East Grand Snowmobile Club

(2-14_24) East Grand Snowmobile Club Purchases Property for Future Groomer Garage

While the lack of snow this season has not produced a very good trail system, that doesn’t mean volunteers haven’t been busy getting trails and equipment ready. With another 10” of snow, we will be able to get all of our trails into good shape very quickly.  We recently became the owners of property located directly across from the Millyard. We want to thank Carl and Rene Crone, owners of the Millyard who are community minded for being very reasonable with the selling price of this property. This double lot is a great location on our trail system at the intersection of trail 105 N and S in Danforth and the area’s only place to purchase fuel for our groomers.

Our next step is to buy a small shed to place on the lot to store our club sled, supplies and signs in (anybody got a shed they want to donate or help us buy?).  When the funding becomes available, we want to build a groomer garage to store our machines, equipment, tools and signs as well as a place to repair equipment as needed. This facility may also be a future place for the club to hold meetings and fundraisers. Presently, our machines are left out in the winter and in the off season are stored in a building that one of our club members, Ryan Fish, who owns a construction business and when his equipment comes out in the spring, we’re able to store our two groomer machines in during the spring, summer and fall but this is not a long-term solution.

Grants: We are in hopes that the (GEGR) Greater East Grand Region Economic Council can work on our behalf with pursuing and finding grants for our club towards a new building and new grooming equipment. Our efforts are to help promote the region as a sledding destination which works well with the overall vision of the Greater East Grand Region Economic Council.  To date, we have 2 verbal commitments of $1000.00 to help us defray the cost of the purchase of the property. Machias Savings Bank made a $2500.00 contribution towards the purchase as well and we are very thankful to them.

1-15-24 Old man winter is still delaying his arrival! It is safe to say we won’t have trails in January and we’re setting our sights on February.  Meanwhile work continues on equipment and trails. More brushing and removing downed trees is needed, especially south of Danforth on 105 between the Baker Ridge and Horseback Roads, can you help?  If you do help us with trail cleanup, remember to clear for the size of our groomer…12′ overhead, and 12′ up the sides of the trails especially those alders and leaning gray birch that get in the way of the groomer windshields and cabs which can break windows, cab lights and clean off mirrors. Be sure to join our club if you haven’t already as every bit helps. We’ll update this report on this location as well as our Facebook Page. Thanks again for your support!

Stairs Welding has almost completed our new cutter blade for our John Deere. It is designed to cut the whips and small branches that get in the way of the trail and sledders.

 

 

1-6-24 EAST GRAND SNOWMOBILE CLUB TRAIL REPORT. Old man winter is late in showing up again and we are busy cleaning up after a big wind and rain storm this past December. Many volunteers have chipped in with the cleaning of downed and leaning trees in the trails. Dave have the signing about 90% completed. If you can help us with trail cleanup, remember to clear for the size of our groomer…12′ overhead, and 12′ up the sides of the trails especially those alders and leaning gray birch that get in the way of the groomer windshields and cabs which can break windows, cab lights and clean off mirrors. Be sure to join our club if you haven’t already as every bit helps. We’ll begin to update on a weekly basis on this location as well as our Facebook Page. Thanks again for your support!

(4/25/23) We continue to make progress with growing the club. Over the past 2 seasons we have done the following…

New Trail Head Aluminum Signs with QR Codes installed at trailheads and intersections where sledders can use their phone’s camera to scan and access our website for important information such as trail updates, where to eat, buy gas and lodging options.

Our First Ever Website!  Our new website is simple and effective giving information on trail conditions (updated every 3-4 days during the season), lodging, where to eat, local trails and links to other clubs that our trails connect to.  You can view it here at: eastgrandsnowmobiling.com or use our new 2^nd web address: Mainesnowmobiling.com

Increased Memberships from 37 in 2021 to 117 in 2023,  before we had a website, we would end up with about 40 members per season. Now with the ability to join and make payments and donations online, we increased our memberships to 59 last season and 119 this season, a record high for sure! This is our 2^nd season with a website and we log on and maintain it often!

Better Signing: We set a goal of continued improvements to our signage with the end goal being safety and assisting sledders new to the area with finding their way around easily and all the feedback is saying it is working very well! March 5^th we had a sign inspection done along with our trails GPS updated. George Hurteau, Recreational Trail Coordinator with the Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry & BPL, gave us high marks on our trails!

New Local Loop Trail: This is our 3^rd season with our new local 12-mile loop trail #7 that serves the majority of camps and businesses in the Greenland Cove and Sandy Beach Road areas on East Grand Lake. It used to be a one way 5-mile dead end trail ending at the Boulder Road. This is a huge improvement and it is multi use. The local ATV club uses it as well. An improvement with recreational riding in our area for sure!

100 Mile Loop: we’ve been promoting by sharing a link on our website and through social media with what we call a 100-mile loop over four local snowmobile club trails including Quad County Snowmobile Club in Springfield to our southwest, Linneus Sno sports to our north, and Eastern Maine Snow Riders to our west in Reed Plantation. As a result, we’re seeing a lot more through traffic on our ITS Connector Trail 105 as many are discovering the trails south of interstate 95. Many coming from the Sherman area are looking for trails less traveled. See supporting documents. Talking with a local who lives south of town and in view of trail 105, Carl commented that he has seen way more traffic this winter on the trial then any of the previous 13 years he has lived here!

Northern Maine Snowmobile Trails Map 2022-2023: We worked with the folks at Visitaroostook.com to get our trails updated on the present map. We also encouraged the only gas station and restaurant serving lunch & dinner in town to buy an advertisement so folks could easily find gas & food from the map.  See supporting documents.

Higher Usage of our Trails: we’re seeing more traffic and hearing from many that our trails are a well keep secret, well maintained and less traffic than the trails to our north.  Local businesses report increased sales as a result.

From 2 to 8 Lodging Partners: There are now over 100 beds trailside in the East Grand Lake area offered by our lodging partners in the towns of Danforth and Weston setting us up for future economic growth making the East Grand Lake area a sledding destination!

Five Certified Groomer Operators: We’ve gone for 3 to 5 certified groomer operators which gives us better consistency when it comes to grooming our trails during the peak season. There is nothing more frustrating when you are short on groomer operators and they/we are all off sledding and unavailable to get the trails in good shape during peak season!

New One Mile Reroute:  This past November, we had a landowner issue intown which threatened to shut down our Connector Trails 105. Our local game warden Tyler Leach visited with the land owner and reported back that he thought it was best to processed with a reroute so as not to lose the trail during the sledding season. Our members sprang into action gaining permission to build this 105 reroute keeping trail 105 open for traffic north and south as well as accessing the region’s only fuel. We also went from more than 12 land owners that we crossed over down to three!  This trail will be multi use and the local ATV club chipped in funds to assist with this last-minute project!

Landowner Appreciation Dinner: Wee had what is our first landowner appreciation dinner in many years with over 30 in attendance.

Our Next Steps/Goals:

Land Purchase and a Groomer Garage: We’ve never owned property with a building to store our machines in.  On March 23^rd, we made an offer on a piece of land strategically located on our trail system in town Danforth directly across from the Millyard restaurant and the region’s only gas station and it was accepted! Our next step is to build a groomer garage to store our machines in. Presently, our machines are stored in a building that one of our members has. He owns a construction business and when his equipment comes out in the spring, we’re able to store our machines during the summer into the fall but this is not a long-term solution.

Professional Grant Writers: We are actively engaging professional grant writers to assist us with pursuing and finding grants for our club for brush cutting equipment and to fund our groomer garage. Our efforts to promote the region as a sledding destination work well with the overall vision of the Greater East Grand Region Economic Council.

Our Trail Extending to The South: We used to have a trail towards Vanceboro but it shut down many years ago due to lack of involvement. The Vanceboro Lambert Lake Snow Hounds to our southeast recently purchased a ‘new to them’ New Holland tractor and drag from another club and we are in discussions with extending our trail south to the Forest City Road and the Vanceboro/Lambert Lake Snow Hounds are very interested in connecting to us at the Forest City Road. With our 2^nd machine, this is very doable. We’ll be submitting plans to Joe Higgins.

 

Attendants: Ryan Fish, Kasi Fish, Troy Fish, Dave Conley, Josh Jones, Eric Young, Clay

• 2021-2022 Memberships: 27 Business and 32 Family memberships for a total of 59 Memberships.
• Still waiting for the grant money for this past season to come in.
• Club sled still needs to be serviced
• Crane Matts over a stream on 105S need to be reset.
• Good feedback from the re-route going around a landowner in Haynesville
• Is there something that can be done about the mud hole/trough on Scagrock?
• 105North for brush- Needs some brushing completed. And brushing of the underbrush.
• Brush Cutter- needs to be fixed this fall before it is ready to use.
• First Aid kits were put together for each of the 2 groomers and the club sled.
• Need to fix ruts between the horseback and reservation road. Will take the excavator in once land is dry enough. Also ruts behind trailside that needs to be fixed.
• Stump behind Morse old house 105S needs to be cut. May be able to dig it out with the excavator
• Dave will follow up with Matt Apgar about bush hogging in August trail 105S
• Pursuing replacing our John Deere tractor and drag for a newer machine. Ryan, Josh and Dave took a ride to check it out

 

(4-29-22 Update) the 2021-22 season has come and gone and was way too short for our liking. Lack of snow played into it with grooming taking place mid January to the middle of February. While the trails remained open longer then that, we just didn’t receive the snowfall to keep grooming. We did accomplish completing our first ever website, double our membership from the previous year, and placed new welcoming signs with QR codes at our trailheads and other key areas along the trail were folks could log onto the website for the latest trail conditions, make a donation and gain information on lodging, fuel & meals. Ryan & Josh put many hours into upgrading and installing a new brush cutter while Troy tackled electrical issues with our John Deere. Looking ahead to the 2022-23 season identifying some of the bigger needs include how to more efficiently remove brush from the trail while only having a handful of volunteers to do the work. We’ll discuss fixed cutter blades with very sharp cutter plates that can remove whips and smaller branches the hang out in the trail interfering with sledders. Work needs to be done on 105 south of town with a small bridge over a stream as well as bush hogging in the fall. Josh Jones has proven himself as a groomer operator and passed the online quiz receiving his certification as a groomer operator. Josh was a candidate for groomer operator because of his commitment to working on the groomer drag (welding) & his willingness to get out to sign and brush trails. We welcome others to get involved with the 2022-23 season and thank you all for your support! THINK SNOW in 2023!

 

(12/25-21) Merry Christmas snowmobile friends and supporters! Ryan and Josh are finishing up with the brush cutter install on the Bombardier drag which will be put to good use the first couple of times out. Next week we’ll finish signing,, installing new trail heads signs and checking for blow downs. Check back often for updates.