By Bill Preis
Bridgton Easy Riders club correspondent
BRIDGTON –Most people don’t realize that there are 14,000 miles of Snowmobile trails in the state of Maine. Many of those trails are also used for cross-country skiing and dog sledding. Even though the riding season only lasts three or four months, it takes a lot of preparation. Clubs around the state are busy getting landowner permissions, preparing trail signs, brushing trails, creating snowmobile trail maps, getting grooming equipment ship shape, and building bridges. Work crews volunteer their time to make it all happen. A dozen volunteers from the Bridgton Easy Riders Snowmobile Club recently met at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning at the Walgreens in Bridgton to install a bridge onto Highland Lake. They also installed wood protectors over the rubber water diverters that the landowner had installed to stop erosion on the driveway. It was one of many Sunday work sessions the club is undertaking before the season fully gets underway. The work sessions last until noon, and the club has been blessed by as many as 18 volunteers. More hands make lighter work.
The club meets each second Friday of the month during the winter season at the Bridgton Community Center at 6 p.m. for a pot luck supper, followed by the business meeting a 6:45 p.m. The club will take its annual snowmobile trip in early February. Last year, 30 Ccub members went on a trip to Millinocket and it was the club’s most successful trip ever. The club welcomes new members.
