9299-R5_MSA_March2026_Newsletter

MSA Club News

read this. SBTB groomers did get their “routine” in place in February, but the snowfalls and temperatures will determine how the trail conditions actually work out. March can bring us some nice spring riding, and more snow can still come well into the month. SAFETY NOTES Be aware that the thin snow on the trails brings up rocks during the grooming process and extra care needs to be taken. Being thrown off a sled due to hitting a rock is not fun! We do know of one instance where this actually happened! Hand signals when riding seem to be lacking this season. If you approach an oncoming sled, you should signal that you are either a single sled or that others are behind you. It helps a lot, especially on narrow, twisty turning trails. Please, learn and use the hand signals appropriate for trail riding. CANADA VS USA My group and I recently had a 6-day trip into Quebec and noticed some differences in signage. Maine has many more route number signs at intersections and on trails than they do in Quebec. The Canadians seem to focus on city destinations rather than routes at intersections. That is not really helpful if you do not know the towns they have listed on the signs. Quebec did have more snow than our area as expected, and the Canadians do a wonderful job with grooming. We saw nightly grooming with pristine trails each morning! We encountered well over 200 sleds during our rides each day. The border crossing by sled is a bit rough. Both USA and Canada definitely cater to the automobiles with cleared, black pavement, so expect tricky maneuvering when driving a sled thru! CLUB RIDES & ACTIVITIES Thank you to all of the club members who volunteered for the annual Wilderness Dog Sled Race March 7 th in Greenville. Not only did members help on the day of the races, but during the week for chute set up, the musher’s meeting, trail work and after the race for pick up. A BIG thank you to all volunteers!

Tom Taliento, Northeast Whitewater and all the club officers/volunteers who organized the event and supplied food, desserts and cooked. SPRING RIDING Again, I’ll give you another reminder about “crust rides” during maple syrup season. Go

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EAST BRANCH SNO-ROVERS Medway & East Millinocket, ME

is in the planning stages for April’s meal. We have 27 Business Members and 94 Family Members, that is our biggest membership, Ever! And they said we were thinking too big, too quick 25 years ago when we started Quadcounty SC. Thank you all and there is room for more if you like what we do or you would like to make it better, join us! Your slow typing reporter, Kevin

At the time of writing this, it’s the middle of February and the season is in full swing! We have groomers going out every night for vacation week. We’re facing a minor warm up so it will be interesting to see where Mother Nature takes us. Our Groomer Rodeo was a big success! Nice displays & crafts to look at upstairs, a great variety of machines to look at & drive out back. Delicious lunch was a sellout. Even the MSA Showcase Ride stopped in to check out the action! By the time you read this the annual Kid’s Day will be wrapped up – we’ll fill you in next month. The Sno-Rovers jumped in for the Katahdin Regional Vintage Snowmobile Parade held in Millinocket on Friday the 13th. President Steven Lane & his wife Theresa did a bang up job decorating the club’s Gator. The Clubhouse’s woodshed is chockablock full thanks to a generous firewood donation by The Gateway Inn. A great crew of volunteers went all out to get this transported cut, split and stacked. Also, a big shoutout goes to the volunteers that have signed up for a rotating schedule to keep the woodstove going day & night! The Club’s monthly meetings are the 2nd Thursday of each month. Meeting starts at 6PM with a potluck meal prior to the meeting at 5:30. Come on out for the food if nothing else! As always come on out to our Tuesday night Music Jams. These are held every week, food is served starting at 4:30, and the music is 6-9 PM. You can find the menu each week on the Club’s Facebook Page. Better yet – there’s no admission charge! Stay on top of upcoming events on the Club’s website at www.snorovers.com or follow the Facebook page. Respectively submitted, Charlie Huntington Well, here we are at this writing at the beginning of March with one of the lowest winter snowfalls totals in recent memory. That also means this was “the year of the groomer”. Our groomers were faced with the task of creating great riding trails and not much to work with. The vast influx of riders to the Moosehead area found enjoyable trails nearly every day. Big snow depths make for an easier grooming but the talent is to make something with little to work with. I usually like to summarize the season with recognition for what Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club contributes to the greater Greenville community each and every year. Yes, we have ice fishing and skiing but without riding trails, downtown in winter would be a bit desolate. The influx of trailers northbound into town all winter is remarkable. So, thanks to our trail groomers for supporting the various winter businesses, the Annual Wilderness Sled Dog Race the enjoyment of our visitors, residents and SHIRLEY BOG TRAIL BUSTERS Shirley, ME https://sites.google.com/site/ shirleybogtrailbusters/ email: shirleybogtrailbusters@gmail.com fb: Shirley Bog Trail Busters TRAILS Finally! Snow in February and frigid temps through mid-month helped keep our scant snow in place. We have some nice riding even if conditions aren’t perfect. School vacation brought more activity to the trails and above normal temps that could hurt the quality of the trails somewhat. Hopefully late month weather improves and snowfalls return. Without a crystal ball it’s hard to write about events that will be in the past by the time you snowmobiling in Maine. Bob Ludwig, Secretary raludwig184@gmail.com MOOSEHEAD RIDERS sc Greenville, ME Find us on Facebook

EASTERN MAINE SNOWMOBILERS Holden, ME EasternMaineSnowmobilers.com Find us on Facebook

Club Cookout 2-21-2026

early when the trail is crisp and frozen and visit a maple sugar house. Don’t forget Maine Maple Sunday on March 22 nd and our Shirley Maple Sunday at Moosehead Maple, formerly Baker’s Maple Syrup, in Shirley. Denise Gross, Club Reporter BLUE RIDGE RIDERS Rockwood, ME It’s a long overdue update from your friends here in Rockwood, but rest assured we’ve been busy! Not only behind the scenes with a few new officer/board members, but most importantly, we have our generous, hardworking volunteers who been out there making it all happen. We kicked the 2025-26 season off with our annual pig roast in August, followed by our trail workday in November; both in which had a successful turn out. The Johnson Brook Bridge has received a complete overhaul with rebuilt embankments, reinforcement and new decking. Repairs were made to the Eugene Ritchie Bridge from downed trees, and wood planks replaced on Kenny’s Bridge. We also had a large washout between Kenny’s Bridge and Jackman that has been fixed; it came out great! After being informed that a portion of Rt. 66 on the North side of Moosehead Lake would be closed for logging operations, our determined volunteers saved the day by re-opening the Carry Brook Trail, allowing for a loop to still be accessible for Rockwood, Pittston Farm, and Northeast Carry. We are excited to also have a newly constructed bridge in Pittston Farms. It’s been about a decade since the trail has been passible, so we’re thrilled to have it open again. While December’s weather wasn’t the best, we were able to get out early with our newly donated roller to prep the trails for the season. Our dedicated groomer operators have been out ever since to make the best of what snow we do have. Consensus is that they are doing fantastic! Cold temps in January allowed for club members to stake the lake mid-month, making it the earliest it’s been in years by about a month. As always though, be cautious of the pressure ridges; they are ever changing on the lake! February was calendar raffle month. A huge thank-you goes out to all participants, and an even bigger congratulations to all winners! In case you missed it, a listing of winners can be found on our Facebook page. For all winners, if you haven’t received your winnings, please be certain to reach out so we can look into what happened. In other new, the Blue Ridge Riders Snowmobile Club and Blue Ridge Riders ATV Club are actively in the process of dissolving into a new/combined club – simply called the Blue Ridge Riders. What can be expected with this you ask? For starters, a bigger and better trail system! A new website for members to stay up-to-date, pay membership dues, order club apparel, etc. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to button everything up! For anyone interested, our monthly club meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday each month (Sep-Mar). Please join us for potluck/ social hour @ 6pm followed by the meeting @ 7pm. Meeting locations vary but can be found on our Facebook posts. We hope to also carry on with our annual pig roast this fall. We hope to see you there! In closing, we wish to express our sincere condolences to the Jones/Jackman Power Sports family. It goes without saying that the loss of Dave is unsurpassable. He was not only a staple to the community, but the recreational industry as a whole. We greatly appreciate all he has done and given to the region. Rest easy, Dave. Until next time, ride right, stay safe and enjoy our trails! - The Blue Ridge Riders

Holy moly winter finally hit us and hit us hard and fast! Snow storm after snow storm! And we loved it! And now it seems to have gone away just as quickly as it came. Sadly, as of today February 20 th we are on hold for grooming until we get more snow and continued cold. 2026 recap so far In only 27 calendar days (from January 23 rd to February 19 th ) these are the stats • 189.5 hours • 10 groomer operators • 39 machine runs • 16 days • 600 miles All I can say is thanks! Thank you to our wonderful, dedicated trail crew! Including some of their own personal friends and relatives that stepped up to be shotgun or sled number two so that we could go out in teams (safety first so no one goes out alone) Trail Crew Aaron, Brent, Brett, Chris, Dave, Don ,Eric, Jon, Steve and Troy Also new member Adam and he used his own machine and his own company’s packer groomer to do the trail 10/11 off 107 in

Brewer! Thank you! Upcoming Events Sunday March 15 th

Board meeting 5:00 p.m. Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Club meeting 7:00 p.m.

Sunday April 19 th

Board of Directors 5:00 p.m. Club dinner 6:00 p.m. Annual Meeting (election of officers/ directors)

Troy and Aaron in photo at the clubhouse.

Club Members Volunteering at Wilderness Sled Dog Races 2-7-2026

Our club was contacted and asked to help with a very special winter event at the Maine forest and logging History museum in Bradley Maine. This is conveniently right on our Trail 107 and they are a good landowner/neighbor. We were asked to bring our groomer over with a drag and make a track/trail for them to demonstrate the antique snow traveler machines. This included a 1927 Ford model TT and a couple of their Lombard steam powered track machines. We are told that this was the first time in 50 years at the Lombard had traveled with tracks and skis upon snow! Pretty cool. It was a privilege and an honor to help this group out, we may have snuck a few rides in on the vintage machines! Let us hope that winter has a few more weeks left and we can get back out grooming and maintaining our trail system! Hope to see you at the club or on the trails! Troy G, Trail Grunt 1927 Ford model TT snow traveler and a vintage Lombard steam powered snow traveler.. first time in 50 years that the steam powered machine had been on track and skis..

Birthday Club Trail Ride for Pegeen and Danny Ranhoski 2-5-2026

Trail rides have been ongoing once a week with a lunch destination led by Charlie Baker. They’ll continue as long as trails permit. Watch email and FB for announcements. On Saturday March 22 nd the club hosted a cookout at the Adirondack shelter along ITS 85 in Shirley. We had many people stop in for a bite to eat and received very generous donations as well as gaining new members! Many thanks to Indian Hill Trading Post,

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