7839-R1_MSA_Dec2021_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

It’s been a busy two months for our club. We have been rerouting some trail on ITS 89 North and South. First part of our in-town trail 89S had to be moved between Route 4 and Dodge Road and then on 89N we moved a section by Toothacker Pond by adding a new bridge. We still have some rerouting to do but hopefully it will be all done by the time snow flies. Our meeting place is now firm so all meetings will be held at Shadagee Meeting room in Phillips. We still have plenty of work to do so if any- one is interested in helping out, please show up Sunday morning at George Berry’s garage 132 Miles Square Road in Phillips @8 AM. All are welcome. Our meeting schedule for the rest of the sea- son is as follows: December 5, January 2, Feb- ruary 6, March 6 and April 3. Potluck supper to start at 5 PM and meeting to follow. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Think snow and be safe! David Greely, Vice President Attached you will see a picture of the new re-route bridge on ITS 89 North LEEDS STUMP THUMPERS, sc Leeds, ME We have set the date for our sliding party for February 27 th . Watch for updates. Gary and Mel have been busy brushing and signing, along with trail reroutes from land- owners requirements. I am so grateful for all the trail work these two accomplish. Unless you have done this first hand, it is easily taken for granted when you go on a trail that is prop- erly prepared.

When we had our October meeting, we were planning a nice Landowner dinner for the first week of November. Our plans were to have a complete roast pork dinner with all the fixings. And that is exactly what we did. The only problem.... we planned on many landowners, but we are sad to say.... we had very few attend. At least, we hope they know how much we appreciate riding on their land. Last night’s monthly meeting brought us some very good news about the trail work that has been done...and the ongoing beaver prob- lem.... which we KNOW we can wear them down! The local ATV club and our club have worked together on some bridge work that turned out pretty nice. There is still hope that we can have a right of way through the pro- posed Industrial Park. We are so sorry to hear of the health issues of one of the “ROCKS” of our club, Ann Bell- wood. We are lost without you Ann. Please get The Trail Master talked about having a trail advocate for each trail in our system. For example, if you have a favorite trail like the Bunker Pond Trail or the Deer Yard Trail, you would be responsible for communicating back to the club about signs, brushing, and mainte- nance of the trail. This is up for discussion. I think I would pick the Four Ponds area, which is my favorite area on our trail system. If you are interested, come to our next meeting on December 20 th at 5:00 p.m. at the Roxbury Town office. There was a lot of excavation on the Lohnes Farm Road (Rock Garden) going towards Baker’s Country Store. This area was hard on the groomer and drag. The groomer is still out for maintenance, hopefully, we get it back soon. Our other groomer was delivered and parked at Coos Canyon Campground. Thank you, Jeff, for letting our club park our groomers there! As I write this article today, there already has been a snowmobile accident on November 27 with four inches of snow where the accident occurred. I am hoping that this is not a sign of what is to come for the season. Please be safe and drive responsibly and stay on marked trails. If you have not already filled out the paperwork that the pres- ident of the club mailed out for memberships, please join! We also have online memberships roxburysno.com Joining a club helps with groomer expenses and gas. Please join us for our trailside cookout on January 22, 2022. The cookout is at the intersection of Connector 16 and ITS 117 in Byron Hope to see you there! Slippery Sliders Secretary Michelle Young well soon. We miss you. Terri Major, Secretary SLIPPERY SLIDERS, sc Roxbury, ME

join in on the fun. We usually end around noon. The Halloween Trunk or Treat program went very well, serving 800-900 kids at a cost of only $98 to the club. The event involved a trailer with 2 sleds, lots of cob webs and strobe lights. Well done Blaine and volunteers! The Club Rally will take place on Saturday, February 19 th . The route will offer access to the Bridgton Winter Carnival events. There will be 2 BER Club trips this year. The February trip to Millinocket aready has 45 Club members signed up. The March trip to Caribou has 30 Club members signed up and will fill up soon. Our Christmas Party meeting will be on Friday, December 9th, at the Bridgton Com- munity Center. 5:30PM for cheese and crack- ers; 6PM the Fabulous Pot Luck supper; 6:45 a brief business meeting, followed by the Christmas Party. The annual Christmas Party features the ever popular “Yankee Gift Exchange.” Each Club member should bring a gift, valued at up to $20, marked “male” “female” or “either”. Each member then draws a number from a bag, that sets the sequence of the gift selec- tions. When your number is called you select a gift and open it. You then have a choice to keep the gift or “Go Shopping” to exchange your gift with one already selected. It is amaz- ing how many times some of the more popular items can change hands in one night! Hope to see you at the Annual Christmas Party! All are welcome. See us on Facebook. Bill Preis Super Raffle tickets have sold like hot cakes this year. Thank you Al for quick responses on keeping us stocked. I’ll order some think- ing they’ll last a while, but they’ll be gone as quickly as I get them. Thank you to our sales crew for moving them along. Thank you and best of luck to everyone who purchased them from us. Your support is greatly appreciated. Our new-to-us 93 Tucker has been in the garage since we got it. (Well once the header to the garage door was raised and another door panel added). To say we have a very dedi- cated, well-rounded and talented crew is truly an understatement. A crew has already spent countless hours servicing and performing maintenance on it getting it ready for snow. We have had several crews out Sunday mornings on the trails. As of this writing we have redocked four bridges, brushed and signed several miles of trails, as well as some excavating. There are a couple trail reroutes riders need to be aware of. The section of Norway trail #10 that went in front of Ken’s house now goes behind his house. The intersection of Norway trail #9 with ITS 89 has been moved up the field 100 yards. Always look out for signs especially on your first seasonal ride as trails can change. Our meetings are back at the Norway town hall and also on Zoom the first Tuesday of the month. Everyone is welcome to attend in per- son or on Zoom. Follow us on Facebook for updates. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Dan Trouant, Club Reporter Hi there! I know it’s been a while since you heard from us....I take full responsibility...Who would have thought a silly little dot in the address would stop our message! Okay, I get it. BER Club Correspondent Bridgtoneasyriders.com NORWAY TRACKERS Norway, ME Find us on Facebook norwaytrackerssnowmobileclub@gmail.com Hello Sledders, ROCK-O-DUNDEE RIDERS Oxford, ME

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Last season was lacking in snowfall but our groomers gave the trails a lot of attention and we’re able to keep them in outstanding condi- tion throughout the season. There is snow on the horizon with any luck we can all be out having fun real soon. While you are visiting our trails you may notice some new signage. We are doubling down our efforts to clearly mark all trails with added landmark labeling for those who are unfamiliar. Our trails are accessible from the ITS 87 and we welcome everyone to enjoy our trail system. Hans Rasmussen hanseieio@gmail.com WESTERN REGION We had another good turnout for our Nov. 9th dinner meeting. Thank you to the Randall family for providing the yummy corn chowder, rolls, & cookies. Having dinner with our meet- ing is turning out to be an excellent idea! Trail- master Steve reported trail work is well under way, including bridge work on the Rabbit Road trail. Bert has signage duty, & everyone needs to keep track of their trail work hours. The club put Cheryl in charge of organizing future club rides, because we are positive we will have snow, & I heard last year’s was so much fun. Our next meeting will be Dec. 7th, 6pm, at the clubhouse, we are planning on lobster stew, & a Yankee Swap. As many of you know, these can be quite hilarious! So come on out & join us! Our club would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of Wayne Roberts. Wayne was an active member when I first became a member, & joined us on a couple of our northern overnight club rides back then. We sure did have fun! Stay safe, get your sleds all spiffed up & ready to ride, & THINK SNOW!! Respectfully submitted, Libby Nilsen, club reporter. Libby Nilsen, Club Reporter BRIDGTON EASY RIDERS Bridgton, ME Blaine Chapman, President, called the November meeting to order at 6:45PM with 32 members present. The club membership now stands at 118 families and 26 business members which is good for this time of the year. Our new 2022 Lakes Region Snowmobile Map, which covers the trails of 8 snowmobile clubs, just went to press and will be distributed by the time you read this. Bill Preis coordi- nated the effort with the 8 local snowmobile clubs, and with SGS Graphics, to create the map. In November the club was pleased to have Craig and Mary Sharkey, of SGS Graph- ics join us and say a few words, at our Fabu- lous Pot Luck Supper and meeting. MSA Super Raffle Ticket sales have been excellent this year, special thanks to Hayes True Value, Brill Lumber, and Hannaford for allowing the club to set up. Blaine reported that most of the trail issues mentioned last month have been resolved. 200 feet of snow fence was put up in West Bridgton to mark a trail, and the Naples Marina will be moving our trail around their new construction. The 10-foot Merrill Limb Masher, approved at the last meeting, has been received and will soon be out on the trail doing brushing. Work crews on Sunday mornings continue to get 15-16 volunteers for the work parties. Wow! Please meet at The Bridgton Walgreens on Sunday mornings at 8AM if you want to PEJEPSCOT SNO-CHIEFS Lisbon Falls, ME Find us on Facebook Merry Christmas from Pejepscot Sno-Chiefs! It’s almost that most wonderful time of the year again, & hopefully Santa remembers we all put snow on the top of our Wish List!

I continue to communicate with John Titus, CMP contractor, regarding the effects of the transmission line clearing to the ITS 87 trail. Most of the Leeds section of ITS 87 is on CMP property. There are some great improve- ments from their access roads that will be our snowmobile trails. Other times there are really nice wood chip roads that go right to a swamp that had been covered with wooden mats, that have been removed. Other chip roads end with a two-foot high stump field as far as you can see. Now we have the task of choosing the best way to navigate through all these new areas of caution and clearly stake and sign the trail. I would really hate to have anyone become an involuntary honorary member of the Leeds Stump Thumpers! We also discovered a huge beaver dam across Allen Stream, a hundred yards upstream of our recent bridge. I estimate it to be six feet high and forty feet across. This is causing flooding of our trail to the bridge ramps. I always stop and pause in amazement because these creatures work so hard to build a structure that holds back water, they con- tinue to maintain, and if it becomes damaged they are on it, and get it fixed in record time. I think of our Maine snowmobile volunteers in this same high regard. So much dedication to have nice trails, from maintaining to groom- ing, raising money for a just cause, also a cor- nerstone of the community. If something gets broke, it gets fixed the best it can, sometimes against all odds. I consider our snowmobile family a pretty special group. So much dedi-

NORTH FRANKLIN, sc Phillips, ME

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