We had our first meeting of the 11-12 season last night with a great turnout and lots of good discussion on areas we need to dig into for the upcoming season.  Please let me know if you can help with any of the trail work, grooming projects, or fundraising activities this year.  It's time to renew memberships so please contact Kim Shelley at wshelley@maine.rr.com for renewal info, or come to the next meeting.  On a side note, we now only have 1 active member in South Gray, Jarod Castonguay, who has been a member and club officer for many years now, and cannot keep up on all the trail work on his own.  All other active members of our club live between Crystal lake, the High School and West Gray area of the trail system.  For any of you in South Gray that may be reading this, and use our trails, please consider becoming a member and helping us keep these trails open and in great shape for all to use! 

 

Our next club meeting will be Tuesday October 11th at 7pm at the State Police Barracks on Rt.26. 

 

After one of the best snow years in recent memory here in Gray, the season has come to a close...Due to the onset of Spring and the recent rains, and with respect to our landowners, we are closing ALL trails in Gray to ALL traffic effective immediately.  Thanks to all the club members and hard working volunteers for keeping the 42 miles of trails in Gray, cleared, bridged, signed, groomed, and open for all to use again this season!!!  Most folks have no idea how much work it takes to keep this trail system in tact.  Every volunteer is very much appreciated no matter how little or large a contribution you are able to make during the course of the year, however there are a few that go above and beyond and without them, there would be no trail system available to enjoy here in Gray.  With that said, I would like to personally thank the following, for making my life that much easier!

 

Bronc Skilling - Spends countless hours in the fall helping us prepare the trails for the winter, making sure the grooming equipment is mechanically sound, and assisted with our largest project to date, the Bombi ram steer project, which Bronc has donated over a month's worth of labor and saved us hundreds of dollars on parts.  Bronc has been doing this for the club for over 15 years! 

 

Kim Shelley - Between serving as the club treasurer for the past 15 years, landowner relations, fundraising committe member, and Winterfest coordinator, as well as many hours spent on the trails in the fall and winter during club work parties, Kim has been an integral part of the club and carried the weight of 2 to 3 positions each year all on her own.  Most of this work is tedious, time consuming, and often goes unnoticed, however is very much appreciated by all of us!

 

Doug Falabella - New to the club a couple years ago, Doug has been an addition that any club president loves to see come aboard!  Right out of the gate Doug has been a huge help.  I reviewed the trail work party sheets from the fall and winter and cannot find one work party that he missed.  Keep in mind I schedule these for every Sunday from the end of August through Christmas!  Doug also brought a lot of grooming experience along with him from his old club, and has been a huge help to me in respect to grooming activities in West Gray.  Doug has also spent a lot of time working on the grooming equipment and donated the use of his tractor at times when we needed it.  Thanks Doug!

 

Clarke MacDonald - Thanks to Clarke, our club now has the ram steer floater Bombi project completed and operational!  This project included many different hands, however without Clarke's it would not be a reality, plain and simple.  His dedication to the project, and long nights working through different issues along the way are greatly appreciated.  Clarke has also been there every time I called on him for help, and also rarely missed any work party, fall or winter.  I'm glad he finally got to groom with the Bombi this year after all the hard work, and for any of you that had the oppurtunity to have first tracks after he went through with the Bombi, know what an addition this rig will be to our fleet of groomers.  Thanks Clarke!