8906-R1_MSA_November2024_Newsletter

MSA Club News

Snowmobile Show in Augusta this year. Some of our Directors and Officers drove down to see it on display and we attended the trails workshop as well. Our trail maintenance crew is working on some reroutes this year. 105 south in Haynes ville will get a reroute, also 105 north in Lin neus to Hodgdon will need a reroute as well. Trail 64 from New Limerick towards Oakfield is being looked into possibly opening up the old trail again that was shut down 6 years ago. Hope for the best. For those that are snowmobiling, we are offering lunches this winter again, Saturday and Sunday 11-2pm. We have Wi-Fi, Internet TV, and new this year is our cell phone booster and, we hope that we never need to use this, is an AED. Thank you to Lori Weston from Houlton Regional Health Service Foundation for donating this to our club. Finally, if you are a snowmobiler and a bingo player, we offer that too! We are open every Wednesday evening kitchen opens at 500pm. Early bird bingo starts at 630pm and regular bingo starts at 700pm. Check out our Facebook page for details and our web page Linneustrails.com Until then think SNOW !! Greg C. Smith Treasurer BENEDICTA SNOW GANG Benedicta, ME Hi Gang, What a fantastic Fall to get potatoes out of the ground, and to get snowmobile trails in shape. Speaking of trails, Municipal Trail #70 from Benedicta to Whetstone Falls is now complete and ready for riding!! Neally Brook bridge was the last rebuild on that trail, and was completed last weekend, thanks to all who lent a hand, and to Colby McDonald for his excavator work! Now that the leaves are all off I am sure trail work will start in earnest on both ITS#83 and ITS#81 - stay tuned for more updates! Our annual Snowgang Membership Drive is going really well, as of this report we have almost 80 members, and we have only had one frost -- pretty impressive! If you know some one who would like to join/rejoin just go to www.benedictasnowgang.com and click on the membership page and all the info is right there. Club President Randy Bates tell me that the Caribbean Cruise tickets are almost sold out at this point, so I can’t guarantee that there are any left, but if you want one call me at 207 365-7276 and I will look around. This will be the 33 rd year in a row that we have sold out!! While we are on the subject, I am hearing from the Snowgang that there is a BIGGER raffle coming ~~~~ I have no details yet but will spill it as soon as I know, you know me!!! LOL! Ok, that is all I have, hey have a great Thanksgiving, THINK SNOW!! Jim Splan, Reporter @ Large P.S ~~ Thanks for the goodies guys! P.SS ~~ I Hate the internet! P.SSS ~~ Won’t comment on the election! P.SSSS~~ Miller Time!! Dear Snowmobilers, It’s that time again when we are ever hope ful for a bountiful snow season! We certainly deserve it after the 2023-24 season. Things are humming right along here in the county. Our “working crew” has not stopped all sum mer. We have done dozer work, ditching, a small reroute, removed beaver dams, mowed, replaced culverts and replanked bridges. Our clubhouse has been rented several times and those who rent always compliment us on our building and the accessibility for all ages. One of the first projects was the “River Trail,” #74 east to the Presque Isle Stream. We are attempting to remove the beaver dams (did not get them all) but mowed, widened, ditched, and installed some culverts. This trail will be completed next fall due to other press ing problems. We worked on “Gary’s Trail,” #81A (to in town Mapleton) where we have a problem with water, again ditching, repair ing culverts, and removing some large trees to straighten out the swampy area. It may still need a small reroute, as we are relocating the CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS sc Chapman, ME

ture up to the Allagash! We will be having a Spaghetti Dinner FUNDRAISER at the Allagash Community Center Saturday Nov. 23, 2024 from 4pm-6pm $15 per plate. All sales and donations are greatly appreciated. Stay tuned on our Facebook page for other upcoming fun filled family events and fundraisers, as well as updates on border cross ing into Pohenegamook Quebec, Canada. CENTRAL REGION Well the Smithfield Moonshiners Snowmo bile Club has been working hard on clearing trails and repairing bridges for the upcoming season. On Saturday, October 26 th , many of our members joined in to build two beautiful kiosks. These kiosks will be stationed at two busy trailheads in Smithfield. They will high light the town’s trail system and offer other important information to our trails users. MOONSHINERS sc Smithfield, ME

crossing over the “Mill Pond.” The largest project was on the north side of the Mapleton Rd. in the Sleepy Hollow area. This trail, #105 will just amaze you! It has been widened, ditched, mowed, Dennis’s bridge replanked and a gate installed by the sewer plant road. Pickups have been traveling/rutting up the trail. Many man and equipment hours have been spent. Please be respectful of the work. Some trails are not both ATV and snowmobile trails. We have a problem with a huge bea ver dam by the Alder Brook bridge, which is almost under water. Trapping has started, and we will have to remove the debris, it’s a big job. Few people realize what our members do to get ready for the season. Members should soon receive their mem bership packets. Dues will remain the same and MSA tickets (2) will be included in your packet. The sale of these tickets benefits our club also. Call Carolyn at 762-3702 if you would like more tickets, but the deadline to get them returned for the drawing is a little earlier this year, so do it quickly. I’m hoping we’ll soon be out on the trails, fingers crossed! Sue Maynard Secretary Three days ago, we saw our first snow flurry, the French call them flacons. Today it is 66 degrees. Go figure. But guess what? WINTER IS ON ITS WAY TO NORTHERN MAINE!!!!!!. ARE YOU READY? We, here in St. Francis, at the Sno Angels lodge, have had a very busy summer. We began by having Kevin Pelletier help us to level and stabilize our entire lodge, He did such an awesome job! No more soup spilling out of our bowls due to uneven floors. We had JR Boucher & Son put in an addi tional foundation on what will eventually be our new and improved kitchen area. No more stepping on each other’s toes, we hope. Great job, guys! (Ricky Gervais and Reuben Pel letier). We also with the invaluable help of Darryl Mitchell, our St. Francis Town Man ager. We applied and were approved for a brand-new septic system. Thank you, James of Caron Earthworks! Currently, we have Curtis Saucier and his crew of Home Solu tions, putting up the walls and roof of our new kitchen area. He will also be putting in new doors, windows, and a major facelift to our little clubhouse. So, as you can see, we did more than swat at black flies this summer. In addition, we cleared out some trees in the front of our lodge and made our parking lot quite a bit bigger. This was accomplished by the generous contribution of Taggettville Trucking, Frankie Taggett, who donated his excavator, front end loader and gravel truck and Craig and Marlene Ouellette’s awesome contribu tion of 11 loads of gravel to make this possi ble. Thanks to Jeff Ouellette for donating your time to run the excavator. Thank you to each and every one of you. We had our election of officers this past month and the following individuals have agreed to serve this 24-25 year. David Con nors, President, Erwin Jackson, Vice-Presi dent, Kim Ouellette, Secretary and Lynn Kelly, Treasurer. Victor Panno has agreed to be our Trailmaster for this coming year as well. We plan on opening as soon as there is gro omable snow. Usually about the 1st of Janu ary but you never know, could be earlier. Our plans are to open with a pig roast but we’ll keep you posted on the coming events. Can’t wait to see everyone again and make many new friends! Program the St. Francis Sno Angel lodge into your GPS. You will be happy you came! Secretary, Kim M Ouellette Welcome to November... This month Rockabema Snow Rangers has been busy getting trails and bridges ready for the winter snow. Currently all machines are up and running. Rockabema has a 1995 280D Piston Bully that it is looking to sell or part out. It was provided 30K in parts 2 years ago, so there is a lot of ST. FRANICS SNO ANGEL St. Francis, ME ROCKABEMA SNOW RANGERS Patten, ME

value to be gained by a prospective buyer. Trail Work includes a 270-foot bridge that will reroute ITS 81 to get into the town of Pat ten, which connects Sherman and Shin Pond trails. This is an extremely important rebuild in that it will increase revenue for the small businesses in each of these towns. A new bridge was built on 112 on Crystal Brook. It looks fantastic and snowmobiles can cross in safe fashion. Peavey Brook and Fish Stream are being constructed and Rockabema is look ing for some strong young men and women to help carry and place the beams. If you are interested in helping us with this project, please contact John Harvey. Membership is down from last year and we are looking to improve that with our Facebook page membership form and several of the members getting out to share the word. Most importantly, if you are using the ITS and are not a member, your membership is what keeps these trails up and running and we need your help in meeting the financial goals to keep your trails safe and crossable. We are also looking for donations from our local patrons and businesses. Our next meeting is November 9th at 5:30 PM at the Rockabema Club house. It is pot luck so bring your favorite dish and come pre pared for a lot of laughter and chatter. Our first club drawing will take place during this meeting - so GOOD LUCK! Well, that’s about it for now. I will report again next month. Happy trails everyone. Carilynn Hanson Greetings from Molunkus Valley SnoDrifters, As I sit and write this ~yes we got our 1st snow on Mt.Katahdin yes~it’s coming and we at MVSD are gearing up! Hoping for lots of snow, Rick Long cut trail stakes for us and yes, Deb has been busy painting them all! Also, she corned Heather into helping which was greatly appreciated. Our memberships are rolling in and we also have interest in groomer operator Quiz which two more have completed. Will let you know who in next paper! We operate on strictly Volunteers and are blessed to have the volunteers. Our Christmas Parade is coming Dec 1st always a great time... Check our Facebook Page for more information. The club garage is started and I will show pictures later. That’s about it for now. Always taking new members ~the club where there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met! Until next time (Keep On Keeping ON! Deb Long (Club Pres) MOOSETOWN RIDERS ALLAGASH, Inc. is so excited to share that we are under new leadership! 2024-2025 promises to come with many wonderful and positive surprises! For starters, we will be adding several new groomer operators to our team. They have all passed the state groomer operator exam and will be individually trained by George Turner. George has many years of experience operat ing the groomer through all the conditions that northern Maine has to offer. His expertise is a valued and appreciated asset to the club. We have been busy working on the trails and have finally addressed a much-needed trail reroute from Chamberlains Market in St. Francis onward to Allagash Village. The section through the gnarly, (often torn up) hard wood ridge has been eliminated and has been rerouted to go over the mountain. This will save 5 miles of riding, which will provide many sledders the fuel needed to ride to Escourt Station! A huge thank you goes out to Irving Woodlands, Deep Gash Trucking, and many Moosetown Rider members for the hard work, dedication, and collaboration. There are many reasons to trek up to our beautiful north ern Maine oasis. Whether it be to experience our beautiful 80+ miles of well-groomed trails, stop for a bite to eat at Two Rivers Lunch for amazing food, stay at one of our well-kept, clean rentals and or travel to Pohenegamook, Quebec where gas and food, and Canadian poutines are available. Start planning now and book your winter wonderland snowmobile ven MOLUNKUS VALLEY SNODRIFTERS Sherman, ME MOOSETOWN RIDERS Allagash, ME

Our members feel very positive that it will be an amazing long and snowy winter. In fact, according to Mother Nature, all signs are fore casting that very thing! You probably have noticed that the black sections on the wooly bear caterpillar are quite long which means a severe and snowy winter and … oh these acorns! It’s like walking on marbles in my yard and you all know what that means! And finally, let’s not forget those wasp nests we are seeing that have been built higher than usual. Yes indeed, the upcoming winter of 2024-2025 looks to be promising for snow lovers and the Smithfield Moonshiners’ trails are ready! Greetings to all, The Embden Travelers trails are questionable. A lot hinges on what will be available to those of you on the East. A new structure is being built on Walker Road by the trail crossing East Shore Road. We are hoping to weave through this “res idential” area this year. If we can, we hope there will be a route from that trail where it crosses Dunbar Hill Road as the land owner from that crossing to the power line is considering logging, based on the market value of the timber. We are looking for a reroute there. The trail to Concord Corner needs a reroute as a long time permit ter has denied use of his land with no reason or negotiation granted. Anyhow, the abutments for the large bridge on that trail in Concord Twp. lost due to the storm last December were determined to be unsafe. The entire structure was removed. We are hoping for two 35’ beams to span the Witham Brook in the event we can get there. It appears access out of Embden to the north, west and south will be possible. Give attention to our Facebook page for updates. We have planned a potluck supper to be held January 11, 2025. It will start with a social at 5PM and Supper at 6PM at the Embden Commu nity Center. Also, put on your schedule the 5th annual Snow Fest to be held February 15th start ing at noon at the Embden Pond boat landing. Despite the gloomy news, hope for the best trails. Submit your membership and raffle tickets in time for the December 10th drawing. Remember to be safe out there and travel with Respect. Your Cub Reporter EMBDEN TRAVELERS Embden, ME Find us on Facebook

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