32 | Snowmobile VERMONT Club News CALEDONIA COUNTY Buckaroos of 302 It’s been an excellent start to the winter for the Buckaroos of 302! As Kevin and I sit down to write out this latest newsletter, we are proud to say that all our trails are open and have been groomed to perfection by Grizzly Mountain Grooming! We had enough snow in early December that Gary Lamberton, Rob Reid and Tristan Vaughan of Grizzly Mountain Grooming were able to go out on opening day and get all our trails opened and packed down. If Mother Nature continues to cooperate, we should be in for a great season! The Buckaroos of 302 will be hosting the 41st Annual Dick Page Ride-In on Saturday, Feb. 10 at the Groton Town Garage. The ride-in will start at 11 a.m. and will feature barbecue chicken, homemade baked beans, coleslaw, chips, rolls and cupcakes, all for $10. Come on snowmobiles or in cars and we’ll also have take-out dinners ready to go. Buckaroos of 302 apparel will be available to purchase as well as a 50/50 raffle featuring various prizes. Come out and meet all the Buckaroo volunteers who work hard to make our club a successful one. We will be serving dinner from 11 a.m. until we run out of food, so make sure to stop in early so you don’t miss out! We are proud to report that the Buckaroos of 302 have sold over 400 TMAs so far this season and we are expecting to have the total rise to 500 or more by the end of the season! We would like to thank everyone who has purchased a TMA from us for their continued support throughout the years. Here’s to many more! Check out the new 911 signs at road crossings within our trail system. These signs will let emergency personnel know your location in the event of an accident. Keep checking the club website and Facebook page for club updates and trail conditions. That’s all we have to report for now. Hope to see you on the trails! As always, be safe, respect the landowners’ property and please don’t litter our beautiful trails. Taylor Lamberton, President Kevin McDonnell, Vice President buckaroosof302.com Like us on Facebook Buckaroos’ Trailmaster Gary Lamberton cuts out a large pine tree that had fallen onto the trail by Houghton Road near the Peacham/Cabot line. Caledonia County Snowmobile Trail Club In the last article, I wrote about the termination of Mother Nature for poor performance. I’m not sure I actually had the authority to do that, but if the start of our season was any indication of success, I will gladly take credit. Snow for opening day and the kind of cold temperatures that we haven’t seen for decades resulted in a surge in the sale of TMAs, snowmobiles and all of the related items that accompany our sport. It has been an interesting period of weather that will hopefully continue for the balance of our season. Does anyone else find it annoying that after a few weeks of winter weather, whiners and complainers are making comments like “the best thing about winter is when it’s over”? Our season preparations were looking really good with work details that cleared trails and completed signing. Then the winds came, furious winds that leveled groves of trees. The weekend prior to opening day, a group of volunteers performed a last minute check of all of our trail system. On our first grooming run on Dec. 16, five miles out, the operator had to spend an hour with a chainsaw to clear a path through a batch of fallen trees. That is the plight of all our clubs throughout the state. I want to raise this issue because a small number of critics voiced displeasure that some parts of the Statewide Snowmobile Trail System were not open, despite having enough snow to groom. I know this message is “preaching to the choir,” but some clubs don’t have enough warm bodies to cover every contingency. We could all use some more volunteers. To the critics, I suggest that if you can’t exercise patience with us, then exercise volunteerism. This will be a good season! Get out and enjoy! Tell a friend! Better yet, bring a friend! Ride safe and ride right! Mike O’Hara, Vice President snowmobilecaledoniavt.com Like us on Facebook Danville S-Ski-Mos What a difference a month can make! With the combination of cold temps and snow, we have the makings of a great riding year. The S-Ski-Mos have been grooming since the season opened and it keeps getting better with each snow fall and continued cold temps. The first week of January was maybe a little to cold at 30 below zero a couple mornings with 10 to 20 mph