Late Winter 2026 | 15 Trails Report sense to you. If it did, I question your mental state. I was trying to see how many acronyms I could put in a single sentence, and I believe I did well there. My serious point though is that all our work conducted as part of the Northeast Chapter is shared with our parent/national organizations, and chapters from other geographic areas also do the same. We do not work in silos and ideas are shared and we work at problems collectively. As I have noted in previous articles, the sharing of thoughts and ideas, strategies that worked well or didn’t work at all, in addition to the networking and camaraderie that takes place during these meetings is essential to keeping each of our respective snowmobile organizations operating. Through attendance at these meetings, I have created lifelong connections with some of my colleagues. I can reach out to any one of them to ask a snowmobile-related question and will receive a well-thought-out reply in a short amount of time. It really is a fantastic group that is filled with institutional knowledge about snowmobiling, trails program management and a whole host of other topics. Based on my comments above, I guess you get the notion that the trip to the Northeast Chapter Ride and meetings this February was great as always. Now that you understand the premise behind the Northeast Chapter a bit, I can get right into the ride we did in February of this year. New Brunswick was the host this year, and I was fortunate enough to be able to take my son with me so we could share this experience together. He has never been to Canada, so this was a first. We also got to travel through Northern Maine, which I always love. The area is beautiful and I enjoy the remoteness of it, even though you are on I-95 hammer down and not out in the Great North Woods technically. The views of Katahdin are incredible, as well as the rest of the scenery along the route. When you come from a small state like Vermont it is amazing when your GPS says stay on one interstate for hundreds of miles at a time. It’s the little things that matter sometimes. New Brunswick was, of course, a great host. There was a welcome reception upon arrival at a great snowmobile- friendly hotel with a restaurant on the premises. We were also right beside Potato World (which unfortunately was not open for the season), and the World’s Longest Covered Bridge was right down the road from us. After all, we were snowmobiling in the French Fry Capital of the World! McCain French Fries originated right there in Florenceville, where we were staying. Some very interesting history in the area. The trails, of course, were great. We had 39 of us riding together on the first day, and I can tell you that will get you some looks when you cross a highway. In Canada, motorists stop to let sleds cross the road, which is an amazing and foreign concept for most of us here in Vermont. Those that stopped for us, 39 of us, regretted their choices shortly after they gave the friendly “go ahead and cross” wave to the first rider and, as a result, were likely late for wherever they were headed! After a good morning run, we stopped in for lunch at The Village Pour House in Juniper Station, NB. They were closed, as it was a weekday, but opened especially for us through arrangements made ahead of time by NBFSC. The atmosphere inside was rustic and charming all at the same time, and the employees were great to visit with as they ran around trying to accommodate all of us quickly. Wicked burgers and yes, McCain French fries were served by the pound, and for dessert homemade jam jams, which were a molasses-type cookie with jam in the middle. I’m pretty sure one of the employees made them especially for us, but either way they were great. Incredible hospitality from a small- town establishment, making you want to go back. The second day of rides took us across the St. John River on the ice, and all along it for miles where the trail traveled along what appeared to be an old railbed. It was incredibly scenic and reminiscent of one of the many rail trails we have here in Vermont. The lunch stop was a club warming hut at a major trail intersection, where volunteers cooked up hot dogs for all of us. There were plenty to go around and fill us up as we visited trailside with our colleagues. After lunch it was off to Garvie Mountain Lookout in the Canadian Appalachians, where the photo of my son and I accompanying this article was taken. Ironically, I had talked to a gentleman about this lookout in the hotel elevator the night before. He saw we had just come in from riding and asked about where we had been, which got him talking about it. The second evening was our meeting, where we covered snowmobile topics from A-Z and did a rundown of how the snowmobile seasons were going in each state and province present. All in all, the Northeast was having a great winter. Despite the positivity, we were all still battling some of the same issues as well, including volunteer enthusiasm and retention, getting younger riders involved in the clubs, off-trail riding and other violations, funding for trail maintenance and grooming equipment, and soaring insurance rates. My apologies for not covering much about the meeting itself, but it truthfully feels somewhat mundane when I am really trying to convey the camaraderie and importance the Northeast Chapter brings to snowmobiling. The winter of 2026 was good for us, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Let’s hope that the 2027 season comes in like a lion and gives us plentiful cold weather and snow. No thaws, no messing around, just pure old Northeast winter from December to April. Who is with me? Snowmobile season 2027 will be here soon enough, so don’t blink! But also try to enjoy the summer weather here in the Northeast. This is what makes snowmobiling great!
View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.