Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Late Winter 2017 | 41 FRANKLIN COUNTY Northeast Kingdom Snow Blasters Hello everyone! As I write this we are hopefully at the end of a warm stretch of weather that has taken its toll on our trails and those throughout the NEK! The only riding available is in the woods and those still boast a great base. Hopefully, Mother Nature has something big in store for us to finish the season. We are also dealing with many trail closures by the loggers so they can get their logs out of the woods. Thanks for your patience and understanding and we hope to get those trails back by press time. We also thank the loggers and all of our other landowners for the use of their land. We had an epic Barbecue Ride-in at the Poker Palace. Please see the article about this on page 21. Our Calcutta event at Chez Pidgeon is next weekend and all 100 tickets were sold out in a hurry. By press time, I am optimistic that the trails will all be open, snow covered and we can all experience a great ending to this 2016/17 snowmobile season! David Diminico, Trails Coordinator & Groomer northeastkingdomsnowblasters.com Like us on Facebook  The top of the powerline on NEK SnowBlasters’trails is a great place to catch the sunrise. Franklin County Snow Raiders Hello snowmobile enthusiasts! As of this writing, I am watching what little snow we have left melt into puddles. What we had just one short week ago has now depleted to mud and patches of ice. With the storms of Feb. 12 and 14, we were set up really nice with about 16 inches of snow. The groomer had been out twice and the trails were being used quite a bit. It was great to see the fruits of our efforts the past couple of years finally getting some use. But wait, this is Vermont and we apparently can not keep snow for longer than a week. With temperatures soaring to the 50s, days after the trails were at their peak, we are now left to only hope March will give us a few riding days before we have to close up the trails for the year. We want to thank all of you who purchased TMAs this year. Thanks to our landowners for allowing us on their property and to all of our volunteers who are helping to make snowmobiling and our trail system great. Our March 7 meeting at the St. Albans VFW Post on Lake Street at 7 p.m. will be an election meeting. There are a few vacancies to fill. Anyone interested in filling any of the positions is urged to attend.  The club has decided to take part in this year’s Maple Festival Parade. If all comes together, we should have a nice float to represent the club and VAST. More to be discussed at the March meeting. We want to thank Kevin Badger, Mike Clark and Réal Cyr for grooming the trails in February. We are hoping for a longer season next year. Scott Guptill, Club News Correspondent Like us on Facebook Franklin County Snow Raiders Réal Cyr and Mike Clark groom Corridor 7 to St. Albans. Corinth Sno-Scramblers  While we made it through the “January Thaw” with minimal damage, February into March was not so kind. However, we did have a good start to our season. In the end of December and early January, our trails were in great shape and the groomer got out quite a bit. Towards the middle of February, the Osgoods were out giving the Tucker a workout a few times a week.  ORANGE COUNTY