Trail Report: The Fat Lady has begun to sing, trails are toast. Please read below, several landowners have concerns about sleds not staying on the marked trails and we have already lost one section.
This page was last modified on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 07:25:19 PM
2/19/10 - The Blanchard Road bridge across from the Fairgrounds is back in place!
2/15/10 - The landowner that has provided us years of trail access coming from Bruce Hill Road, over to Range Road, has requested that snowmobiles stay as far away from his house as possible and hug the edge of the tree row and do so with reasonably slow speed. Please do as he requests, or your trail will be eliminated. We have already lost one section of trail for this reason this year. We hope to move signs tomorrow that currently point away from his house and move them closer to the trees, so you will follow them.
1/31/2010 - You can't miss these signs, CMP instructed us to make sure we moved the trail over to the "other side" of an abbutting landowner on the 102 line. Specifically from poles 63 to 70 to "maintain maximum peace among the land abutters". Please do as asked and follow these and all trail signs. Or, things could get "hairy".
1/25/10 - We received an e-mail complaint that sledders were tearing across this landowners field and lights were shining in his windows at night. He stated that this has gone on for five years, although this is the first time we were made aware of the situtuation. The actions of a few "hooligans" has caused the closing of this trail, which now disconnects the Falmouth side of town. We were not given the opportunity to work with him and place more signs on that section of trail. That trail used to go from Harris Road via the powerline, across Route 9 to Winn Road. Please understand your implications to the local trail system, as more of this will occur. STAY ON THE MARKED TRAIL!!!
1/23/09 - Trails are in great shape, groomed Saturday and Saturday night, both sides of J Bros. store groomed to the powerline and Falmouth. Trails from Cumberland, to North Yarmouth are the best they have been in a long time. I also rode over to Falmouth and Westbrook and their trails were great also.
1/20/10 - Dragged the trails today, supposed to warm up this weekend, which could cause some issues. Hope to drag this Sunday also.
1/10/10 - Center Cumberland to Range Road woods were dragged today. The tree that has been across the Town Forest (behind Town Office) for a couple years got cut today! Also cut a bunch of roots. West Cumberland, powerlines to NY dragged a few days last week. Low snow cover overall, we need a good dumping!
1/6/10 - West Cumberland to Toddy Brook was dragged tonight! Water holes still open.
1/3/10 - We're getting our first dumping of snow! With the warm temperatures from last week, it ruined the frozen base we had from the smaller, prior storms. Water spots are still unfrozen, so take caution on the trails with rocks and roots. No ponds are lakes are safe to travel, you will need to check with local sources for depth of ice. STAY OFF THE LAKES AND PONDS UNTIL ICE LEVELS ARE CONFIRMED! We'll need to get the trails packed down before any grooming activities take place.
12/20/09 - Got a few more signs up on Range Road and Bruce HIll Road. I see a track or two out there from riders. Slight change coming from Turkey Road bridge to Range Road, bear left crossing Range instead of going down the driveway as in years past and then go to the left of the construction materials. Pulled the cable from Range Road crossing over to the Rhine's Forest. Not sure yet when or where the logging operations will be taking place.
12/14/09 - The 1996 bridge between Doughty Road and Route 9 is passable now. There is a "boxed end" on the Route 9 side. Coming across, toward Route 9 is no problem. Coming back, just watch your ski tips. When we get some more snow, it won't be an issue. The Blanchard Road bridge on the North Yarmouth side of the powerline, across from the Cumberland Fair Grounds is not yet in place, we hope we will get to is soon. You can't cross the stream, as it's very, very deep. The ATV club has moved the logs from the powerline in the North Yarmouth, near the church, where the trail crosses Route 9. Also, only about 2/3rds of the trail signs are up. With the lack of volunteers, we still have a lot of work to do.
11/22/09 - Val Halla exit to Greely Road is now about .2 miles up the road, toward Route 9. No more riding between the houses, I guess. Val Halla put up some road like signs and put in orange markers and a snow fence to direct riders. Also, some wing-nut drove his white Jeep down the Harris Road powerline, down toward Route 9 headed toward Falmouth, trying to exit after crossing the backyard of a house and ended up getting stuck in the ditch. The gracious landowner is still going to let us ride, but has put up a fense above his house until snow flys. Also, the powerline trail on Route 9 headed toward North Yarmouth has large logs across the trail. This is from the ATV club, who will open it up once we get snow.
4/1/09 - No April Fools to report, the trails are toast. Trails are officially closed for the season, see you December 15th or so. Good snow still up in northern Aroostook County, if you still have the itch. (You just need to drive five or six hours.)
3/13/09 - With warm temps this past weekend, watch out for water holes opening up. The snow is hard packed and icy, watch those runners and without getting into soft stuff, your sled will overheat. The days are getting longer and the sun hits the snow more during the day. We'll probably sneak out a couple more weeks, but without a big storm, the best riding could be gone around town.
2/26/09 - The report from Brandon and Joe was that there were a lot of branches down on the trails. I hope some of this warm up today will melt some of the snow/ice off the tree branches and they will go back to normal. They did quite a bit of work today from the looks of it.
2/9/09 - Joe, Brandon and Shawn did a 30ish mile ride Starting on Route 9 and working the powerline back to Route 9, over through Falmouth, Rines Forest, J Bros, back to the powerline and back to Route 9 with Jeremy Judd, Maine Game Warden and Joe Higgins, Rec. Safety & Vehicle Coordinator. We all enjoyed the (slow) ride, as Joe GPS'ed pole lines in an effort to satisfy the CMP permit needs. We had good discussions about the club and they provided us the "real" number of issues from the surrounding towns. Funny how overblown the local message has become, yet the folk at the State now have a good understanding of the balanced facts. Weird how all the complaints are coming from one individual? We noticed a sign that someone had vandalized with a message toward the person who allegedly is making all the complaints.
The trails are hard from the warm, then cold temperatures. We were all over heating out there. Bury the snow in the deep stuff is about all you can do, until the trails get worked over again. The powerline trail from Route 9 toward Gray was as nice as I've ever seen it. Great job grooming guys!
1/24/09 - The owner of the land on the corner of Range Road and Bruce Hill Road, who has been a long supporter of our club and the use of public land, would like to remind us all to stay on the marked trail. Mike went and resigned the area this weekend. Please keep the speed down and STAY ON THE MARKED TRAIL! Do not go near the apple grove. As a reminder for all, if you are not on your own land, how about not running around town after 8pm at night. It's just a bother to everyone and you can't see where you are going on the trails.
1/21/09 - The trail from North Yarmouth Variety heading over to Sweetster Road is open from the Pownal Club. However, the trail that goes into the woods to re-route around the stream, behind the Cumberland Fair Grounds is closed for some reason.
1/19/09 - The snowbank at the end of Turkey Lane needs to be ridden over with caution. Also, expect to be yelled at by the Watson's for "messing up their driveway", should you need to knock down the top of the bank. (Don't worry, it's not their driveway, it's a Town right of way.) It's easier to come from the Falmouth side, but as long as we get some traffic, it's fine. The bank was pretty hard on Monday, but we did travel over it. Please use caution and don't ride over the septic system hump near the end of Turkey Lane.
1/18/09 - Finally, some snow! It's powdery as heck out there today. We got about a foot of new snow from today's storm. Woods trails are now covered pretty well with the snow base that remained from the earlier storms. Fields are well covered and just deep enough to get buried in if you stop or go off trail. There are a few rocks and stumps that can still jump out and "bite" you if you are not sure where the trail is. Might try to GPS some of the trail changes near J Bros tomorrow if I have time. I hope we are able to do some grooming in the coming days.
11/19/08 - Medley Watson has decided to close his field after years of working with him. He is claiming it stems from a "deer chasing incident" last year in his field. (I believe he asked several sledders if they were "chasing deer" last year, he asked one family of two sleds with two kids this, but they were obviously not chasing deer.) The trail is now disconnected from Turkey Lane to Blanchard Road.
The new Turkey Lane Bridge (below) is completed and looks sharp. Thank you Town of Cumberland!
11/13/08 - Glenview bridge (1997 Bridge) is in good shape.