December 2016

Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club
PO Box 950
Rangeley, ME 04970
Rangeleysnowmobile.com
 
Greetings to all of our members and interested visitors.  It is getting close to the riding season.  We are allowed to open trails on December 15th. We have snow on the ground. It is forecast to be very cold for the next week and we are watching a snow storm possibility for Monday. If we get 8-10 inches or more, we should be able to begin limited trail openings for the weekend of December 17-18.  Check our web site.
 HELP US.  Riding on private roads and on closed trails is a major problem for the club and its relationships with generous landowners. It has already been an issue this past weekend.  Do not ride until we have stated on the web site that the trails are open.  We have not had an opportunity to open trails before the Christmas Break for a few years so please Respect Landowner Wishes. Having to close a trail because of snowmobile trespassing will not help start a great season.
All the signs for an early winter and early snowmobile season are evolving.  Smaller ponds and lakes have skimmed over with ice. The big lakes are wide open but showing signs that they could freeze up.  We have a few inches of snow everywhere and more in some of the higher terrain.  There is no sign of any thaws in the near term weather so what we have for snow and ice should be here all winter. All great news. Remember that the early season is the most dangerous for riding on water bodies and for encountering water ditches and wash outs. Stay off the lakes and ponds and ride cautiously on the woods trails.
We have put many labor and machine hours into trail maintenance and we continue to work to complete our projects. The biggest news is that we will likely be opening a reroute of ITS 89 by New Years.  A lot of work has been done but more remains. The new route will be close to the old section of ITS 89 that was closed by a landowner in Dallas PLT.  If all goes to plan, our total cost of this project will be $13,000.  So, if you feel generous, a little extra donation to the RLSC will be greatly appreciated.  The owners at Rev-IT-Up, Julie and Mike Ferguson, worked very hard to find several routes and to try to get  landowner permissions for at least one of those routes. The process was not easy but finally with their hard work, good fortune and generous landowners, one of the routes was approved for it entire run.  Mike Koob, Lee Libby and Mike Ferguson have already put in many hours clearing, brushing, excavating and building bridges to get the trail opened. Today, about a mile remains to be worked on. Stay tuned and be sure to thank each of these people for their donations of time, equipment and materials. 
Our club member activities have been great successes. We hope some of you have been able to participate. There were over 100 people at the Turkey Dinner Landowner Appreciation meeting at Bald Mountain Camps. We have nearly 80 reservations for the Christmas Party at Loon Lodge.  Snodeo planning is progressing. Also, the membership folks, Mary, Karen and Missy, have done a great job getting memberships out and processed.  We have over 350 business and Individual club memberships to date and the season has not even begun (it is close though!).
 Stayed up to date with the web site for trail information and especially with ice information.  We will update the web site frequently, daily if needed, during the early season. We hope to see many of you over the Holidays.
 
Steve Dudley, RLSC Reporter