7881-R1_MSA_Feb2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

the trail. The club is also selling shirts on our Facebook site and GPS Trailmasters is offer- ing maps for your Polaris 7s Gauge and Trail Tech Voyager for the states of Me. NH. NY and PA. They also have maps for the Smart Phone. The Club still has some of the C4 area maps left. It looks like we have quite a lot of traffic on Facebook. We are working with the State and 7 Lakes to improve the bridges on the West side trails. This will be a two year project and includes four bridges. If you travel from Great Pond to Long Pond you will see our new bridge as you come out of Great Pond and cross Mt. Road. It was completed in Octo- ber and will improve the transit from Great Pond to our trails. The Club has improved almost all of our trails and has plans to keep on improving them. So enjoy the new snow (hoping that it comes tomorrow) ride the trails safely and follow us on facebook .Let us know good or bad what you think of the trails. Hal Garnett, RRR Club Secretary Hi Everyone, We held our last meeting on January 12th at the Anson Town Hall at 7:00 pm. Mike reported that all the trails have been cleared of brush and trees and are ready to be groomed. The ramps on the river crossing have been put in place. Thank you to all the volunteers who showed up to help. The groomers have been out doing trails and said they were looking good. But sure could use more snow. Use caution and remember to stay on marked trails. Let’s respect our land- owners property. Plans were made to hold a few fundraisers. We are having a fishing derby Saturday Febru- ary 12th at Sandy pond in Embden. It will be from 7am-2pm. Prizes will be awarded, also having food for donation. Bring family and friends and enjoy a fun day of fishing. Also planned are two Hot Dog roasts, weather permitting at the New Portland Hill Trail in Dot Friends field, the dates are Feb. 19 and Feb. 26 from 9 am-2pm. Good food and friendship, hope all are able to stop by and visit. Stay safe and on the marked trails, support our business members when possible. Any questions call John at 207-628-1003 Check us out on Facebook for any updates Membership application can be downloaded from our website. ANASC Thank you all for your support. The annual VINTAGE SNOWMOBILE SHOWAND SWAP MEET is just around the proverbial corner. Saturday, March 12, at Tri- Pond Variety in Smithfield. Come and see the engineering marvels that helped to create the machines we ride on today. Several trophies will be awarded to the owners for their care and preservation of these intriguing speci- mens. This show gets bigger every year so be sure to stop in and have a look. Tri-Pond has great coffee, good food and lots of it. Our trails are all open and groomed. With more snow on the horizon, I am sure they will go from good to great by the time this fish wrap hits your mailbox. Yes, fish wrap!! What better dual purpose reading material could you bring fishing on the hard water? I saw the most beautiful brown trout pulled through the ice this past week. It was long and fat and brought smiles to many faces. Our grooming team is eager for more snow too. They don’t need much of an excuse to get out and groom. Our base is established, now we need a little filler between the rough spots. SMITHFIELD MOONSHINERS sc Smithfield, ME ANSON-NORTH ANSON sc Anson, ME

are accepted for the tasty treats offered. The weekend’s supply of the Braaap Dog was gone by 4PM. Opened on weekends only, there will be more next week. Plans for the Embden Pond Snow Fest for February 19th are complete. It is being held at noon at the boat launch area adjacent to the dam on the south end of Embden Pond. All are welcome to enjoy the food and games provided by members of the Embden Pond Association and the Embden Travelers S.C. Located next to the snowmobile trail, there is ample parking for cars and trucks. Please join us. On January 14 th on our Facebook page one of our groomers shared some thoughts on Trail Loss 101 as off trail riding highlights a lack of landowner respect and the consequences that could follow. It also touches on the frustration felt by those of us that dedicate much effort to provide avenues to access the outdoors. You can see evidence of use by walking, snow- shoeing and cross-country skiing in addition to snowmobiling. There is a lot written about Trail Loss 101, but it is only read by those of us that know what can result from the “cog- nizant decision” made by a few disrespectful operators. Should we now ask licensed snow- mobile operators to take an oath of respect before allowing registration? Maybe include on the back of the sled registrations some short statements that advise respect and safety. Looking forward to a great season. Your Cub Reporter Hi y’all, We had our first substantial snow storm of the season on January 17th. We are starting snowfall late again this year, but hopefully it will continue to fall heavily. Due to lack of snow in some areas, trails cannot be groomed to usual standards, so we are urging riders to use caution. As I stated in our last newsletter, we had an incredibly successful open house and rib- bon cutting ceremony on January 15th at our newly expanded clubhouse. We were pleased to welcome our former and new Somerset county commissioners Lloyd Trafton ( who cut the ribbon) and Cyp Johnson, our MSA executive VP Alan Swett and our MSA Cen- tral Region VP Jack Lord. A special thanks to all who baked and participated in our event. We also hosted our first of the year and first at our newly expanded club house pot luck dinner on January 29th. As you can see, we are thoroughly enjoying the new place and hope to host many new events that we are looking forward to having you all attend. So stay tuned to our Facebook page for any of our upcoming dates. Remember, we have our monthly meeting on February 9 th at 7pm at the clubhouse, as always and our first of the season progressive dinners on the 26 th starting at 3. As always join a club and lend a hand. See you out on the trail or at the new clubhouse! Stay safe! And do your SNOW DANCE Lori Nunes, club reporter Hello everyone, we are again waiting for snow. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow with about 3 to 6 inches. That will give us enough to groom the complete trail. As of this week we have only groomed the East side and the ITS trail. We had eight members present at the last meeting and now have the on line signup operating on Facebook. This has provided us with six new members via Pay pall, six with Venmo and five that sent in checks directly to the club. All but three were new members so we now have 24 family and 6 business. All this and we haven’t even put up the new signs on the trail that will allow people to join from LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS Lexington Twp, ME ROME RUFF RIDERS Belgrade Lakes, ME

NIGHT DRIFTERS sc Detroit, ME

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B-B-Q at the end of each work day. Talk to Trail Master Les, if you are looking for a fun day of work with a good group of friends.

Happy winter to everyone! Here in Central Maine we are still continuing to do the snow dance! The few storms we have had are giving us rain as well. Our groomers have been out though trying to get a good base and trimming trails as needed so when the white stuff comes in abundance we will be ready! From things I have seen northern Maine seems to be enjoy- ing riding. If you would like to attend a meeting, we meet the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month at the club house in Detroit. We would love to see new, past and current members! So hit the trails, ride safe and have fun! Most important make sure a good time is had by all! Michelle Our club recently purchased several steel deck bridges from Cianbro. Once put in, we shouldn’t have to do much to them for many years. We put our first one in on Christmas Eve. 12 people came out to help us get it in place. The new bridge is wider than ever, which is very good news for our groomer operators. No more hanging 6 inches or more of track off both sides. We have a new Facebook page. One of our members, Amy Washburn, has worked hard to update the page after many years of no updates. She is also working on our website and a club email so that members don’t have to use their personal emails for club business. The state recently purchased 32 miles of unused railroad to be converted into a multi- use trail from Oakland to Embden. Norridge- wock is just about in the middle. Although the state needs to do a bunch of work, we are hop- ing to be snowmobiling on it next year (22-23 season). This will give us several more miles of trail for snowmobiles and ATVs (currently only on sides of marked roads), as well as open up connections to a lot of different places. We are hoping to have a “snowdeo” this year, but we need snow for that, so that is just a possibility at the moment. We will put out info as soon as we know. We are planning a sled- ding day with free hot dogs, marshmallows, and hot chocolate. We are also planning a club ride but, again, we need snow. Stay tuned. Respectfully submitted, Bob Washburn, Secretary, and membership coordinator Greetings Trail Riders: Club Officers 2021-2022 President: Stephen Wright, VP: Brant Win- sor, Treasurer: Josh Johnston, Secretary: Vicki Winsor, Trail Master A D Hanscom Directors for 1 year: Dale Hanscom, Floyd Giles 2022 Directors for 2 years: Royce Hunter, Josh Nielsen 2023 Directors for 3 years: Dana Nielsen, Dennis Weymouth, Nicholas Weymouth 2023 MSA Directors: Royce Hunter and Dale Hanscom; Alt: Harvey Chesley Jr., Brant Winsor Meetings are 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 7 PM at the Mutton Lane/35 Clubhouse Rd clubhouse. Potluck supper at 6 PM before each meet- ing, we are keeping our spacing. We are averaging 14 member each meeting, all are welcomed. Good feedback and discussions. 60 ea. Family memberships @ $25.00 and 5 ea. business memberships @ $35.00. Club house available for rent, call Steve Wright 692-4040 We have a new member who is donating bridging and placement to Pittsfield at John- son Flat area. Pittsfield and Newport north here we go. Active bridge crew rebuilt small NORRIDGEWOCK SPORTSMEN ASSN Norridgewock, ME TOWN & COUNTRY TRAIL RIDERS Clinton, ME

Nichole stole tire rims and pipe from Dan- ny’s pile of treasure and Alvin welded up STOP sign stands. Pictured is Bob assembling the signs with his Bostitch nail gun, the only gun we allow him to shoot. RAFFLE: We moved our next meeting to Wednesday, March 2. We plan to have food and draw tickets for our $10/ticket raffle. 1ST Place Prize is an ION 8” Ice Auger. 2ND Place is a traditional pack basket and (2) Heritage traps. 3RD Place is a 2’x 5’ Chapel Tote/Jet Sled with hitch. Club members and the store have tickets. PINE TREE STORE: Hours 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. They have a wide menu, supplies, equipment, oils, trail maps, gifts and plenty of ethanol free gasoline. Brinda cooked her award-winning chili a month ago. I usually eat it two nights in a row but I went away for two days and when I got back there was only one and a half helpings left. I gobbled down one helping and Brinda gave me the half helping to take home. Three days later I made two chili dogs, with rolls fried in “store butter” and graded Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheese all over it. They were so good that a week later I had hot dogs with the works but I didn’t want to eat them because I didn’t have any chili. Dick the Cook won’t mind if you tweak the menu. You can’t go wrong at The Pine Tree Store. HELP NEEDED: Call 796-5027, Les or Brinda. TRAIL PROBLEM: Call 796-5027, Les. He will solve or assign the problem. You proba- bly have seen him in our Snow Rabbit, pro- fessional groomer, keeping our town open to snowmobilers and keeping area trail systems connected. TRAIL CONDITIONS: See www.mesnow. com. Updated weekly. LODGING: Yes, call 796-5027, Les or Brinda. CLUB MEETINGS: 2nd Wednesday of the month @ 6:00, at the fire station or clubhouse. ICE FISHERMEN NEWS: The trail com- ing off/going on West Grand Lake has been slightly moved. Just pay attention, it’s marked and really easy to find. Please ride our trails and make our friendly little town a stop on your snowmobile adven- tures. I guarantee you will come back. mikere- millard@mgemaine.com CENTRAL REGION

EMBDEN TRAVELERS sc Embden, ME Find us on Facebook

LET IT SNOW!! Hans Rasmussen hanseieio@gmail.com

January 22 found the temperature brisk at -15 degrees F and the trails marginally good considering how dry the snow pack is. Also brisk, and evidence that riders were on the trails, was the brisk business at the opening day of the Braaap Shack where donations only

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