Rock On

I have suggested a number of time at the Trails Bureau level that all ATV signage needs to be a Lime green including stop signs just for that reason they are not being taken down. So your riding down an unfimiliar trail and you see a stop sign so you stop only to realize there was no reason to stop because it is an ATV trail that is not used in the winter, another mile down the trail another stop sign, you stop same thing no reason to stop so after doing this three or four time you start blowing through the stop signs and finaly run into another sledder or vehicle traffic becasue you had already stopped at 3 or more stop signs with nothing there. These sings are not being taken down because they are a lot of work to put up and take down so color them differently or something. As far as getting better signage on our trail systems I agree but it will not happen just with volunteers, it will need to be done at the state level by paid employees to get in done correctly and uniformly.

They still sell gas there! If they were smart they would set up and sell some hot dogs or sandwiches, chili, soup or something like that in the winter.

We had a motor lock up back about 6 years ago in the middle of the woods. We had to take the tracks off and hooked another groomer blade to blade and pulled it out that way. Luckily it was cold and the trail was set up hard. Ended up a spring on the torque plate had come apart and locked the motor up so now engine damage just a bunch of labor to get to it.

I agree with that 100% cycle down the groomers to clubs who may not put that many hours on them a season.

I never said that I support it, still undecided at this point but something needs to be done differently to fund our sport in NH. I just get sick of people bitching while driving their $65,000.00 truck pulling their $12,000.00 trailer loaded up with $15,000 snowmobiles saying that $150 is to much for a registration!! They said it would take a cycle of 62-65 years to replace every large groomer in the state using our current system. Most of the big clubs want to replace their groomers every 5 or 6 years, the numbers just do not work using the formula we have now. My club has 2 Pisten Bully's one is a 2003 and one is a 2002 they have both been through the refurbishment program once but they are getting old, we do not have the money to replace them even using the current grant in aid program. I agree maybe a small increase and a new GIA program would be better. I think that one thing to do is to make clubs that have purchased a new groomer using GIA should have to have it refurbished at least once before they can buy another new machine and stretch the useful life of a trail groomer close to twice as long. Just my 2 cents.

Historically Maine is right behind NH in registration increases within a year or two.

Is $120-$130 really to much to register? Has anyone been skiing in the last few years at $80-$90 per lift ticket for one day. The cost of maintaining our trails has gone up substantially in past 10 or so years. a new groomer is now up over $230,000.00 for just the groomer not the drag. I understand that not everyone runs new sleds and some people may only get out a few times a year, but lets face it this is a very expensive sport. Something needs to be done with the current Grant in Aide system we have there is just not enough money to go around to fund all the projects and groomers in the state. I am not sure this is the answer but it will at lease get people talking and maybe come up with other ideas.

I would guess between 1000 to 1500 miles buy using an average of 6 mph to 9 mph. Probably on the lower side...

And about 175 groomer hours also!!!

It was a weird winter but still managed to put on 2350 miles only trailered once to Millinocket Maine to do 490 miles in a couple days the rest was done leaving from my house in Gorham.

My club the Presidential Range Riders takes care of grooming that trail we have not been down since the snow storm and the machine that does that trail has been moved to the north side of town. I am not sure yet if we will be grooming that trail again or not this season, last time I went down through there was a bunch of open water bars, even if we fill them with snow it will not last because we need some sub zero weather to freeze them up. Keep and eye on or web site www.presidentialrangeriders.org for trail conditions and updates.

There has not been enough snow at their other locations, plus the other places do not groom like we do.

Larry, glad you got out and put on some miles. I rode to Littleton Saturday morning, up over Jefferson Notch over to Bethlehem from there to Littleton fueled up headed to Lancaster for lunch then back to Gorham it was all very good. The problem we are having in the Gorham area with our trails is the volume of the rental snowmobiles they are putting out every couple of hours. North East rentals has all their sleds here in Gorham because The Fryeburg and Bethel Locations have been closed. Not to mention the rental place in Breton woods are sending their renters to Gorham for lunch every day. Now these are usually large groups of inexperienced riders and it is taking a toll on our trails. We groom as much as we can but if the conditions are soft the trails will just not hold up to that kind of traffic. I hope Bethel and Fryeburg open back up soon! Brian

That map is junk we got 3-4" here in Gorham!

I register in Maine and NH anyway and try and stay away from busy areas like Pittsburg, Rangely, The Diamond that weekend may try going into Vermont on that Friday if conditions allow.