9269-R1_MSA_February2026_Newsletter

MSA Club News

ermen are predicting. 8-12 inches of fresh snow in the next couple of days. We’ll see. Either way, I’m hanging up my helmet and leaving for Arizona.

Trading Post in Kokadjo, Lake Shore House in Monson, Leisure Life Resort in Greenville, River Drivers Restaurant in Millinocket, and Rockwood Convenience Store in Rockwood. If you are in the neighborhood stop in and at least say Hi to these nice people. We have had a couple of little problems with the Groomer but have at least managed one pass over all the trails. Our trailmaster and head mechanic is getting quite proficient at getting the tracks on and off. The next meeting will be on February 15th. It’s going to be a scenic ride around the lake and a cookout along the way, if interested, meet at Smith’s camp at 9:00AM. Any ques tions email raggedridersinc@gmail.com. The new Pole barn is still in the planning stages; we are in the process of getting the necessary permits etc. I would like to make a comment about the not so thoughtful people who “borrow” trail signs. We spend a lot of time making sure the intersections are signed so people will know where they are and where they are going, only to come back the next week and find them gone. We had some nice metal signs made up letting people know that the ragged Riders are maintaining these trails. Now two of them have disappeared, probably decorating some one’s shed and not doing any good for the rest of the public. Guess that’s enough for now. See you on the trails. Dave Smith, Reporter Here it is, January 25, 2026, and we are waiting for our first significant snowfall in our area. Jon and Jim who operate our groomer are all set to head out as soon as there is enough snow on the trails to begin grooming. Even though the trails are not open, the club has been busy serving breakfast each Sunday and last Saturday we had our second spaghetti supper. We are also busy soliciting donations for our annal Chili, Chowder & Auction to be held on February 28 th . Our next Director’s meeting and potluck supper will be on Wednesday, February 4 th . We will be completing our slate of officers for the 2026-2027 season. If you have any inter est in joining the board of directors or running for any office, please contact President, Dana Carson at 827-7066. The election of officers will be held at our March 4th meeting. Just a reminder, we have plenty of parking available for anyone wishing to snowmobile from the clubhouse. We are located near the ITS84 trail. Our regular Sunday breakfasts will continue for the next 6 weeks through March 8, 2026. Special Pancake/French Toast breakfasts will be served on February 22 nd and March 8th. Please join us. The food and coffee are great, and the company is even better. Think SNOW! Grand Lake sc Grand Lake Stream, ME Although I ride alone, I shouldn’t, espe cially because of my age. On January 6, I had to take advantage of the 20-degree rise in temperature, that is a 28-degree day, and went out into the woods to check camps by snow mobile. The dirt road trail was made up of a 1-inch base of hard snow, or ice, with 2 inches of fresh snow. I imagined the trail would be rutted up by bobcat hunters, ice fishermen and others. It was not. The complete trail was almost twice as wide as a pickup truck, and mostly flat. Unlike my last trip where I almost rolled over twice, this was one of my near per fect pickup truck trail rides. It was almost as perfect as if Les was out there ahead of me, grooming the trail in the Snow Rabbit. I figure the only thing that could be making the trail so flat is: the 14-wheel dump trucks that work at the fish hatchery, the ATV’s, side x sides, and snowmobilers, that are all using the dirt road. It was a perfect trip for me, because I was able to hit 30 MPH several times. Expe rienced riders may want to wait until we get a 6-inch snow fall, when what we have now becomes the base. My work ride was unevent ful. Remember, always hand your written itin erary to a good friend. During the first half of winter, we usually PINE TREE sc Milford, ME Hello Club Members and Friends,

get 10 or less small snow falls of 3-inches or less. Because of this, the club has decided to pack these small storms down and create a good base. To do so, a good snow packer has been ordered. The tow hitch will be a design that will allow the snow packer to be towed by an ATV, or a snowmobile. It will have a basket, so operators can add weight per snow conditions. There was rough planning for the yearly raffle. It was decided to have it in the sum mer, because we will make more money then. What we will raffle, has not been decided. If you have an idea, talk to Les. We got that 6-inch snow fall last night, Jan uary 21st. It was cold, so the snow was nice and fluffy. There is another 6-inch, or bigger snow storm due starting Sunday night, and all day Monday. We could get 12-inches. That would be great. All week is supposed to be cold. Small groups of snowmobiles are traveling to the Pine Tree Store now that we have snow. The arctic cold is the only thing keeping them away. We have the snow. The store is ready for action. Rumor has it that Les and Robert are going grooming in the Snow Rabbit. It would be great if the store gets a lot a snowmobile traffic, and GLS gets 12” of snow on Sunday night, January 21, as predicted. Trail 507 will not be groomed this winter season. Another club is not grooming to the dam, so it is felt, what sense would it make for GLSC too. This could change, but just in case, be ready to travel on a not groomed 507 Trail. NEXT MEETING: The second Wednes day of every month, 6 pm, at the GLS Fire Station. SIGNAGE: This is a big topic with Maine Dept of Agriculture/Snowmobile Division. Correct signage is major and should give you all kinds of information related to direction, restaurants, lodging, safety, bridge crossing, and more. So, gather some friends. Plan a lunch. Let Les know days ahead of time, that your group will be available. TREE WORK: Les says “All trails are fine at this moment (December), but we need brushing.” By the time you read this, I bet tree’s will be down, blocking trails. Les will have them removed in short order. If you and others want to work your chain saw and heavy loppers, plan it ahead of time with Les. Sev eral members have and fun has been had. GROOMER TESTING: Les didn’t touch on the subject of members taken the Maine Trail Groomer Test. I’m sure he is planning and it will be brought up at the next meeting. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read about our snowmobile club and our special little town. Please ride our trails and make our town your town, and stop by on your snowmobile adventure. I guarantee you will be back. mikeremillard42@gmail.com Please take the time to cut out the below lines of information and pack it away with your registration and insurance info.You never know. RESCUE HELOCOPTER LANDING PAD’S, GPS: Amazon Trail: GPS needed. (Near Otter Road) Pocumcus Lake. GPS: N 45° 10.14’, W 67° 53.79’, (Near the second Elsemore Landing sign.) Stone Dam: N 45° 08.3’, W 67° 52.92’ HELP NEEDED: Call 796-5027, Les, Brinda, or a store worker. TRAIL PROBLEM: Call 796-5027, Les. He will solve the problem. 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”. LODGING: Call 796-5027, Les, Brinda, or a store worker. KENDUSKEAG STREAM RIDERS sc Kenduskeag, ME Welcome to February fellow snowmobilers... As I sit here at the kitchen table, looking outside, just a few inches of snow on the ground, really very few sleds have been out, very cold, just above zero today. Looks like that will all change over the course of the next few days with winter storm fern bearing down on us with well below ZERO temperatures

and possibly 6-10 inches of snow. Stay tuned and let’s see if the weather forecasters can get this one right (I hope so). Dave P. and the KSRSC Trail Crew have been out working on the trails getting ready for additional snow. Thanks for grooming and marking out the trail across the “BOG “ -this will make it a lot safer and easier to navigate this area... Dale C. has just received all three of the groomer stickers and paperwork. This should get us up to snuff. Not much more this time, Happy Ground hog’s Day, Happy St. Valentines Day to all (hope you Guys didn’t miss this one -oops). The next 2 KSRSC meetings will be Feb ruary 12th, and March 12th. 7:00P.M. at Dale and JoAnn’s house – Many Thanks Again for hosting. Safe sledding out there and ride right. Barry E. Ryan KSRSC - Reporter Good day fellow snowmobilers... Just when you thought it was safe to finally get the sleds out of the garage or trailer, along comes another round of warm weather and rain and takes ALL the SNOW away again. Okay as I am sitting at the kitchen table writing this, a couple of older sleds go by the window - hard to miss them now as the “New Trial” is within 50 feet of the house. Long story short -my next-door neighbor has closed off that trail that we had for years - due to the fact that a few rogue sledders were on it before there was even an inch of SNOW. No big deal, you say, actually it’s a little more complex than that. As I don’t own the property that is directly me, I had to get that landowner, get permission, and we walked a new route, flagged it, and got Gene B. with his Mini Excavator to move part of a rock wall, quite a few trees to cut and push around. After all that put up new signage, stakes, and for the 1st time in 40 years-actually sign my own land owner permission slip. As we speak, our trails have been gone through once, twice and in cases three times -still not enough snow to ride without hit ting rocks, stumps, and anything else that 6 inches of snow usually hides .The good thing is that finally with the recent colder weather the Lancaster Brook crossing is okay to cross , and with the next cold snap, the Ken duskeag Stream crossings should be buttoned up (NEVER take water crossings for grant ed-check ICE conditions first). Our clubhouse building is an older one that we inherited. It had served many functions in the past including a one room schoolhouse, a two-bay fire station, a community center - complete with Bingo apparatus, and probably others as well. Its primary function now is our clubhouse, to host meetings and rent out for social events, and the local Senior Citizens meetings. We have recently been doing some renova tions inside including replacing the kitchen floor and the entryway floor, new counter tops with a new drop-in sink, painting the cabinets, and walls. Along with work being done in the workshop -putting up plywood and insulation, adding a new overhead garage door to drive in and drive out the Kubota, and drag sleds. Many Thanks go out to Ed, Bradley, and the rest of the GLRSC Crew to get these proj ects completed. This is hard work and much appreciated. Okay, late news flash - there is a potential huge snowstorm making its way up the East Coast, looks to be a Monster - with tempera tures in the low teens, wind chill factor of well below zero and 6-10 inches or more of snow. Stay tuned for further details on this one... Besides that, by the time you are reading this – Groundhog Day will have come and gone (Thanks Phil) as well as more impor tantly St. Valentines Day (hope you didn’t do a miss on this one or you’ll be out in the garage sitting on the cold seat). Let’s wrap this up for now and wish every one a safe sledding 2025/ 2026 season. Barry E. Ryan GLRSC / Vice President GLENBURN LAKESIDE RIDERS sc Glenburn, ME

Enjoy the snow, Leah Frechette, Club reporter

POODUNK sc Dixfield, ME Hello Fellow Snowmobilers;

December has come and gone with not enough snow in our area to anything with the groomer out on our trails. With that being said, we did get a chance to roll some of the trails, but still not ready to open up the trails. We did a little bit of brushing while doing the rolling. February is drawing near and with that comes the Blessing of the Sleds on February 14, 2026 at the Mountain View Camp Ground in Dixfield, Maine. We will be there from 10 a.m. Food will be ready at 11 p.m., and the blessing will take place at 1 p.m. The blessing will be done by Pastor Matthew Andrews. He is the new Pastor of the Church on the Hill in Dixfield. Come on by and say hi and get your sled blessed. There will be lots of raffle items, food, 50/50 drawing and shirts and t-shirts for sale. We would like to boost our membership, so please if you haven’t joined, consider doing so, or if you’re a member of another club join us as an associate member. The more the merrier. We would like to thank all the landowners who let us maintain the trails on their property. Without them we wouldn’t have a trail system. A big thank you to everyone who helps out on the trails to keep them open. Let’s all pray for snow in the coming month. Hope to see you out on the trails and espe cially at the Blessing. Sincerely, Joyce Whittemore Our snow prayers were answered finally! The grooming crew volunteers switched the Kubota tractor tires out for tracks and have been very busy grooming our local trails and some ITS trails. Many thanks to James, Stacy, Mac, Malcolm, Byron, Andrew and Doug. Well done Guys!! Once again, we co-hosted with Dysart’s, the Pine Tree Camp Celebrity Egg Ride on January 31 st . Hope you were able to attend or donate to a great cause. We held a free community turkey dinner on January 24 th serving over 70 meals. What a great turnout on a very cold day! It is always nice to see people enjoying each other’s com pany and relaxing. We continue to meet the 1st and 3rd Wednes days of the month. The 3rd Wednesday meet ing is always a potluck and the 1/21 meeting had plenty of great food! Pizza, Homemade Italian Meatballs, Chef Salad, Baked Ziti, and Taco Salad. Our clubhouse parking lot at 795 Bog Road in Hermon is huge and has plenty of space for your trailers if you need to truck your sleds to get to a trail system. ITS 82 & ITS 84 intersect on our property and we are also only a couple of miles from Hermon Pond if you’d like to go ice fishing. Feel free to park all day anytime! For up-to-date information follow our Sled Hermon Facebook page or call Andy, our club president at 207-852-8214. Hello from Ragged Lake. As I write this the snow is starting to come down at a pretty good clip. Let it come! Mem berships have been coming in slow but sure, as of now we are just about at last year’s num bers. The Jr. Riders program is up to eleven so far. I would like to give a shout out to the sponsors who help make this program happen. Kelly’s Landing in Greenville Jct., Kokadjo RAGGED RIDERS sc T2R13, ME Club Secretary Club Reporter EASTERN REGION Penobscot sc Hermon, ME Find us on Facebook

(Continued on Page12)

11

w m

n o

o b

2 0 2 6 l M a i n e S

i l e

r

F

u a r y

e b

r