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Trail Report

Updated Saturday 28th of March 2009 09:10:17 AM

Gates are being closed this week as the snow has disappeared from most of our trail system. It looks like I will not be able to ride on the last day of the season, April 15th, as I did last year. Never the less, this was a great season. We groomed 13 weeks straight and went without a major thaw in January and February. Our grooming crew did a fabulous job with the new Pisten Bully despite a few problems with the gooseneck hitch and the rubber tracks. The hitch is fixed and the engineers at Kassborher visited from Germany to see our unit in action. It seems they design the power units to groom ski areas and did not realize how useful they are making snowmobile trails smooth. We changed the tracks over to steel cleats and we can climb the worst hills we have even if they are covered in ice. My travels this year allowed me to compare the trails in the Royalton area, the Lunenburg area and the Hardwick area to our system. I am impressed with the quality of grooming in all of the trails I had the privilege to ride and my hat is off to the dedicated volunteers who put the trails together. Now it is time to take them apart. I will miss this season as I did the last one and I will look forward to next season with anticipation. We will put a work day together as soon as things dry out a little. I will keep a trail report going for a few more weeks and hope to recap the 08-09 season. As always, Ride Right and Ride Safe. Mike

Trail Constructions and Relocations

This year the Caledonia County Snowmobile Trail Club had several trail relocations and changes. Several of the projects were for safety reasons. The "S" turn in the Route 2 & 5 trail between the tube under US Route 2 and St. Johnsbury has been changed. Another "S" turn in St. Johnsbury on Route 2 & 5 where a rider was injured last year, has been changed.

The other major trail change took place in St. Johnsbury Center to relocate Route 2 & 5 around a new housing development. The average rider probably won't notice the difference because we ride over the trails so much faster than the work can be completed. However, the safety factor is very noticable.

Work Weekends

Two work weekends were held. The first was October 6 & 7 and the second was October 13 & 14th. Thanks to everyone who came out to work on the trails. The Trail Club directors appreciate all of the help.

New TMA Forms and Classifications

As many of you know from reading the last two issues of the VAST News, there will be big changes to the TMA and VAST dues structure for the 2007-2008 season. Instead of 3 types of TMA's, there will now be eight categories. To add to the confusion, these eight categories will have a dues increase after December 15, 2007. The purpose of this is to encourage members to purchase their TMA's before the dues increase to improve the cash flow from within VAST and the clubs.

In an effort to clarify, and probably only confuse everyone further. We've added the dues chart to the membership page of our website..