8963-R1_MSA_February2025_Newsletter

MSA Club News

the Forks through Little Moxie Pond Rd. & Crooked Rd. via Clouse Allen Rd. Cars should stay off these trails. We found 1 car and 1 pickup stuck on our trails recently. Ordway Pond Rd. (River Trail) across the East Branch of the Piscataquis River is only passable going downhill off ITS85. The Shirley River Trail is passable both ways to the river crossing. The ice is now safe. https://sites.google.com/site/shirleybog trailbusters/ email:shirleybogtrailbusters@ gmail.com fb: Shirley bog trailbusters Hi to all, Quadcounty has been replanking bridges, cutting brush, bush hogging, chasing beavers, clearing down trees, making trail reroutes and most of all waiting for significant snow. Took the old groomer out to pan ITS 105 from clubhouse to Schillinger Rd in T8R3. There is logging going on there for about a mile and a half up ITS105 to intersection of ITS110. The roads have enough snow for a good ride, through the wooded areas are mar ginal. Our new trail section in Carroll Plt to Kossuth town line is complete and panned and a lot better than the old section of trail, a vast improvement! Quadcounty will be serving a pot roast sup per at the clubhouse February 8, 4:00-5:30. Meal, dessert, and drink for $12. We are serv ing breakfast, first and third Saturdays, 7-10. Planning our Hot Dog roast, February 22 at the Park and Ride on ITS105 in Lakeville 2 miles down East Shore Rd. Sled in or come by vehicle to enjoy grilled hot dog and Campfire pie. Cheryl is at the clubhouse Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6-10, come in and visit and have coffee, a bite to eat [a small menu], dona tions accepted. The calendar raffle starts February 1 and runs till end of April. All 400 tickets have been sold. Sorry if you didn’t get one, if you did get one, Good Luck to you. Your slow Typing Reporter. Kevin February better be bringing us lots of snow and great riding conditions! Because here I am smack in the middle of January and we have only taken the club sleds out for about 6 hours total of packing down snow and brushing and clearing of trails. Trails are not open at this time sadly, but on a good note we are 100% ready for it to happen! All signage is up, all bridges have been inspected and or repaired and every trail has been cleared of brush. Thank you to our very dedicated trails crew for the many hours and days spent on that task! Upcoming Events Sunday February 23 rd Board of directors 5:00 p.m. Denise Gross Club Reporter QUAD COUNTY sc Springfield, ME EASTERN MAINE SNOWMOBILERS Holden, ME EasternMaineSnowmobilers.com Find us on Facebook Trails *Waiting impatiently for snow Trails are 100% ready when the snow comes! Thank you to the trail crew for all of the hours of hard work on the trails, putting up signage and working in the sled garage servic ing the sleds. Also, thanks to those who have helped plowing the driveway etc. so the clubhouse is ready for rentals. Fundraising The clubhouse is available for daily and weekend rentals. Check our website for more information on that. We still have a number of unsold tickets for our 300 Club monthly draw ings that continue until April. And our annual spring dinner/option will be happening Satur day May 10th. We will be collecting donations Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Club meeting 7:00 p.m. Sunday March 16 th Board of directors 5:00 p.m. Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Club meeting 7:00 p.m.

for that. Keep an eye out for more information as we get closer. So, in closing I would ask that you go ahead and register those snowmobiles (the clubs count on that revenue) join a club or join a new club. Check with your local Club if you would like to volunteer to help work on trails. And most importantly! Do your snow dance!!!! See you at the clubhouse or on the trails! Troy G Trail Grunt GLENBURN LAKE SIDE RIDERS sc Glenburn, ME Hello Again Fellow Snowmobilers, Just sitting at the kitchen table, and out the window seeing three sleds travel through the field and across the road, looks like they are taking the opportunity to get a few miles in and breaking the little snow cover that we have. They must have a day off from school, as today is MLK day and the Presidential Inauguration, as well. After a white Thanksgiving, a white Christ mas, and a brown New Year’s Day, hopefully the 4-5 inches of snow that we received on Monday will stay on the ground. We are also in the grasp of a cold snap that is keeping tem peratures below freezing in the daytime and below zero at night. This will surely help cre ate enough ice at the crossings of Lancaster Brook and Kenduskeag Stream to safely accommodate snowmobile traffic. But please check the ice -before you cross! We have been doing some clubhouse ren ovations inside, much more to do later on as funds, time, and help and help dictate. At this time, all of our trails have been once, some two or three times. They are open, but please proceed with caution, as snow cover is just a small fraction of what we usually have

by now. This makes staying on the marked trails so important as to respect landowners’ property and snowmobiler safety. The trail safety check that was scheduled for January, 26 th has been canceled, due to lack of safe ice and snow conditions. Should those conditions improve, we may re-schedule for late February or early March -TBA. The trail crew has accomplished a couple of snow fence projects (at landowner’s request) -pictures enclosed and added a couple of kiosks (information centers) at a couple of trail junctions (some pictures also enclosed). Many thanks go out to Mike Grass Sr. for sup plying these -they are great! Really not a lot to add, oops wait -we did just go over to JB Groomers in Chelsea to pick -up our new drag that we will use behind the Kubota side x side to groom trails. This will give us the much-needed support to follow up with the 2 pipe drags that we now use behind our 2 Ski-Doo Skandics, (pictures enclosed). Our next 2 GLRSC meetings will be on February 5 th and February 19 th / 7:00P.M. @ 2838 Ohio Street, Glenburn - All are wel come, come on over and check out the fun (it’s not work all the time). Let’s wrap this up for this month, hope to see you out on the trails. While you are out there, stop and say thank-you to any landowners. Also, we would like to welcome another new member -Ben D. of Glenburn-he likes to ice fish, and also welcome new business mem ber - Sunset Redemption Center in Glenburn -Support Your Local MSA / Business Mem bers, they really appreciate it. P.S. -Don’t forget St. Valentines day / Feb ruary 14 th -just saying. Thank-You. Welcome fellow snowmobilers, Finally got the end of the year holidays over and the festivities that go along with them, always a very hectic time. Don’t take this the wrong way -I enjoy the holidays as much as anyone else. And really the little snowfall that we had truly make it that much more likely that folks were in festive moods. With that being said, let’s move on to the business at hand. Looks like Trail Master David P. has the crew working diligently to open up ALL the trails, just waiting for this current cold snap to freeze water holes solid and then getting the SNOW to fall from the sky, so we can get this season underway. Hunter P., as Assistant Trail Master -this is on you .... Make it Snow. Really not much else to report on at this time. Just a couple of reminders though; the KSRSC February and March meetings will be held at Dale residence and Joann’s house on the 13 th of both months at 7:00 P.M. You should come join in on the fun (it’s NOT all just work), usually we have a snack or two to enjoy as well. Thanks to all of the members that have worked so hard this season, we wouldn’t have the trail system that we all enjoy each winter. Hope to see on the trails soon, Thank you. January 2025 has giving us very little snow as of this writing with very thin cover in most places. There is more snow at the highest ele vations if you are able to get there. Ice on the south end of Moosehead Lake is thicker than in past years measuring 16” or more in most areas. Trail markers on the lake near Rockwood are an indication that the ice has been tested and are there for a reason. Mid lake and north of Kineo Island the ice only recently began forming due to the con stant wind. It is very thin and must be avoided for now. The usual thin ice where the Moose River enters Moosehead is always a hazard and should be given a wide berth. Some have asked if the lake is safe for traveling. Ice is never truly safe as different locations have different ice thicknesses, and when snow covered, are difficult to judge. It’s always good to ask in advance for ice reports, tell someone where you intend to ride and don’t ride alone. Ice picks and a flotation Barry E. Ryan Vice President KENDUSKEAG STEAM RIDERS sc Kenduskeag, ME Barry E. Ryan Club Reporter MOOSEHEAD RIDERS sc Greenville, ME Find us on Facebook

jacket have helped many in the past. Ride with safety in mind. Bob Ludwig, Secretary raludwig184@gmail.com

PINE TREE sc Milford, ME Hello fellow snowmobilers, Happy New Year!

We finally have some snow in our area. It’s not enough to bring out the big groomer yet. Hopefully, we’ll get more snow soon. We fed 47 individuals at our public spa ghetti supper held on January 18 th . We continue our weekly breakfasts every Sunday. This Sunday will be our 4th break fast of 2025. We will be serving pancakes or French toast with home fries. Only six more breakfasts to go! The cost for all breakfasts will be $10 for adults and $6 for children under 12. Everyone is welcome. We will hold our annual Chili & Chowder Supper and Auction on February 15th. Supper begins at 5pm and the auction will follow at 6pm. The Pot of Gold balance for our February meeting will be $23.85, since we did not have a winner at the January meeting. Remember, you must be present to win! We look forward to seeing you at the Club house and on the trails. Happy New year! Think Snow!! Greetings from Ragged Lake. President Jamie Bell and Vice -President Andrew Smith, have just completed grooming our 35 miles of trails over and around Rag ged and Caribou Lakes. They report good trail conditions but would like to have more snow to fill some holes and ruts. Here’s hop ing their wishes come true. They also report that the new to us Formatic Snowcat still has some bugs to get worked out, a job for another weekend. The club has been collecting build ing materials, and the landowner has given us permission to put up a pole barn for storage that they and the club can use. That’s a job for next summer. As some of you readers may or may not know, we are a small club, mostly camp own ers who all live somewhere else and have real jobs that keep us busy except for weekends and holidays. We only have about 35 miles of trails, but we manage to keep busy. We are planning a Presidents Day meeting and a club ride, location and times to be determined. In March, we are planning a Family Fun Fishing Day, again times and locations TBD. We use GMRS frequency channel 20 on our groomer. It is always on at someone’s camp. Typically, when we are out grooming, we are by ourselves, or only one other member is in the area. With the hilly terrain we cannot always reach help if we have a breakdown, so sometimes a message relay would be appreci ated. This also goes for riders out on the trail, if you do have a radio and you get into trou ble, you can contact someone from the club to maybe come help you out, member or not. Our new Junior Rider program is off to a good start and I would like to give a shout -out to the businesses in the area who have stepped up to support the program; Kokadjo Trading post, Northeast Carry Country Store, Wildwoods Trailside Restaurant, Katahdin General Store, Leisure Life Trailside Restau rant, Rockwood Convenience Store, Kelly’s Landing, Lake Shore House, Jackman Power Sports. For more information contact Ragged Riders Inc., 603 447 3723. Ragged Riders Club meetings are usually held the first Saturday of the month during the winter starting about 5:00 pm with a potluck meal. Club members rotate hosting duties at their camps. Check our Facebook page for more details. Follow us at; Ragged Riders Snowmobile Club Inc. That’s all for now, Happy Trails to All. RAGGED RIDERS INC. sc T2R13, Piscataquis County, ME

Bridge replacement in Glenburn Brad A (left) and Eddie P. (right)

Bridge replacement in Glenburn Brad A (left) and Eddie P. (right)

Bridge replacement in Glenburn Brad A

BLUE RIDGE RIDERS Rockwood, ME

Well, it’s been another erratic start to winter in Maine again this year. All the clubs have

Temporary ditch/brook crossing Gene B in the Kubota

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