ST. HELEN SNOWPACKERS NEWS
Memberships: We currently have 95 paid memberships in our 2018/2019 year. Welcome New Members Arnie and Teresa Anderson of Saint Helen – we’re glad to have you in our group!
Trails & Groomers: The orange drag is back from Dubie Fabricating of Gaylord and it looks great! The green drag is getting much needed repairs and will be back soon. Now all we need is snow!
Grants: The Snowpackers are again pursuing a grant to do Summer Trail Maintenance during the ORV season. This brings in much needed revenue to the Club, but more importantly, by the Snowpackers being responsible for maintaining the trails during the busy summer months we are able to keep the trails in better shape all year long. This makes it better for winter operations when we can concentrate on keeping the trails groomed for snowmobile traffic.
Trail maintenance is a year-long job and we love it! SNOW RUN: We’re busy gearing up for our 17th Annual Snow Run on Saturday, February 9, 2019. We’ve been listening to the comments and suggestions from past participants and are making the route longer. The lunch wagon will be out on the trail, but we’re looking at a different location a little more accessible to everyone.
So much depends on the weather, but if conditions are good, we will have the Mystery Ride on Friday night, and St. Helen Power Sports will once again be on hand Friday night with Jim & Sheryl Lyttle’s cider and donuts. Local businesses will be out on the trail manning the pit stops.
We’ll have several 50-50 raffles throughout the event, along with cash pit stop prizes as well as door prizes and our Silent Auction. Come to the January 19th meeting and learn more. U.P. Get-Away Raffle #3: Our new raffle will be drawn at our 17th Annual Snow Run on February 9, 2019.
The prize package includes a 3-night stay at White Pine Lodge in Christmas, $50 gift certificate to Foggy’s Steak House in Christmas, $50 gift certificate to Brownstone Inn in AuTrain and $500 travelin’ cash. Prize redeemable any time between February 2019 and February 2020. Tickets are $10 each, and only 500 will be sold.
Tickets are available now – contact a Board Member for yours today! Curiosity Corner:
Here’s a question we see a lot:
Do Orv’s have the legal right to use the official snowmobile trails in the State of Michigan during the official snowmobile season (Dec. 1 – March 31)?
Here’s the answer according to the Michigan Snowmobile Association’s website, “Fact or Fiction” section: “Depends on where the trail lies…State land multi use, yes…..private property trails, no. ORV’s, on state land in the lower you will only be legal on a designated ORV trail. However sometimes the ORV trails are snowmobile trails…in that case they are legal. In the UP on state land they will be legal on all land unless posted closed to ORV’s. On Federal land again only on designated ORV trails and roads posted open.”
We’re now posting our trail reports online at several different sites, including the Club’s website and Facebook pages, the MSA website at trails.msasnow.org and sainthelensnowpackers.com
