Maine Tourism, snowmobile ITS trails and club house locations. Maine is Vacationland.
Not just for summer coastal vacations, fall hunting trips or spring river paddling outings. Maine winter tourism is all about snowmobile ITS trails, downhill and crossing country skiing, snowshoeing, pond hockey and ice fishing.
This Maine blog post concentrates on snowmobile ITS trails and clubhouse locations.
For one link to hook you up with snowmobile trails around Maine and far beyond, visit this link. It is one neat, interactive GPS to move you in and out of regions with groomed trails and active snowmobile clubhouses.
When I was a little shaver and tinkering on a 1966 Sno Jet, there were not trail system maps to study.
No groomed snowmobile trails and you made your own. The snow machines were heavy, lacking suspension systems. Narrow skis helped you get between a pair of woodlot trees and crossing rivers, you waited for many inches of frozen ice to create the natural bridge. My Uncle Carl Hagan sold Sno Jets, another Uncle Cedric was a Polaris dealer.
Blue Sno Jet With A German Made Hirth Motor, Around 13 Horsepower.
The Polaris Apollo snowmobile 440 power plant was a step up from the Sno-Jet’s 13 horse power motor.
The next machine as an adult was a 1989 Polaris 650 three cylinder water cooled snowmobile. Stuck with the Polaris line with a snow checked 1993 Storm 750 three cylinder power plant.
As new snow sleds were purchased for outdoor winter fun, trail system ITS maps showed up all over the place in Maine.
Try out the trail riding in the Shin Pond area. Buzzing around the North entrance of the Baxter state park.
Snowmobile up into Oxbow, Masardis and enjoy the two way trail system around the Madawaska and Fort Kent area of Aroostook County.
The people you meet and sights you see along the winter snowmobile trails in Maine are unforgettable. You may think you know Maine but what season do you spend the most time in the state? The change of season makes all the difference in the vacation experience or living here full time with re-visits to favorite haunts.
Seeing Maine On A Snow Sled, Snowmobile Means Getting Places You Can Not By Car.
If you are thinking of snowmobiling in Maine, it is always wise to call ahead first.
You can do a lot online and checking the weather for regions of Maine is not hard with the Internet. But Maine weather changes fast and snowmobile trails rely on temperatures, snow fall amount and careful round the clock grooming. Join a snow sled club in Maine, take part in the statewide and local raffles, fund raising events.
Maine tourism in the winter.
Money raised supports keeping the trail groomers online, repairing or replacement of bridges and new and old trail maintenance.
Maine Snowmobiles, Snow Sleds Way More Complicated. No Boogie Wheels, Better Suspensions, Four Cycle Less Gas Guzzling. Grew Up With Sno Jets.
Snowmobiling in Maine helps the local community economy during a traditionally slower time of the year.
Local sporting lodges can expand their market for vacationers by pairing up with local Maine snowmobile clubs.
Some Maine snow sled clubs even have free memberships. Offering on the house membership for next year if you put in 25 hours of public service work on the trails, bridges, signage or whatever is needed to improve the sledding experience.
The Maine winter snowfall is iffy and the state is large and expansive.
Anytime you depend on the weather for anything in Maine. the only thing to plan on is change. Watch a news report video on Maine winter snowmobiling.
If you have never snowmobiled, you have no idea of what you are missing. Parked on top of a Maine mountain top or hillside trail with one expansive view in your lap. Or listening to the sound of roaring river water on a waterfront side trail is peaceful, private and very special.
You can get to places on a snowmobile in Maine that you would never see otherwise riding a machine.
Get off the couch. Dress warm and head outdoors up in Maine. The wildlife you see while snow sledding in Maine is an unique experience too. You are in their home and stay on the trail. Ease into the corners and back off the throttle crossing wood’s roads. Active logging operations mean keep your eyes peeled for hazards ahead.
Hearty Lunch, All Fueled Snowmobilers And The Trail Riders. Exploring Northern Maine.
Local snowmobile clubhouses can tell your about the condition of trails because they run the groomers day and night to give the best ride.
Private land owners in Maine that share their property with snow sledders deserve thanks and respect.
Property owners are a major part of the partnership that makes for more miles of exciting snowmobile trail riding around the state of Maine. Again, join a club or two because each sledder member helps make the duties of a Maine snowmobile club lighter to carry.
Most Maine snowmobile clubs have a Facebook and some a website to help you feel connected when not enjoying the Maine snowmobile trails.
The Maine Snowmobile Association has five regions and becoming a MSA member means you get club reports and more.
Every licensed Maine snowmobiler gets a copy of the Maine Snowmobilier, a publication of the Maine Snowmobile Association.
I grew up in a time of 50 flavors of snow sleds. You worked on your bogie wheel suspension snow machine long into the night.
The expression “tinker for two hours to ride for one” was so true in the early days of snowmobiling in Maine before complex grids of ITS trails came into play.
Want To Rent A Snowmobile Up In Maine? NOEC Has Them For Hitting The Groomed Trails.
Consider renting if you don’t own a snowmobile and taking to the trails this winter up in Maine. Winters are not long and riding to a place to eat, to a club house breakfast or supper is a scenic diversion. We don’t stay cooped up inside living in Maine. We are outdoor everyday of the year and loving it!
It takes many hardworking volunteers doing everything behind the scenes. Keeping the ITS trails groomed, twitching new ones is only part of it. Putting up signage, building bridges, feeding hungry trail riders. Raising funds to maintain or buy a new snowmobile trail groomer.
Cuffing Right Along Grooming, Smoothing, Carving Up ITS Snow Sled Trails.
Snowmobile clubs do their part to dovetail with local Maine winter community celebrations too.
They are welcome wagon ambassadors to the out of town or state sled trail riders. Sharing the natural beauty of Maine by suggesting memorable trail rides to not forget to experience.
The biggest issue for Maine snowmobile clubs can be Mother Nature and Jack Frost.
Like farming, depending on the weather is always a gamble. Feast or famine.
Maine ski areas put a lot of time into setting up the snow making nozzles on the slopes. Only to see above freezing, too warm temperatures mixed with rain, wind and fog arrive to wash it away. The same happens to well groomed snow trails when the red rises too high in the glass tube outside the kitchen window.
The price of gas was more of an issue when two cycle, mix the oil with the gas higher fuel consuming snowmobiles played on the ITS trails. The four cycle machines are more costly to buy, but easier on the wallet to feed the octane.
Not so much anxiety worried about topping off the tank as you prepare to head off into the “Great North Woods” where gas stations are missing.
By Yourself On The Newly Groomed ITS Snow Sled Trails. Nothing Like It.
This blog post looks at the dynamics of a small rural Maine snowmobile club. How they start, what needs to happen for them to survive.
Maine land owners to allow snow sledders access to their property is key. That is the first step to setting up a Maine snowmobile club.
Back in the early 1960’s when there were 50 flavors of snowmobile makers, you made your own trails. You broke down a lot.
You tinkered for two hours to ride for one because snow sleds were not so dependable for long distance trail riding.
And if you are cold, you are not dressed right today or then. The getting stuck and digging out, tugging up front on skis and tramping down around the snow machine work out keeps you warm as toast. You learn to stay on the trail. It saves getting a hernia digging out and also pleases your land owner that lets you use their land. IF you stay on the marked sled trail.
In the early days of snow sledding, it was stay pretty close to home and on hard pack surfaces when you headed out snowmobiling.
I remember those early Johnson Skeehorse days when you thought twice about heading out across a deep, bottomless snowy farm field.
I heard stories about old hardcore Maine snowmobilers taking annual sled trips up into Quebec, Labrador.
Hearing the stories about breakdowns, incredible scenery and how they planned for the out of the country snowmobile trip. What they plan to do next year the same or differently. Like many things, ideas start with seeing how they do it in other areas of the country. Lots of ideas learned from other Canadian snowmobile club trips. Those visits lead to let’s try to apply what we saw on the trail to our Maine snow sled club and backyard trail system.
When you snowmobile up in Maine’s St John River Valley, you enjoy twin lanes like the Interstate is divided.
Safer, more work for the groomer but just a different approach to laying out the trail system that goes in wide circles around the clubhouse.
So besides a network of Maine landowners willing to share their property with snowmobilers, a clubhouse for a home is needed.
A local Ward log home maker donated a building the Meduxnekeag Ramblers in Littleton Maine use for their clubhouse. Many of the local snow sled clubhouses are made of logs because Maine is 91 percent wooded.
Maine has lots of log home and cabin makers willing to lend a helping hand to local snowmobile clubs.
Once the log home kit is secured, other local vendors will step up and help out with manpower and materials.
Here’s a video showing a typical Maine snowmobile club breakfast.
The snowmobile clubhouse also is used for weddings, parties, executive retreats.
The rental income helps keep the snowmobile club out of the red and keeps membership engaged beyond just the winter trail riding sled season.Reimbursement from the state of Maine for trail grooming expenses is key. It is a partnership of state and local snowmobile club to document expenses for reimbursement. Money from snowmobile registrations, local fund raising keep the trail system healthy. The local businesses that directly benefit from winter snow sledders step up and give back heavily too. The Maine Snowmobile Association helps guide the local sled clubs too.
Local motels, sporting camps have groomed sled trails right up to their doorstep.
These local snowmobile clubs deliver the sledding tourist right to their business operations. Gas stations, local snow sled retailers benefit from the network of trails Maine snowmobile clubs keep polished. These are new dollars plowed back into the local economy that turn over six to seven times which benefits Maine taxpayers. Celebrations like Moosestompers help the locals shake cabin fever around the first of every February up in Aroostook County Maine.
The Maine snowmobile trail maps are sponsored by businesses too.
You can quickly cover a lot of trails on say ITS 83 that uses old railroad beds. These winter snow sledding highways come complete with bridges to span waterways. They complement nicely the local landowner side trails and large wooded tracts opened up by loggers who are also “sled heads”.
I have had Maine real estate buyers surprised I would allow a snowmobile trail across my family farm.
Have A Snow Sled Groomed Trail Across My Maine Farm Property.
It is explained that landowners that add their acreage to the local snowmobile trail map are a valuable partner. Snowmobilers are reminded to respect the Maine landowner. That use of their private property is a privilege not a right.
Local snow sledders who love the winter sport are the glue that hold together the Maine snowmobile clubs.
Making Sled Trails, Carving New Snow Into Winter Highways.
Lucky to have had two uncles that were Maine snowmobile dealers.
Uncle Carl Hagan sold Sno-Jets and my uncle Cedric Benn peddled Polaris sleds and parts. As a kid, I learned a lot working on a 1966 Sno-Jet and before that an even older Johnson Skeehorse snow machine. Then Polaris machines after that with a couple Yamaha’s thrown in to the snow sled mix.
Ice Fishing Easier Thanks To Snowmobiles.
Growing up, I was also lucky to have neighborhood snowmobile enthusiasts who kept the area kid’s sled running like a top.
A local mechanic for the B & A railroad, Ronnie Brewer helped the neighborhood kids keep the machines running. He was like a shop teacher helping us figure out what’s wrong and
how to fix it. Friday night with all the kids lucky enough to have an early snow sled to use had it made. When the Sno-Jet metal gas tank rusted up, I decided to add a red side gas tank bungeed into place. The portable gas tank idea from Arctic Cat. It interfered with sitting down but no kid I knew in those early days ever sledded that way.
Early snow sledding was not sitting down and steering was narrow skis stance anyway.
To stay on the trail that you mostly made yourself, it was easy does it squeezing between tight spacing through the woods. You were on one knee. Or leaning, standing up and throwing the sled where you wanted it to go heading into curves. Before carbide ski runners and wider spacing up front, the snow sled steering involved way way more than just pushing and pulling your handlebar movements.
Bridges To Keep The Snow Sled Trail Connected. Clubs Work Hard To Build Them And To Mark The Trails, Put Up Signage.
Just like hockey games, you can not sit down and fully experience them.
It is on your feet every period and into overtime to experience it all. Early snow sledding was like that too. On your feet or on your knees ladies and gentlemen. You did not sit down on the job of maneuvering the snowmobile to negotiate turns, to avoid hitting trees. No one wanted bent straight up snow skis or a dent in their cowling. You did not have wide and handsome trails and it took more work leaning into corners. If you had a passenger on back, you told them to follow your move and lean too. Otherwise, the both of you would be out in the pucker brush and holding up the rest of the sled head trail gang.
Set Up, Getting Ready For A Snow Sled Club Breakfast. Trail Riding Builds Large Hunger Out In All That Fresh Maine Air.
We went to grass snow sled racers, over to Canada to watch the snowmobile circuit competitions at New Brunswick province community parks.
My Aunt Ruth’s partner was a big kid himself. Freeman Taylor kept our snowmobiles going and let us use a souped up 1964 Ski Doo and his 1973 Skiroule.
The former snowmobile was a bored out 10 horsepower cranking out 22 ponies with poor brakes and missing safety guards.
The old Ski Doo with a noisy straight pipe, a sprinkle of that red fluid labeled “fuel activator” sprinkled in the gas tank. Too narrow and loose as a goose to handle at higher trail speeds than the sled was original designed to be going. The Skiroule was modern and ran very well with its 25 horsepower engine. I think their RTX model was way ahead of its time like the Kawasaki snow machines and other notable snowmobile models.
New Snow Means Improved Sled Trails And $$$ In The Main Small Town Local Winter Economy.
Freeman also had an 80 horsepower Skiroule with three carbs, a rope wind up hand crank and ear splitting tuned exhaust pipes.
It was fun watching Freeman race on grass or the circuit parks. But he had a heck of time keeping drive belts from fraying and failing before the end of the race.
Often many laps ahead of the field and often coming in a lower place pushing the dead sled over the finish line.
Too much power from the 793 cc Hirth power plant delivered to the clutching and drive track channel the problem.
Easier To Access Ice Traps Using Snow Sleds These Days.
When there is a snow drought, clubs still have the Christmas parties, mark the trails, keep the social element going.
“I Think We Take This Connector. How’s Your Sled For Gas Bob? Better Top Off.”
Maine is like that, feast or famine and we all adjust making the most of what we have. We are always grateful for what we have that is always enough. Take what you need, pass along the rest to someone that has less. Is it like that where you live now?
The sights you can see on a snowmobile out in nature in the middle of a Maine winter back drop are pretty moving.
Wildlife, snow covered mountains and trees surround you. Waterfalls, rivers, frozen lakes. Signs that someone was on the trail before you to break the way and make it easier sledding.
Bring your camera to capture those Kodak moments on and off the snowmobile ITS trail.
Through the woods, out over an open farm field, crossing a lake if conditions are safe. Tread lightly. Carry in and out. Stay on the marked snow sled trail. The experience is one of a kind and you can get places easily that are not accessible by car.
Maine is not just summer vacations and that’s all she wrote.
Get the whole nine yards, spend time in Maine all four seasons to experience Vacationland to the fullest. We local natives do and feel so fortunate to live in Maine full time, all year round.
l hope you get to see Maine from atop a snowmobile seat this winter.
In this blog post series, this Maine native will down play snow because too many in the audience have the wrong idea. They have the image in their head that the thermometers in Maine all sink to below the red fluid day and night during winter. Maine also has three other seasons beside the one at the tail end of the calendar.
Hitting The Snow Sled ITS Trails In Maine. Some Move You Fast Like Old Railroad Beds. Others You Can Poke Along And See More Countryside And Wildlife.
Winter is one of my favorite but all four when you live in Maine get high marks, thumbs up. Because you live in Maine, not only get a tease of a long weekend or one stretch of seven days to soak it up. To unplug, recharge. To see, hear, taste, feel and sample all Maine has to offer.
Don’t let a little snow in the forecast set you off or turn you back to making the trek to Vacatonland.
Or you lose out on so much in the state where you can log eight hours from end to end. That is so vast and varied that the season you visit only adds to the take away experience that you will not forget.
So things to do in Maine, what if it is winter when you have a little time to tap into the Pine Tree State channel of life?
Lots to do in Maine in the winter. Pull up a chair in front of a crackling fireplace to absorb the positive ions, to warm your bones. After a day of snow shoeing, cross country or down hill skiing, ice fishing, playing pond hockey. Or snow sledding, my favorite way to get where cars and trucks don’t access. Where all the wildlife life, where the natural resources are crystal clean and clear. Breath in the crisp fresh air. Swivel the head slowly to take in the eye candy that surrounds you where the terrain of farm fields, pasture land, deep woods and lots of waterfront scenery awaits.
Pick A Color, Style, Horsepower And Price Range. Maine Is Paradise For Sled Head Snowmobilers.
This coming weekend, at the Augusta Civic Center the 2017 Maine Snowmobile Show kicks off for the 21st time. The display of new snow machines to ride and groom the ITS trails will be part of what is on hand to jump start your appetite for winter snow flakes.
All the gear that goes into snow sledding from helmets to clothing. Where to lodge after riding the trails. What to haul the machine to and fro to try out new areas of the state of Maine snow sled trails. And maybe to start the tradition of a trip that starts in Maine but continues on to Canada. We are parked right next to our Canadian cousins remember? Come play in the snow and see Maine from a different angle.
The Maine sled trade show always has a collection of vintage snow machines too.
Sno jets, Skiroule, Ski Whiz, Ski Horse, Motorski early snow sleds. Lots of tinkering. When what you worked on for two hours to ride for one had bogie wheels and not slides. Not much for suspension. Speeds were way way less warp drive. Back when fifty flavors of what you snowmobiled more around your own property because the trails were fewer in number to leave it. Smaller horsepower, fuel mixed with oil and gas, with an HD, HR carbureators and not fuel injection.
Grooming, Setting Up Trails Overnight For Maine Winter Tourists To Travel Smooth, Safe ITS Trails! Thank You Trail Makers, All The Groomer Operators.
No thumb warmers, no radiation under your feet, and no carbide ski runners, no studded tracks on the early snow sleds, snowmobiles. And you stood up, kneeled on one knee and leaned into corners. More work and slower speeds as you snow sledded around the countryside. To go out to eat, or go “up ta” camp. To pull the kids around the back field on ropes hooked to snow skis or flying saucers, toboggans. To travel back and forth to the one solid layer of ice topping a Maine lake. To play cards, shoot the breeze, sample ice shack food while other winter fishermen came and went. Stopping by the ice shack shanty to say hello. Ask how are they biting on the five holes drilled in the ice in the peaceful setting on a Maine lake with snow covered hills in the background.
The early snow sleds were tipsy, skinny and did not have a wide ski stance so you could just sit and drive. You had to work harder, throw the machine around the drifts and know that soft snow meant sinking. Getting stuck and all the work to heave ho your way out of the light fluffy new snow with no bottom to it. The heavier machines meant don’t leave a hard packed trail. Getting unstuck meant go around to the front and pack down what is making your snow plow and causing all the resistance as you dry to go up the smallest of hills in the white power snow deposited over night.
The snow sled trails in Maine are less harmful or disruptive like ATV trails can be.
The blanket of snow is your insulation from Mother Earth and makes the wall to wall wilderness rug for a playing surface. Always squeeze that handlebar throttle carefully and avoid spinning holes in the ITS trails. Leave the left handed cigarettes, the barley pop, firewater and grape juice for trail side putting your feet up by the roaring fire. After you remove the moon boots, the full coverage helmet and leather batman suit. And step away from your ice rocket. Turning your attention to trail tales and what are we eating for supper. And which new routes are we going to explore tomorrow while on vacation in Maine this winter.
Sugar Coated Maine, Don’t Miss A Season, Make Winter Sparkle Part Of Your Vacation Plans.
Get involved in a major tourism contributor during a slower economic time of the year for Maine towns, the handful of cities. At the Maine Snowmobile Show this weekend, lots of workshops on trail maintenance, discussions on the capital equipment grant process. It is not just snow sled dealers peddling their wares. Trailmasters, project directors, groomer operators, and snow sled club members who are involved with maintenance and building of trails are welcome and encouraged to attend.
More on the Maine Snowmobile Show, the winter sport that has over 14,000 miles of trails to help open up the state. This is the time of year when trail markets for safety and navigation are put into play on all the land owners of Maine who allow access across their property. Snow sledding trail use in Maine, it is gift, not a right. Respect the land, the surroundings called Maine. Tread lightly and carry in, carry out to be a responsible Maine snow sled operator for the next generator to model and pass on to future snowmobilers.
