For snowmobile club members in Wisconsin and Michigan, you have probably seen my name (Kale Wainer) in the masthead as the Managing Editor of Wisconsin Snowmobile News and Michigan Snowmobile & ORV Association News publications. Working with these (and other) state snowmobile associations, I hear a common theme over and over from club members, “A few of the members carry out the majority of the work.”
I saw these photos posted from a local snowmobile club in Minnesota, the Rum River Sno Riders, and they served as a visual reminder to share them with you as a safety message, and a push to get more riders involved with their clubs to ease the workload.
While snowmobile trails in Minnesota and surrounding states officially opened Dec. 1, snowmobile clubs like the Rum River Sno Riders are working hard to prep the trails to be ridden. As evidenced in these photos, the midwest hasn’t had much cold weather so most swamps are open and ice on lakes is either non-existent or very thin.
Within the coming weeks, please traverse the trails with extreme caution and remember to respect private property and stay on designated trails. Club members work hard to obtain easements from private landowners and trails exist because landowners allow snowmobilers to use their property.
One of the best pieces of equipment to access partially frozen swamps is an ARGO XTV.
Although some trails may be “groomed”, please traverse with extreme caution now and in the coming weeks.
Clubs like Rum River use their Bearcats as the workhorses, but sometimes the chainsaw is needed to clear trail debris.
These Bearcats are working overtime to pack swamps down the old-fashioned way when they can’t be accessed by groomers or tractors.
The end result after packing this swamp with a Bearcat and a few passes.
Enjoy your trails this winter and remember the hard work put into every mile by club members. Get involved.
Its amazing the amount of work that goes into a snowmobile trail. Doesn’t matter if its in the midwest or out East by me. And you’re right Kale, it seems like the same dozen people in the club do all the work. Thanks for the reminder. And those Bearcats! The amount of sh*t they can go through is incredible!
Without the clubs and all of the work the volunteers put in we wouldn’t have the trail systems we currently do. Huge Thank you…
Great reminder and a lot of truth. Kale as a club member in WI and a fan of Arctic Cat we welcome you to WSN magazine and thank you for resurrecting ArcticInsider. With groups like KAOS for youth members, our state is seeing younger members get involved with the clubs. Im appreciative of this and maybe other states can learn from KAOS. Look them up on the AWSC website. Happy riding this year!
Snowmobiling the only sport where the members do the vast majority of the work so people can recreate all winter. Thank you to all snowmobile clubs for your efforts in a sport I have enjoyed since 1964.
Notice the groomer special bearcat is no longer listed. maybe new S&S groomer with tracks in futer?