8963-R1_MSA_February2025_Newsletter

MSA Club News

please ride right and ride safe! Cheers Doug Doherty, President

(Continued from Page 11) had challenges with the weather early in the season. Moosehead Lake is always unpredictable but a crew was able to stake the trail from Kineo to Misty Morning and Rockwood Cottages on 1/18/25. That gives you access to Rockwood near the mouth of the Moose River. Please stay on the trail near the river! There’s gas and snowmobile rentals at Moosehead Sled Rental and Repair a half mile from the lake. The Birches trail and the Rockwood Boat Landing trail have not been staked as of 1/21/25 but with the subzero temps this week they should be staked soon. The Birches has gas and fuel. The Boat Landing trail has gas and food at the Rockwood Bar and Grill a half mile from the lake. We did a lot of trail work this fall to clear brush and downed trees. We’ve been groom ing several times a week to keep the base flat. In spite of the low snow cover, the trails have been quite good. The Blue Ridge Riders meet on the third Saturday of the month at Darren Miliken’s “Megawatt Lounge” on the Maynard Road. Potluck dinner 6-7pm, meeting starts at 7:00pm. As usual, all we need is snow and cold. See you on the trails Mike Hoyt COASTAL REGION

WISCASSETT SNO-GOERS Wiscassett, ME

Greetings to all from the Wiscasset Sno-Goers, Hello from the Mid coast! Well, it’s been double digit negative temps for the past few days and we have about 4-6” of nice white stuff. Not quite enough to fire up grooming operations but sure feels a lot like winter! And… time for this reporter to fall on the sword…. Got caught up with holidays last month and didn’t get my Jan letter submitted. I told the club they were taking their chances with me on this job so I’ll deflect a bit…. Keep your eyes peeled, this job may show up on Indeed at any moment. Some recent news: • The Sno Goers had an awesome holiday party in Dec. Got some business completed as well as had some great food and some laughs! Also had some great new members join in on the fun and the club! • We are continuing Sunday trail fun starting at the club house around 8ish… • And just a reminder – Last year the Sno Goers developed a partnership with the Wis casset FD and have been provided access to their training building next door to our club house. This facility will give us a bit more space for meetings and other gatherings. The club house will continue to be the hub for trail and grooming operations but this extra space at the training facility is a great addition and we are excited. The Sno-goers meet on the 2nd Thursday of each Month beginning in October and running through April. The meetings are held at the FD training facility next door to the club house with the meeting starting at 6:00 p.m. with a pot luck. Always fun to have guests and new members are always welcomed! Trail work continues on Sunday mornings, meeting at the club house at 8:00 a.m. (ish). What better way to spend a fall morning in Maine than to help clear a couple trees, add a few signs, and maybe help out an aging bridge? From all of the Wiscasset Sno-Goers, we hope that you and your families are getting out and enjoying the trails in the parts of the state that Mother Nature has been kind to. And lastly, as always; a huge thank you to all of the land owners who graciously allow access for our trail system! Happy February! I hope we are riding the trails by the time this news is published!!! We are seeing a repeat of the last few seasons here in Windham. Come on Mother Nature!!!! There’s not a lot to report on as we all wait for snow. The trails are in good shape and the equipment is ready to work!! With 40 miles of trails, there’s always branches and young growth that can be trimmed from the trail system. Now is a great time to take a walk on a section of trails and help us all out! Please follow our Facebook page and fre quent our website for projects and events dates. The club meets the second Monday of each month at 6:30 at Pat’s Pizza in North Wind ham. Please join us if you interested. Lastly, a special Thanks to those dedicated officers and members who work year-round for our club. Think Snow!!! Ride Right and Ride Safe! Till next time, Shane Spencer-Club Reporter WISCASSETT SNO-GOERS Wiscassett, ME

The club has remained busy on the trails and has already logged 500 hours in trail mainte nance. The dedication by our club members and landowners is just outstanding. We hope to get a club ride in before the winter departs for another year. These past few weekends have been repair ing the drags in preparation for groomable snow. Fixing bridges that seem to need fixing every week and putting up signage. The club members also managed to GPS the trail sys tem, and hope to have it available to the pub lic, and for emergency services. Speaking of emergency services, it is a valid point to make that the trail systems not only provide for great recreational activities, but they also provide access to difficult areas should an emergency arise. If you enjoy walking, biking, horseback rid ing or snowmobiling the trail system, be sure to join the club or donate to the club as every donation goes into maintaining the trails. Our tireless workers take no pay and donate their time, skill set and equipment. As always be sure to look at our Facebook page for events, club meetings, and work parties. Respectfully, Stephanie Bravoco Club Reporter Hello Everyone! The club has been very busy the past few months brushing the trails and repairing a number of bridges. There have been several bridges repaired including Collins Brook, Kallenbach, Jeremy’s bridge and Bell’s Farm Bridge to name a few. Work is has been progressing on moving the Chandler Brook Bridge closer to reality and completion. The project was redesigned to bring it under budget and the project was put out to bid. A construction company has been selected and was waiting for the ground to TRI-TOWN PENQUINS Durham, Pownal, Freeport, ME

freeze to start. As of the writing of this article in mid-December, construction was imminent. It is expected that the bridge will be completed later this winter. Many thanks to our Trail Master Bernie Coombs for his hard work on this project. The club would like to thank our business sponsors including Durham Get N Go, Curtis Lawn Care, M & N Operating Company, Ben Bailey Excavation, Arsenault Motor Sports, Maine Forest Yurts, Chad Little Power Equip ment, K & K Residential, 6 Rivers NEMBA, Doherty’s North Freeport Store and Ben Por ter for their generous donations, memberships and support. We are always looking to welcome new members of all ages to the club. Club meet ings are held at the Acacia Lodge on Rt. 136 in Durham, not far from the Get N Go, typi cally on the first Thursday of the month at 6 PM. Please join us! Our Facebook group page can be found at Tri-Town Penguins Snowmo bile Club please check the page for the latest club news, trail reports and updates, there is a link on the page to join the club online, we welcome all to join! Membership is only $21 online using Paypal or a credit card or $20 at a club meeting. Membership includes a mem bership to MSA and their monthly newsletter. My sled is gassed up and ready! Is yours? Let’s hope for a large storm soon. Richard Nadeau Member Hello from sunny Saco, Maine. Well, unfor tunately, the drought continues. I’m writing this in late January and there are just a couple inches of snow in southern Maine. In fact, our trail maintenance team was out last Sunday with zero snow on the ground and they were still using their four wheelers. We have 18 members getting ready to head up to Katahdin Lodge in Moro Plantation for the first of our two annual trips to the county. In late February, we’ll be venturing a little further north to Caribou for trip number two. Both trips are always memorable with some of the best riding in the country. I have to continue to shout out to our trail maintenance team who have been out EVERY Sunday since September. We are very fortu nate to have between 10 and 20 people show up for trail work every weekend. I know there are lots of clubs who struggle to get two or three people to help out, so we are really lucky in that regard. We’ve had people reach out to us about using our trails for other activities, like snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, riding fat-tire bikes, etc. We encourage folks to get out and use our trails for what ever activity they like, as long as it’s not a motorized vehicle other than a snowmobile. Our trails are classified as multi-use trails, not just snowmobile trails. So, when we do have snow, we let riders know to be aware of other people on the trails who may not be on a sled and always be cautious. Lastly, we cannot stress enough the grati tude we have for our landowners. Every inch of trail we maintain is privately owned. Please, if you happen to see a landowner in your trav els, stop and thank them. They do appreciate the acknowledgement of their generosity. That’s about it for now. Once we get snow, SACO PATHFINDERS sc Saco, ME Find us on Facebook

SACOPEE VALLEY SNOW DRIFTERS Porter, ME

Wow, last night’s 2/4/2025 meeting was attended by 14 members, that’s the largest monthly meeting this season. What is aston ishing to me is that none of us have been able to snowmobile the Sacopee Valley Snow Drifter trails (SVSD) as yet, due to the lack of snow. SVSD has been out opening gates and panning most of our 65-miles of trails. I notice that several folks like to say that the trails are “boney”. There not “boney” they are down right “rocky”. Looks like February should bring several snowstorms that should help cover the rocks and SVSD will have some of the best snowmobiling in the area. SVSD and all its volunteers have worked tirelessly to get the trails opened for the 2024-2025 season and the best thank you SVSD could get, is to have snowmobilers safely enjoying the SVSD trail system... Stay tuned for updates. John Lambert – Club Reporter.

WALDOBORO SNO-CRAWLERS Waldoboro, ME

Hello Everyone, We finally got some snow January 20 th , and we hope it stays with the partnering cold snap.

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