From the
MnUSA President
Trails, Trails, Trails—
The Big Day Coming Dec. 1st! Scott Wakefield Coming to you from the lovely confines of Aitkin County where the leaves have fallen, the snowmobile trails have been mowed, and signing is wrapping up. Some signs are being updated with brand new shining ones, and some are being straightened up. It seems that everybody’s got a different point of view on how the trails should be signed. Examples are spacing between the last one you put in and the next one you’re planning on putting in, are you using rebar, wood posts, steel posts, plastic posts, is signage nailed to trees, nailed to DNR-owned trees, are there too many signs, not enough signs, are they too high are they too low? You get the picture. I attended a fall workshop a few years back in Otsego, and Kim Raap of Trails Work Consulting was a presenter on this exact subject. Kim did an excellent job of explaining how
Source of the Mississippi THROTTLE-UP
FOR ADVENTURE!
to correctly put signage on a trail system, like making sure to mount stop signs on steel posts and not rebar, as rebar will spin in the wind. Correct spacing for stop ahead signs based on terrain, conditions, and your ability to actually get stopped by the time you get to the stop sign. Included in the presentation was a bevy of still photos on spacing, overkill and under kill of signage, etc. I think another one of those presentations would be a good idea. Another example of stress testing your signage is to invite people that have never been on your trails before and have them ride a section of trail and get their honest answer to what they thought. You may be surprised on what they say, honestly. In other parts of the state, crops are out and the finishing touches of tillage work are being performed. Next comes the time for snowmobilers to get into those fields and start the trail preparation work—discing, rolling, leveling and now processing those fields into a ribbon of winter bliss. Some clubs use a combination of discing, rolling and leveling, some clubs have processors that do all that in one pass, and all of this is dependent on the weather and before freeze-up occurs. This year the crops matured quicker due to the drought, so this task hopefully can occur well before freeze-up. Safety while this is happening is always a concern. If it’s operating a chainsaw, working with an ATV or UTV, or sharing the outdoors with hunters, you should always prepare for the unexpected. I insist on wearing a blaze orange vest, and if someone forgets, I have spares in the truck. You must be able to be seen, so make sure to stay safe out there doing trail work. The big day is coming fast. That’s right, the official opening of the trail system in the state of Minnesota is Wednesday, December 1st, and a new season begins. So that means the trails are in and they never need to be looked at or touched again…whew! Wrong! You should always be prepared to inspect the trail system, look for missing or stolen signage, and be somewhat prepared to rectify the situation. I try to keep some diamonds or an arrow or two with some zip ties in the glove box of my sled. Remember to be a friend to snowmobiling and do your share. Not only do your trails need a once over from time to time, but so does your sled. Your sled should be prepped and ready with current registration before December 1st. You will find more on that subject in another article in this issue of Minnesota Snowmobiling, the official publication of MnUSA and its members.
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Final thoughts. Thanks so much to those who have voted for me in the past election. I’ve been truly humbled by your support.
Minnesota Snowmobiling
