8306-R2_MSA_March2023

MSA Club News

events and our potluck meetings. We have had a great turnout at our public breakfasts, especially the Sunday we served pancakes and French toast. Our next pancake and French toast breakfast will be on Sunday, February 26th. Our regular Sunday breakfasts continue through March 12 th . In February we will have had our annual Chili/Chowder supper and Auction. I hope you attended and had a good time. We are planning another spaghetti supper in March (date to be announced). Check our website for further information regarding this event. I hope you had an opportunity to do some snowmobiling this season. The days are lon ger with warm sunshine telling us spring is coming. May the next 3 seasons find you happy and healthy. Janet Murphy Director/Membership Chair Things are going well in the Rockwood area in spite of a very unusual and strange winter. Moosehead Lake finally got safe enough to stake the trail crossings and if you are any where near where the Moose River enters the lake, please use the marked trails. There are 4 marked trails; 1) From the boat landing to Kineo 2) From just south of the Moose River through Rockwood Cottages driveway along the shore by Misty Morning camps and across to Kineo. 3) A trail that connects the above trails from the boat landing to Rockwood Cottages along the west shore. 4) From Kineo to the Birches. The owners of Rockwood Cottages have sup ported the club and have kept this long-stand ing trail open for us. It is the most direct and convenient access to the businesses along the river and to the trails west and north so please go slow and be respectful of this access. Please stay on the north side of the road and be care ful of children, pets, guests, and vehicles. Give them a thumbs up on the way by and don’t take it for granted. Thanks! For the record, we stake these trails when there is 8-10 inches of ice and no one remem bers them being staked this late in the season before. Don’t assume there will be good ice into April like most years. We have a group of new groomer operators who are young, eager, and willing to be trained. They are doing very well learning the ‘art of grooming”. It’s not just driving along the trail pulling a drag. And it’s a thankless job. As any one who has groomed trails or who has a busi ness on a trail will tell you, when the trails are great, they don’t hear much. When they start to get choppy, they get an ear full! So, if you see the groomer, get out of the way, give them the thumbs up, and go easy on the throttle on their beautiful soft trail. For the crowd who seems to enjoy following the groomer just to rip up a fresh trail... sell your sled and stay home. While I’m on this note, there have been a lot of complaints from several clubs about their signs being stolen. That yellow sign might look good in your man room but a lot of work goes into getting that sign put together, dragged out in a tag sled and placed just right so you don’t wreck your sled (or worse) or a corner you didn’t see coming. AND every day that a crew is out putting up signs, to keep us all safe, is a day that they aren’t out riding themselves. Time for another thumbs up! Just a suggestion for clubs with the sign problem, maybe we could have a few extra signs available for sale at local businesses and club houses. The man room sign could say whatever the owner wanted, like “Mt Katahdin Summit”... or “Ungava Bay”...(We won’t tell!) So the trails in this area are as good as nature will allow them to be and there is snow in the forecast so ride, be safe and Enjoy! Mike Hoyt BLUE RIDGE RIDERS sc Rockwood, ME

105, about 80 people braved the -6 degrees temps to ride our trails, eat, visit, and donate to Quadcounty SC, Thanks to all that helped and came to our event. Quadcounty has another breakfast, Satur day, March 4 from 7- 10, and we will be serv ing lunch from 11 to 3 to anyone who wants to stop by the Clubhouse in Springfield which is on ITS105 and 976 Main St, Rt 6 across from Smith’s Store. There will be homemade chili, shepherd’s pie, homemade beans and hotdogs, rolls, coffee and hot chocolate, All by dona

to good and not so good. After a substantial snow storm the late warm weather had kept the trails from freezing and wet areas were a big problem. With colder weather and then not a lot of snowstorms, trails have been both ok and not so at times. There is still time for some storms and hopefully more good riding. CASC meetings are held the first Sunday of the month at 5:30pm, Jan Logan resident, 207 Bobcat Road, Clifton. As always sweets and drinks will be ready. Hopefully you are all getting some riding time in. Members Clifton Area Snowmobile Club Our snowmobiling community does not dis appoint! As I write this (February 15,2023), we have had our B-Me Snack Shack opened on two Saturdays. It amazes me the gener osity and excitement we see! I hear more folks say “Why don’t other clubs do this”? I don’t know, maybe we are all just spread so thin or maybe they haven’t thought of it. I’m pretty sure the idea was planted in my brain by our dear and departed friend Dave Silvia. He was always about “raising the bar”! Well Dave, I’m sure you are looking down on us from above, we have raised the bar! I literally spend my time at the Snack Shack smiling! It is so great to see all the riders and talk with them all about where they came from and where they might be going. Thank you all, so very much! These are some of the folks and businesses that have stepped up and offered generous donations and items to help us get this snack shack off the ground. EBEEMEE sc Ebeemee Township, ME http://www.esc-ebeemeesnowmobileclub.com/ or on Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/ EbeemeeSnowmobileClub

(Continued from Page 11) RUARY 10 th . at a young 74). I think he had a really good time, it was rather mild that day, so he didn’t get too cold (got a workout on shovel duty though).Gene B. has been out on the trails a few times since then. One night he and I took the “ short cut “ back to his residence -even his grandson Tommy was impressed that we groomed right into their backyard .

tion. Hope to see you there. Your slow typing reporter, Kevin

PAUL BUNYAN sc Bangor , ME We have snow! We have our trails open! We have been grooming as much as we can!

Gene B of GLRSC on his maiden grooming experience

Considering how warm the weather patterns have been and how little snow we’ve gotten here, our trails are in better than expected con dition! We have been fighting wet holes and such, like most other clubs have been this sea son, but we are making the best of what we have to work with! We are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t get hit with too much more warm weather and rain, and hoping we can get another 8-12 inches of snow soon, because we could really have some incredible trails then! We are glad to have what we do have though, and hope that all of you are able to get out and enjoy riding in the Queen City! We’ve had some really productive work days, thanks to our awesome volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t have trails in the condition they are right now! We still have more work to do here and there, but overall things are in better shape than they have been the last couple of years! We always try to get out to do trail work, as needed, whenever weather and volunteer availability permits. Feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or drop us a line at paul bunyanscbangor@hotmail.com for details on when and where we will be working, as we’d love to include anyone who is interested in helping out! Volunteers are ALWAYS wel come and VERY MUCH appreciated, many hands make light work!! We generally hold our meetings on the second Wednesday of each month during the season, starting in September, and would love to have anyone who is interested join us! We usually post meeting information on our Facebook page ahead of time, but feel free to email or message us on Facebook with any questions! Sincerely, Paul Phillips - President PINE TREE sc Milford , ME Hello Club Members and Friends, The season is passing quickly. It has been a difficult year for sledding in our area as we have had many issues with warm weather, water issues and lack of snow. Our new groomer did make its maiden voyage with this last snowstorm. The Directors and Members continue to meet monthly to solve issues and plan for

Gene B. has also been instrumental with his equipment “ MINI -BOBCAT “ in exca vation work on some problem trails, and his “ BACKHOE “ to knock down some snow banks at crucial road crossings, to make it safer to cross, THANKS -Gene B. Gail R. And Barry R. have been getting some miles on the trails in AROOSTOOK COUNTY, some good, some not so good and some darn right AWESOME, thanks to ALL those GROOMER OPERATORS. We even got a chance to see the NEW PISTON BULLY on one of her main voyages action operated by the CHAPMAN S.C. Photo should be attached in this edition, too. Well time to call it a day and get ready for more fun on the SNOW tomorrow. Thanks for ALL that you ALL doo. Barry E. Ryan GLRSC -VICE PRESIDENT Quadcounty SC has been dealing with Mother Nature all season long, 427 hours and still counting, cutting down trees and perma nently bent trees and brush. Grooming has been going on when we receive the snow the weatherman says we will instead of rain. The trails are in great shape for the marginal snow fall, had a few waterholes at the start of the season, which were patched and have frozen up, but with rain and warm temps, the groomer was held back from grooming to let sleds ride and give water time to refreeze before putting the 20,000 lb. machine on and breaking out holes to make more problems. The ‘Medicare trail crew’ has put a lot of time in and has had a couple of younger people come and helped out Big time! Thanks to all! Quadcounty SC has been serving breakfast, every 1st and 3rd Saturday, we miss the huge numbers with the Snowbirds gone, but we are having good numbers of people coming this winter, even ice and cold temps. Our monthly suppers have been also a big hit. Yesterday, we had a Hotdog roast at the Dobsis dam on ITS Gail R. and Barry R. on the trail in the COUNTY again. QUADCOUNTY sc Springfield , ME

Left to right - Groomer Melissa Brown, Groomer JohnTroyan, Groomer Scott Lee, Webpage Designer Kathie Lee and President Laurie Plourde.

*Jeff and Cindy Fogg – They donated the B-Me Snack Shack – Gotta love our B Dock Parties at Bucksport Marina! Wildwoods Trailside Cabins and Lodge, Chase Toys, Elaine’s Bakery, Camp Good-4-Knowe, Camp Two Doors Down, Gina Emanuel, Buckhorn Camps, Sawmill Bar and Grill, Hannaford, Millinocket, Tradewinds, Milo, Erica and Dan Sullivan, John Troyan, Melissa Brown, Susan and Richard Boulton, Dewitt Electric, Genada Foundation, Fred Brewer, C & J Variety, Milo, Amy Rice and last but surely not least, our wonderful Trailmaster, Pete Plourde. I give him the thoughts and he helps to make them real! Not only is he a great groomer but he is a pretty talented carpenter! Because “he doesn’t have enough to do already”! Our groomer barn fundraising is in full swing and thanks to all who have donated. Big and great changes this year for sure! We Left to right,Trailmaster Pete Plourde, Susan Boulton, three unnamed happy riders that left from Patten, Groomer John Troyan and two more from the happy Patten group!

CLIFTON AREA sc Clifton, ME

I am sorry to report that the CASC has decided to cancel their March Fundraiser due to circumstances that forced us to make the decision. Trail riding has been everything from poor

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