7881-R1_MSA_Feb2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

for a number of years. The good news is, the northern part of the state should have plenty of snow. The Pathfinders have been taking two club trips up to the County for many years now. It’s a bit of a ride, but the trails are world class.

and ride without registering in Maine for this weekend only. This is the same weekend as Open Snowmobile Registration weekend in New Hampshire, with the same rules in place. Please pay attention to trail markers on pri- vate property and ride within those markers. Landowners are letting the club use their land as long as riders are courteous.

spots needing a bit more trimming to be done this weekend, but for now most trails are pass- able, marked and the bridges are repaired and ready for use. Now we just need some snow!

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our trails! Do you have ideas on how to make them better, please let us know we love the feedback! We are always eager to accept new mem- bers! We meet the 2nd Saturday of the month, 6:30 at either the town office or community center (they are right next to each other so look for all the cars). FINALLY got some snow here in Western Maine the middle of Jan, Darn, wish it had come MUCH sooner and we STILL need a bunch more!! Hope you were able to attend the Blessing of the Sleds, our best fundraiser of the year!! We had a banner year getting local businesses to step up!! It was AWESOME!! We got 20 large ads and 49 small ones, a record for both of us!! And hopefully, we had a good turnout at the event to help give both clubs a decent amount of money!! MANY THANKS to all that came and for sure, the club members who worked that day and helped get the sponsors!! MUCH APPRECIATED!! The Poodunck Club is looking to find a grant to buy a new drag sled!! As everyone knows, it’s VERY expensive to purchase. One of the requirements is as many support let- ters as possible!! SO IF YOU enjoy our trails PLEASE send me an email with your good comments or text me, my email is holme- spg3805@gmail.com or text to207 357-2223 PLEASE HELP!!! Club Reporter, J.H. Hi Everyone, As I write this, the Groomers are out lay- ing a pearl ribbon. Off to a slow start to the season, finally some snow to work with. Early riding conditions at best. So, keep an eye out for the unexpected. On January 6 we were pleased to host the MSA for a Trail safety and Signage Workshop. It was great to have Al Swett, Mike Grass and Mark Chinook with us. They did a great presentation after we all ate dinner. In total there were twelve clubs represented there. The Narrow Gauge Snowmobile Club would like to thank everyone in attendance. The club stressed the importance of neighboring clubs in the region to reach out to each other if help is needed. After all, we are all striving with a common goal to make a great trail system. Introductions were made from each club so if in the future the needs arise, we can put a face with the name. We were happy to meet all of you and hope you find the list of contacts pro- vided helpful. Our next meeting is on February 3rd at the Nazarene Church at 6 pm for potluck supper and meeting at 7 pm. Hope to see you there. As always, snow dancing is recommended. Regards, Laurie Bowman, Secretary Narrow Gauge Snowmobile Club PO Box 14 Strong, ME 04983 COASTAL REGION Well, the snowmobile season got off to another slow start again this year, but hope- fully by the time this goes to press, we’ll have had some snow to work with. In the southern and coastal parts of the state, it’s frustrating to spend so many hours getting the trails ready, then have to sit and wait, or watch the rain take away what little snow we had. That has pretty much been our story in the Saco area Narrow Gauge sc Strong, ME SACO PATHFINDERS Saco, ME Find us on Facebook Poodunck sc Dixfield, ME

We would like to extend a special thank you to the following businesses for displaying our Waldoboro Sno-Crawler Map :The Waldoboro Town Offices, Maritime Farms in Waldoboro, Delano Seafood of Waldoboro, Bear Hill True Value Hardware Store of Waldoboro, and Mid Coast Marine of Waldoboro. We also would like to thank the countless other businesses who support us throughout the year, our mem- bers, and last but certainly not least our land- owners. Without all of you none of this would be possible. We also need to recognize and thank our tireless trail maintenance crews of Tony Lash, Bill Dail, Troy Steeves, Zach Steeves, Dave Neubig, Tim Simmons, Carl Gushee, Ben Scott, Richard Bravoco, Stephanie Bravoco, Dwayne Hunt and Doria Hunt, Eric Hunt, and Jimmi Hunt. Meetings are held the first and third Thurs- day each month at 6:30 pm at the clubhouse and new members are always welcome. Come on snow! Club Reporters: Stephanie Bravoco and Doria Hunt MSA CLUBS: To Order Needed ITS & JCT SIGNS Contact Mike Grass Sr. MSA Trails Committee 252 Condon Rd • Plymouth, ME 04969 207-368-4914 home • 207-745-2745 cell Grasslands252@gmail.com To Order Club Trail Signage Candice Pinkham, DACF/Snowmobile Program 207-287-4957 Office • 207-878-8111 Fax Candice.M.Pinkham@maine.gov

As always, I have to thank our volunteers. These guys and gals put in countless hours to make the trails what they are and help keep our club afloat. Our latest project was shoring up a major bridge in Dayton on the Fil prop- erty with a third telephone pole and all new decking. Pete Fournier, Thad ‘Frostbite’ Nor- kus, and Scott Cyr went out on an extremely cold Sunday and did everything in about six hours. Between last year and this year, we have fixed or replaced nearly 30 bridges on our trail system. We always promote safety (ride right, don’t drink and ride, etc) and being good sportsmen and women (always respect landowners) but one thing we often forget is, are you ready for your ride? What we mean by that is, is your sled ready to ride? Do you have a spare belt? Do you have a tow rope? Is everything work- ing as it should? Is your sled registered? Are you dressed properly for the conditions? Do you have the ability to spend the night in the woods if you had to (water, shelter, and able to start a fire)? Did you tell someone where you were going? Do you have a First Aid kit? It might sound tedious, but many of these things could save your life. In January, 18 club members went to Katah- din Lodge in Moro Plantation and rode that part of the state (Patten/Shin Pond) for five days. This has become an annual trip for us. Chuck and his team at Katahdin Lodge are awesome. The facility is super clean, very casual, plenty of parking, direct access to trails, and the food is outstanding. It’s quite possibly the best bang for your buck in the state and we highly recommend them. The next club trip will be at the end of February with the gang heading to Caribou. Ride Right, Ride Safe, Think Snow Cheers Doug Doherty, President Hello! We finally have some snow and grooming is underway! We would like to thank all those who are volunteering their time to help groom the trails and maintain the equipment. As of the end of January, 90% of the trails have been groomed at least once. The new drag that we purchased this year is work- ing well. We have two new certified groomer oper- ators. Chris Anderson conducted hands on training in January to assure operators are pre- pared and ready to groom. Mark your calendar: Free Snowmobile Weekend is March 4-6, 2022. Riders from any state or province can operate their snow- mobile in Maine as long as they have a valid registration from another state or province. This means if your sled is registered in New Hampshire, you can come on over to Maine SEBAGO BRANCH DUCKERS Sebago, ME Like us on Facebook or message us at sebagobranchduckers@gmail.com

Just a friendly reminder: Moxie says, “If you see dangerous debris on the trail, please help by removing it.” Enjoy your riding season and ride safe! Jim LaPointe

WALDOBORO SNOWCRAWLERS Waldoboro, ME Find us on Facebook @ waldoboro sno-crawlers

The snowmobile season is officially here, and the club has been very busy organizing its trail maintenance activities. With the rain and warm weather, it often proved very diffi- cult getting to some spots and most times our trail maintenance teams had to walk in. Never- theless, our club members spent each Sunday and sometimes Saturdays fixing the trails. The trail to Moody’s Diner had extensive wash out damage but is now fixed, thanks to Tony Lash.

The teams performed tree maintenance and brush clearing to South Waldoboro. There were several bridges that washed out, and bridges were re-planked due to rogue ATV damage in the Spring. When the weather was too bad to get on the trails the team spent time at the clubhouse milling the wood for the bridges and signs and performing some main- tenance on the club sleds. With all that the majority of the trails are now clear with a few

MSA MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS Let us know when your USPS mailing address has changed - so you won’t miss an issue of the Maine Snowmobiler Members Name: ______________________________________ Old Mailing Address: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ NEW MAILING ADDRESS: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Mail to: Maine Snowmobile Association, PO Box 80, Augusta, ME 04332 fax: 207-622-7669 or e-mail info to: msa@mesnow.com #

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