I hope everyone had a good holiday season with the opportunity to get some riding in. There are some important items that are going on in our area (the trails through and south of Seven Springs down to Ohio Pyle State Park). Some good, some bad, some things that are out of our control and some things we can.
The biggest thing is that unless there is a major
change, we will not be operating our groomer.
We received a letter from the DCNR District Forester containing the following
sentence; I will not be able to reimburse your club for fuel or motor oil
costs incurred for grooming this year due to budgetary constraints. We do not have the money to keep the groomer
operating on our own. Unless we get more
people to join the club and/or give donations, it will have to stay
parked.
Our memberships are down and our bills remain
constant. We have cut expenses as much
as we can, but there are bills that must be paid before we can buy diesel
fuel. We must pay for the trail liability
insurance, equipment insurance, memberships to PSSA and Blue Ribbon Coalition,
parts to maintain the mule, backhoe, and groomer, trail supplies, and
mailings. We have enough money to pay
for these items but not for fuel (last year, it was approximately $350). For clarification, all work is done by
volunteers. No one receives money or any
other type of compensation. All expenses
of owning and operating the groomer come from club dues and donations. If you have any suggestions or would like to
help, call me at (724) 857-0315. If we
do get some funding, we will be able to groom to Jones Mill Road. This was not possible in the past due to the
size of the trail.
Last year (Fall of 2007), the Maple Summit
Snowmobilers took on the project of widening and improving the trail through
Seven Springs around County Line Road.
This trail was rough due to lack of grooming. The trail could not be
groomed because it was too narrow to get our groomer through. This was due to limitations determined by the
private landowner. Last year, we
received permission to widen the trail from the private landowner and the
DCNR. The hard part was next actually
doing the physical work. There were
large rocks and trees to be removed.
This would not have been possible without a large grant we received to
purchase a backhoe. A big thanks to the
DCNR for this. We worked from late
August through mid December of last year.
We had many volunteers that helped (sorry I cannot list everyone that
helped) during that time and thanks to all of you.
A special thanks to the handful of people that
showed up every weekend, rain, snow, or shine.
This could not have been done without you or our John Deere
backhoe. Unfortunately, we did not have
much snow to ride on or groom. We did
have one day when there was enough snow to try the groomer out and it went up
the hill just fine. Hopefully we will
have the snow and the funds to groom this year.
A special note here, please go slow through this area. This is a critical area here. If there is an accident due to speeding, we
stand the chance of losing this trail.
Just because the trail is smooth, it does not mean you have to go
fast. If people are speeding, we will
not groom and the trail will become rough again. We also installed two wide gates.
Something new the Maple Summit Snowmobilers did in
this area was to improve the trail near the sewage plant. In the past during quick meeting periods, the
two 12pipes we had installed would become blocked by branches and leaves. In turn, the water would wash out the trail
and the trail would become unusable.
With a mini grant from the PSSA, our backhoe, club members, and a couple
of volunteers, we replaced the
In case you did not know, there is a new owner of
Seven Springs. They are buying up
properties and making improvements. They
plan on building a lodge at the sporting clay shoot. We are working with them to have access and
keep the trail open in that area. We may
have to reroute sections of the trail.
We have been and we plan on working closely with Seven Springs. We do not know of their long-term plans, but
we probably will be watched by the new owner.
The best thing we can do at this time is to be on our best
behavior. We can do this by keeping our
speeds down and staying on the marked trails (stay off the slopes and no hill
climbing). If you have any questions
about this area, have suggestions, would like to buy a map, or would like to
join our club, call me at (724) 857-0315.
Another important item we have been working on for
the last two years is to find a bypass trail in the Blue Hole area. For the last couple of years, Pletcher Road
has been plowed down to the gravel. This
made the trail unusable for snowmobilers.
We came up with a solution a new trail that will not be plowed and a
trail that is wide enough to groom. We
submitted this proposal to the DCNR last January. If we volunteer our time, some trail
supplies, and our trail building equipment for this project, we could have this
trail operational in two weekends once we have their approval. At this time, we are waiting.
I should have more news and info for you next month
(news of Laurel Mountain Ski Resort).
Please consider joining our club.
You can join more than one club.
Our primary goal is to make the snowmobile trails better for
everyone. We cannot do this with the
number of members and the income we have now.
Please help us to help you. We
also sell trail maps of the area for $5.00.
Respectively,
Dave McCarty
Maple Summit Snowmobilers