With at least a foot of new snow covering most of the state and more falling Tuesday night, the thoughts of many here in Maine turned to snowmobiling.

Greg Morin, who with his brother Tim owns Shaker Hill Nursery in Poland, said, “The season is ramping up fantastic.” Early season weather conditions have been nearly perfect, he said.

Shaker Hill, a nursery and landscape business during the green part of the year, turns to all things sledding and ice fishing when the snow flies.

Morin said the cold temperatures, followed by a coating of snow, have lured early riders out to the trails, breaking and grooming them for the season. “Some guys have come in and said they’ve been riding the last two days,” he said.

“You can’t do any riding until everything’s frozen,” Morin said. He noted that trails in the southern part of the state cross streams, bogs and other bodies of water. “We have to touch water,” he said.

According to Morin, the Hillside Family Riders Snowmobile Club of Lewiston has been out since Sunday’s storm, grooming and filling in holes. He said a good part of Lewiston is ride-able right now.

“People are excited,” Morin said, “I haven’t seen that in a while due to the weather.”

As usual for this time of year, here is plenty of riding in the Western Maine mountains and in the heavily ridden section of the state from Jackman to Aroostook County, but this December, there also is snow in the state’s southern tier.

According to Morin, warm temperatures and lack of snow cover has made snowmobiling in southern Maine a pretty disappointing sport in recent years. Adding to the poor local weather, the rise in gas prices has forced many to sled elsewhere or give up all together, Morin said.

“We’re seeing some people we haven’t seen in a few years,” Morin said, and it’s still early. He said he’s already sold 12 snowmobiles, topping last season’s total sales.

If the Farmer’s Almanac is correct, Morin won’t see a slump anytime soon. According to Morin, the almanac has called for a cold and snowy winter and with Shaker Hill right on a trail, sales should come right to his door.

“What we have is unique,” Morin said of his little log cabin, boasting of not only sled sales but four brands of clothing and five brands of helmets. That, on top of parts and service in house for one stop shopping.

“People should not dismiss Lewiston as a riding destination,” Morin said, referring to the trails here as, “the Aroostook County of Southern Maine.”

In the end, Morin said, avid snowmobilers want to be sitting on their sleds, not in their trucks driving to Madawaska, and for the first time in a couple of years, there’s no need to go to the far north.

Morin said that Lewiston provides all levels of riding, including a loop that extends from Lewiston to Lisbon, Bowdoin, Sabattus and back to Lewiston.

For more adventure, the Interconnected Trail System, or ITS can be accessed off College Street. From there, riders can travel statewide and even cross into Canada.

Trails are maintained by clubs and that means lots of volunteer hours clearing brush, downed trees and grooming trails once the snow comes. Morin said he belongs to five or six clubs through his work affiliation.

One of them, the Hillside Family Riders Snowmobile Club of Lewiston, holds a special place for Morin. According to him, the club boasts the largest in-state membership of Maine sledding clubs.

Although some clubs may higher membership overall, many of them according to Morin, have out of state members. “Having a city like Lewiston having the largest local membership is more fascinating,” he said.

The president of the Lewiston club, Eric Spear, said his membership is gearingup for the season. The club has about 80 members now. By mid-winter however, Spear expects around 200.

One of the benefits of higher membership: more boots on the ground preparing trails. Spear said his members logged over 300 hours of fall cleanup work between October and last weekend.

“What people don’t understand is it takes a lot of time to prep trails,” Spear said. Normally, he said on any given Sunday, between 10 and 15 members would be working on the trails. “We’ve been pretty busy,” he said.

Sure, there’s work involved, but members of the club also enjoy supper rides every Wednesday during the season, according to Spear, as well as club rides out of town and to restaurants.

Spear referred to the trail system as a “community of snowmobilers” where one frequently happens upon skiers, dog walkers and other sledders stopping for a cookout on a lake.

Voted club of the year in Maine in 2011, Spear said there’s always room for more members.

dmcintire@sunjournal.com

Maine Snowmobile Association notice

CENTRAL MAINE (Greater LA, Augusta, Waterville etc)

PUBLIC NOTICE – UNSAFE OPEN WATER – ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER – TURNER/GREENE AREA – Reed & Reed, Inc. will continue bridge construction on the Androscoggin River Bridge Replacement Project, between the towns of Turner and Greene, Maine.

To accommodate construction they will have to maintain open water the entire width of the river for most of the winter months. It is important that no recreational vehicles attempt to get anywhere near the project due to the unsafe open water. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Reed & Reed’s Office at (207) 443-9747 or their Project Field Office at (207) 946-6000.

Farmingdale:12/15: “Trail 32 from the intersection of 27 to the intersection of 29 IS CLOSED, trail 32 C is also closed. Trail 32 runs along the power line that is being constructed at this time. Crews are working daily in this area. Please stay off these trails for everyone’s safety. 32 C is a loop trail that connects 32 to 29.

You can still pass through 29 from Gardiner to Manchester. You can also pass on 32 from West Gardiner to Manchester, you will have to use 27 though. Hopefully the power line project will finish soon and the trail will open again.

Signs will be put up later this week to alert people of the detour. Sorry for the inconvenience of the extra distance, but safety is more important. I will continue to keep the situation updated as often as possible.” – Bob Dill, Barnstormers SC.

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