Snowmobile Clubs

[gwinnraptor]

I am going to be joining a local snowmobile club this spring here and i am wondering how many of people out there are involved in their club?

I wanted to join the past 2 years but i always had to work weekends and odd shifts so i would have never been able to volunteer or help out at all. Now i am going to be steady day shift, M-F job and ill have time to help out.

I am a younger guy, 23 years old, i really want to get involved and help out locally. I would like to join the hiawathaland snowmobile club in marquette. There is the forsyth club out of my hometown in gwinn, but i think that hiawathaland does alot more grooming and trail work.

Does anybody know anything about hiawathaland snowmobile club or anything about snowmobile clubs that i should know about? How many of you are all involved in clubs?

 

[pat the rat]

ive been involved in a club for 7 years now,im a dedicated volunteer,i do signage,trail work,wood cutting,even drove the groomer,we need more people to get involved in the local clubs all over the snow belt,it is awesome that a guy youre age wants to help out,over here we have a hard time finding new volunteers,this sport WILL NOT GO ON if nobody steps up to the plate,we all love the sport so its up to us to make sure that its going to be around for a long time

 

[Vmax4]

Ditto what Pat The Rat says. Without snowmobile clubs there would be no sport of snowmobiling. We as a hobby group should be thanking those that walked the talk back in the beginning. We are so lucky that those founders got involved, organized clubs, built an extensive trail system, and got involved in local and state politics. Just look at the ATV/Dirt world. They did not get organized nearly as well, and have paid the price in my opinion with much more limitted areas to ride and enjoy.

Everyone should be involved in some way or fashion. Even if you only volunteer once, that is more than nothing. Heck, take one day you would normally ride and ask your club what you can do that day instead of riding. ALTHOUGH, your volunteering might involve a nice sled ride or a night in the groomer with the operator. Most enjoy the company or hand clearing a fallen tree.

Without young blood willing to do what our "founding fathers" and fathers have done, we will be in for a rough road ahead.

As a side note, Yamaha Canada knows the importance of local clubs. I believe they do a fine job of supporting clubs and letting clubs know how important they are.

 

[RowdyRoddy]

Myself and three of my riding buddies joined our local club, Western Snoriders and got elected as directors. It was great to be able to give back to the club who has done so much for us and our families! So much hard work goes on behind the scenes that the general public don't know about. I was amazed.

Join up to your local club. When your out for a ride and you see others enjoying the trails and you know you had something to do with it, it's an amazing feeling!!

Here's the link to my club. http://www.westernsnoriders.com/

RR

 

[ApexRtxGuy]

i have been in our local club for 10 years now and am on the board of directors for the second time. in our club a group takes care of a section of trail. my section is about 15 miles and that includes all signage trail clearing also a lot of it is farm feilds so all the ruff feilds need to get disced down. i also groom in the winter me and my boss take care of 40 miles of trail with the groomer that gets stored at our dealership and 3 other club members do the other 40 miles with our other groomer.

here is a link to our website.
http://www.prairiedrifters.com/

 

[canadianhunter]

What all the above said. I helped start our club and trails, putting in as much as 80 hrs and 800 miles on my sled a year. Although most work is done alone it can be alot of fun when one or more people come with. We have a few ladies that we could not do without. They do the stacks of paper work involved, insurance, phoning, organize food etc. for fund raises and to many more things to mention.

 

[MCApex44]

Not sure if Michigan does this but in NY if you join a club...the NY State registration fee for 'all' family members is $45 a sled (compared to $100 for each sled if you are not a club member). So...the cost to join our club (Ellery Snocruisers) is I believe $30 for the whole household which in turn saves us around $170 in registration fees.

I would say its well worth it to join a club (at least in NY).

 

[RowdyRoddy]

Not sure if Michigan does this but in NY if you join a club...the NY State registration fee for 'all' family members is $45 a sled (compared to $100 for each sled if you are not a club member). So...the cost to join our club (Ellery Snocruisers) is I believe $30 for the whole household which in turn saves us around $170 in registration fees.

I would say its well worth it to join a club (at least in NY).

Now that is quite the incentive to join up!!

RR

 

[gwinnraptor]

what kinds of things do you guys do in the summertime for your clubs and the trails?

 

[pat the rat]

theres lots to do in the off season but our club,we try to do all our work right after season ends and in the fall,we still want to enjoy our summer like everyone else,we are building three new bridge about 50' long,we just changed all the cleets on one of our groomer,sometimes we go out to try to reroute a trail cuz a landowner dont want us on his property anymore,most of the time due to fools going off trail or beer bottles in theyre field and so on,

 

[rx1mtn]

Gwinnraptor, you should at least join the Michigan Snomobile Association. Then I'm not sure whats to the west, but I belong to the Seney Snowmobile Association. Don Reed is the 1 to contact about both of these clubs. Ph# 906-499-3332

 

[fxnytrortx3]

i am also in the arlington prairie drifters. i haven't been on the board but have been helping put in trails for 8 or 9 years. this year was the first time i got to run a groomer as well. it was pretty cool.