So now that the leaves have fallen, I can see where more cutting needs to happen. The end of the trail will be in the lower field, (an out and back) which is really wet from all this rain & snow and overgrown with saplings. I will finish the trail to the upper field soon. There are some pine trees that block our view from the house of Mt Lafayette (pictured in the distance) and some of the Franconia Ridge that we'll eventually take down. They are snow covered now.
Yea, and all the small chit is gone too. Much less of a jungle, and a good time to continue. As long as we can ride on it in the spring, it should stay fairly tame.
Once you start running the trails with the machines, it should keep the trees from growing up but not the grass.
I may tackle a few small trees tomorrow. Dawn and my hours when we are off together are everyother weekend right now, so I might wait till next weekend for anything bigger or stuff on the slope.
Yeah but then you need a pole saw and a toy.... wheeler or tractor... cause those darn branches grow into trail at least a foot a year... then you get a good heavy 3 foot drop of snow and the sleds are higher... branches lower and there you go again.. trail maintenance is athe least a twice a year thing... and of course once ya clean it out here came raspberry bushes which is good but thorns are bad at 20mph
Ohhh, poor Saucy he was almost up to his AZZ this morning ........ The redneck 3 tire drag will take care of that! I guess I'll need a sled at some point. Tons of trails up this way! The work never ends..... you have groomed trails off your property right?
That's nice..... We have them, I see the signs in town i guess where they cross the road. I'll need to look at an atv map. Would love to get a sled! Not in the $ right now though.
Thanks...The view is partially blocked from the deck, big pine need to go for a better view. From either fields, the view is nice.
Here in Maine we have more miles of groomed snowmobile trails then plowed roads mile wise. They did a study a few years back and found out that more people come to Maine in winter to snowmobile then downhill ski so they diverted funds from the ski resorts to snowmobile clubs. It kind of hurt the ski industry but the costs to take a family skiing are just so high now that for a lot of families its just too high. Not that snowmobiling isn't. Jeesh, snowmobiles are like bulldozers...don't even check to fuel tank, just pull up to a gas pump and top it off, it always needs more gas (and yes mine is a 4 stroke). I have about a mile of trail on me, what is called ITS (Interconnected Trail System). Mine is 1983 which stands for the year it was placed in service; 1983. From my house I can go anywhere and we used to do "the loop". A round trip that went from my house, up to the Forks, over to Greebville and then back home, a distance of 286 miles. At first inivitably a sled would break down and we would have to do a retrieval mission, but as the sleds got better (that is, more expensive), and the groomers got better, we could finish the trip. My best day on a sled was 403.3 miles. A pretty good days ride. Not sure about other states but here ITS trails are funded by state and federal monies, so even though I am a landowner, it is against the law for me to use the trail in winter with anything but a snowmobile (or atv with tracks). In other words even if I wanted to cut wood on it, I would have to make another trail beside it. They don't enforce that law a lot, but it shows just how serious Maine is regarding their snowmobile trails. As a farmer, I am all for snowmobilers, probably the most self-governing, most respectful sportsmen out there, which is a far cry from ATVs. They have permission on my land, BUT SOME DAYS I feel like repelling that privilege...
There is not much tougher to get through than thick Spruce woods. And yet We watch Moose run right through it like it ain't even there. Have fun building the trails, don't forget to wear some orange out there. Rifle season soon.
Got another 500ft done just this evening with Dawn's help. Even built a small bridge over the brooks feeder stream. Take pics tomorrow......
