjoy some games, conversation and GREAT food. Speaking of food, The Braaap Shack is open on weekends for snacks and warm and cold beverages and a cozy rest facility for the ladies. With snow in the forecast, we anticipate conditions will improve on the trails. Be alert to other sledders, skiers, snowshoers, and pedestrians walking the trails. And while rid ing, the place to pass on curves, you know, is only at a beauty show. Your Cub Reporter ROME RUFF RIDERS Rome, ME With an early 10” snow storm the wheels came off our 4x4 and side x side groomers and the tracks went on. We held off on any effort to roll after that storm to wait and see what the warm rain in the forecast would do. We received 3” of rain and a week later another 4”, the second storm as you all know devas tated our state and wiped out all the snow we had. A series of January storms left us with a net snowfall of 6”. It was not until January 15th when we finally got out to inspect the trails. The extensive amount of trimming we did in the off season paid off and we skated by with minimal tree damage but now had to deal with wash-outs and new water flows where we had none before. After some cold temperatures and 3 days of hard work we were able to open our trails on January 18th but without lake rid ing. We received one more storm, all snow, and more cold temperatures that netted 12”- 18” total across our higher terrain and some of the best grooming snow we have seen in a while. We had the grooming team out and dragged the entire system in one day, filling holes and water bars resulting in excellent conditions despite the trail damage caused by the flooding. We had a great day the following Sunday, it was sunny and cold and a number of sleds hit the trails. We are nearing the end of January waiting for the lakes to become safe and hope fully add to our base. PALMYRA sc Palmyra, ME Hello from Palmyra Snowmobile Club Trailmaster, Wanted to share some of the work that we have done since the recent storms. On Janu ary 20th we had a crew of 7 people show up for a workday. We finished our Smith Stream bridge so it’s passable. That we have been try ing to get finished since October but the wet EMBDEN TRAVELERS sc Embden ME

ground kept us out of the area. We then moved to clearing downed trees from the recent storms to get our major trail open for the sea son. We got a lot of work done and the trail is passable from the Newport trail known as the Palmyra ridge to the Palmyra Country Store. Would like to thank those who came out and did all the work. We would not have gotten the trail clear without you.

P.SSSS.~~ Anyone seen Billy Hoxie!!!???

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

MOLUNKUS VALLEY SNO-DRIFTERS Sherman, ME

Good evening friends. As I sit n write this it’s a whoppin 9 degrees n very windy! like most club we are awaiting more snow. We have about 8-16 some fields are still bare not gonna lie but we still need snow :( what a bad season so far as far a snow totals We are very Blessed we have the best teams as far as clean up n gettin things done. All our people work 40hr plus each week n always find time to Volunteer their time on weekends n during the week so people can enjoy our trails .... we are also preparing for our poker run Feb.17 th n praying for more snow.... We also want to give a shout out for Patti Bechard steppin up as our club Secretary its greatly appreciated....we have memberships rollin in also have great turnouts for our pot lucks n meeting. So Thankful for all our mem bers as we say we are the club where there are no strangers only friends you haven’t met. If you are going on the trails let someone know where you are going ,always ride right n ride safe ~ you want to ride tomorrow! til next time Keep on Keeping On! Deb Long (MVSD CLUB PRESIDENT :) ) Dear Members, We are grooming! Many snowmobilers are out on the trails even though we could use a little more snow. But more snow is coming this week. The grooming crew has been busy checking the ice on beaver ponds and water holes left from our extremely wet summer. We did a lot of ditching and that has helped. Please be careful, as there are still bare spots and rocks on some trails. But all of our trails are open and have been groomed. The clubhouse received water damage from two driving rainstorms. The kitchen ceiling and the insulation had to be replaced. Thank fully, members and others who had booked the clubhouse understood our predicament, and we were able to have all of the scheduled events. The repairs are now complete but we’re not sure what our cost will be. We are discussing an event for February or March and will get information out on that. Our February meeting will be a potluck supper on Saturday, February 24 at 6:00. Some fun facts-CRRSC groomed for the first time last year on Jan. 15th and this year’s first grooming was the 17th. It seems to be getting later each year. I have been out on the trails with my new sled, only 300 miles so far, but I hope to see you enjoying the riding! Sue Maynard, Secretary The Snow has Arrived! Finally, after a month of snow dancing in Portage, we have gotten enough snow to get the groomer out and pan the trails. I have seen some sleds at Coffins and Deans in the last few days. That means happy business owners, and happy snowmobilers! The guys have been busy getting bridges decked for everyone’s safety. Chase Brook and Dana’s Crossing, both on ITS 85 were completed in January. I guess the lack of snow was good for getting projects done. We’d like to say a special thanks to Sue Rogers, our Grant Writer, for applying for the $5,000 Ski Doo Snow PASS grant. The grant paid for the wood for the Dana’s Crossing project. The guys dressed warm and tackled the projects with the help of donated equipment from Otis Nelson. Thank you to Glenn Cusack, Dan Rogers, Jason Bridges, Beech Kenney, Kris LaFontaine, Bruce Lavway, Jarrad Clark, and Lendell Buckingham for your continued efforts for PLSC (I hope I am not forgetting anyone). PLSC hosted the annual Supper on the Run once again. There was a great crowd, great food, and many laughs. Thank you to the hosts for inviting the membership into your homes! And thanks to the parents that brought their kids along, I could see the future of PLSC sit ting at one table. They were laughing and hav ing a great time as well as the “old people”. CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS sc Mapleton, ME PORTAGE LAKAERS sc Portage Lake, ME

NORTHERN REGION

LIMESTONE SNOHAWKS Limestone, ME

Greetings from the County, The February trail conditions are excellent and we have plenty of miles of great sledding for snowmobile enthusiasts to enjoy. The Limestone Snow Hawks Club grooms with a 2021 Prinoth Husky pulling a 2009, 18-09 Mogol Master drag. The club grooms 35 miles of trails which includes two major tourism spots in the County; the Runway Trail (100A) which runs down the runway a couple of miles and crosses in front of the ARCH Hangar and the Border Trail on ITS81. Both great photo opportunities in front of the ARCH Hangar or the granite country markers designating USA and Canada border. The Limestone Snow Hawks hold their monthly meetings at the clubhouse (18 Grand Falls Rd) on the first Thursday of each month at 6pm. We are usually open weekends for breakfast and lunch but its best to check our Facebook page (Limestone SnowHawks) to be sure, since it is run entirely by volunteers. We welcome you to attend a meeting, stop for a bite to eat, join our club and ride our trails. Hi Gang, I don’t want to start off on a sour note, but things have come up in snowmobiling that need to be addressed. As I write this, groom ing has been going on for about 8 days, and there are two deaths already. This is unaccept able on every level. I don’t know the circum stances of either loss, but with Spring riding conditions because of low snow, we all need to be more aware of our surroundings and maybe get that thumb off the bar a little ~~ USE YOUR HEAD!! Next, this new “no offtrail riding” law is being broken any place there is riding being done. I have seen posts/pics from Aroostook to York County of offenders breaking this law. I only have one thing to point out, if you can afford that $100/500 fine - that’s great - Bully for you Big Man, but when you are the chief cause of a major trail being SHUT DOWN~~ it’s all on you. And if that should happen, I hope they publish your name/ names......... because that’s the way it should be ~~~~~~~~~~ STAY THE H*** ON THE MARKED TRAIL!! Take a breath Jim ~~~~~ ok, like I said, we have started grooming, with both groomers like brand new again, they have new EVERY THING, right down to new LED lighting! As of this writing snow is a premium in the wooded areas and roads are pretty good. Our membership number for the season as of Jan 20 was at 120, so we need a little push to get to that magic 150! Ask your fam ily and friends to get their applications in as soon as possible. Speaking of pushes, what a job you Snowgang members did on two major wind events in less than two weeks. Well done TEAM!!!!!!!!! Our next major event is the annual Snow gang Fishing Derby sponsored by the Pat rick/Kim Joyce family on Plunkett Pond on Feb.18th. Cash and prizes galore, hope you can make it!!! You can find all the info. and so much more if you go to www.benedictasnow gang.com click on the events button and that will give you the full calendar of every thing that’s going on. Ok, I have to go, the mountain lion just ran by the slider chasing the neighbors 100# Pit Bull!~~~~ Jim Splan, Reporter @ Large P.S.~~ How about them Cowgirls! P.SS.~~How about Keith Sanford’s new venue!! P.SSS.~~ “THANK YOU” ~ Snowgang operators! Safe and happy sledding, Jo-Ellen Kelley, Secretary BENEDICTA SNOW GANG Sherman, ME

We had a wonderful lunch at Foggy’s Pub at the Palmyra Golf Course. This great spot to eat has direct trail access on our main trail leading to Newport’s Palmyra Ridge Trail and can be great for lunch or dinner. For hours find them on Facebook or their website foggbrookresort. com/dining. The address is 147 Lang Hill Rd, Palmyra, ME 04965 or you can call them at 207-355-5515. Would like to let everyone know that the next club meeting will be on February 15 th at 7pm at the Palmyra Community Center (old consolidated school). Please come and see what is going on in our area.

LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS sc Lexington, ME

W ell, this snow season is off to a bad start. We had a huge rain storm and received 6 (Continued on Page 22)

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