Snow, Wood, Deer Tracks, and a Snowmobile Crash

[quads]

Ok, which one of you guys ran into the trees with your snowmobile?

One of my trails through the woods, now as hard as concrete after the below zero temps last night.

The deer tracks in the lower left corner of this picture were made in the 20 minutes that I was gone between loads. Deer are so curious about everything, like cows.

I didn't make a track down this trail yesterday. Might not get down it again until Spring!

Wood cut and split a few days ago. Too bad it's waaaaay over there in all that snow.

 

[JustWood]

There's a snowmobile trail through my property. It's groomed and maintained by a club. Stop signs, slow and curve signs . The whole 9 yards.
Thursday - Sunday approx 500+ sleds/day travel this trail. There's a 90 degree curve after a long straightaway through a wooded area and every spring I pick up half a pickup load of plastic parts here. I should get ahold of Geico and sell them some land for a satellite office.

 

[bogydave]

Nice pics
I think it was these guys.

 

[quads]

You could be right Dave! That's about how they go through the woods behind my house.

 

[quads]

There's a snowmobile trail through my property. It's groomed and maintained by a club. Stop signs, slow and curve signs . The whole 9 yards.
Thursday - Sunday approx 500+ sleds/day travel this trail. There's a 90 degree curve after a long straightaway through a wooded area and every spring I pick up half a pickup load of plastic parts here. I should get ahold of Geico and sell them some land for a satellite office.

Same here. You can't see it behind me in the picture, but I'm standing on the edge of a 1500 acre field and that is where the trail enters the woods. Up ahead from there is a 90° turn (signs, banners, ribbons, reflectors, all marking it) where one of my relatives has a fence around his small field. So many snowmobiles went through the fence that he finally took it down so that when they miss the curve they at least don't hit the fence anymore.

 

[SlyFerret]

You've probably been asked this before, Quads, but I can't remember ever seen an answer.

How many acres do you have up there? Just wondering how much room you have for your adventures in the woods.

-SF

 

[quads]

Between the dairy farm, the Christmas tree farm, and a couple old family farms that no longer have any cows on them, we have about 500 acres.

 

[loon]

might of been this ghost machine :cheese:


http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-dj6lYWyuR1c/funny_snowmobile_crash/

 

[ColdNH]

Didn't realize we had so many property owners on here that let snowmobile trails cross their property, I want to give you all a BIG thank you! without you we would be ridding around in circles in the state park.

I have been sledding since I was a kid and ya there are some whackos out there that ruin it for the rest of us, but the majority of snowmobilers drive sanely and are just out there trying to enjoy the day with their families

 

[firefighterjake]

Didn't realize we had so many property owners on here that let snowmobile trails cross their property, I want to give you all a BIG thank you! without you we would be ridding around in circles in the state park.

I have been sledding since I was a kid and ya there are some whackos out there that ruin it for the rest of us, but the majority of snowmobilers drive sanely and are just out there trying to enjoy the day with their families

Amen to that . . . without private landowners graciously allowing access to us sledders and ATVers the extensive trail system here in Maine and the ability to go from end to end in the State or from side to side would just not exist . . . being able to leave right from my home and travel anywhere is truly a unique gift thanks only due to landowners.

That said . . . I'm hoping this year to check one ride off my Snowmobile Bucket List . . . ride the sled around the Acadia National Park and get a pic of me and the sled beside the ocean . . . I think with all the coastal storms . . . this will be the year to do this.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

As always- thanks for bringing me a little outdoors while I'm at work guys!

 

[quads]

Didn't realize we had so many property owners on here that let snowmobile trails cross their property, I want to give you all a BIG thank you! without you we would be ridding around in circles in the state park.

I have been sledding since I was a kid and ya there are some whackos out there that ruin it for the rest of us, but the majority of snowmobilers drive sanely and are just out there trying to enjoy the day with their families

Beautiful pics!

My dad owned a snowmobile dealership in the late 60's/70's. Him and his brother built some of the first marked snowmobile trails in the state on our family's land.

 

[phatfarmerbob]

Between the dairy farm, the Christmas tree farm, and a couple old family farms that no longer have any cows on them, we have about 500 acres.

What kinda trees do u grow out there ... and how many are you producing a year?

 

[quads]

Between the dairy farm, the Christmas tree farm, and a couple old family farms that no longer have any cows on them, we have about 500 acres.

What kinda trees do u grow out there ... and how many are you producing a year?

My relatives own the Christmas trees. It's only about 15 acres of them, mostly balsam and spruce. They sell less than 100 a year, all choose and cut your own.

 

[phatfarmerbob]

very nice i grow fraser fir balsam & blue spruce and sell about 150 a year choose and cut,,, another 50-100 already cut that i bring in .. only prob is im between years on my field so im just buying in.

 

[Skier76]

We have a boatload of snow in VT this year. I'm kicking around getting a cheap "yard" sled to bomb around on next season. Maybe an old Phazer/Exciter or Indy.

 

[firefighterjake]

We have a boatload of snow in VT this year. I'm kicking around getting a cheap "yard" sled to bomb around on next season. Maybe an old Phazer/Exciter or Indy.

I like Yamahas . . . but go with an Indy . . . the Exploder . . . I mean Exciters are not all that great . . . and the Phazers are just as ugly back then as they are today.

 

[ColdNH]

We have a boatload of snow in VT this year. I'm kicking around getting a cheap "yard" sled to bomb around on next season. Maybe an old Phazer/Exciter or Indy.

Here you go

BUy me buy me!

http://nh.craigslist.org/rvs/2181526508.html

 

[Skier76]

As funny as it sounds...I like the look of the Phazers. Must be because I'm a "child of the 1980's". :lol:

Exciters aren't that good? I've seen a number for a good price.

Indy's seem solid....I know the 500's are good engines based on some reading. I think the 400's are OK too. Or are those 440's?

ColdNH...that's a nice looking sled!

 

[firefighterjake]

As funny as it sounds...I like the look of the Phazers. Must be because I'm a "child of the 1980's". :lol:

Exciters aren't that good? I've seen a number for a good price.

Indy's seem solid....I know the 500's are good engines based on some reading. I think the 400's are OK too. Or are those 440's?

ColdNH...that's a nice looking sled!

No first hand experience with the Yamahas . . . just what I've heard from friends that have had friends with them . . . so you can take what I say with a liberal grain of salt. The Indys on the other hand I have had friends and family members that currently own them -- fantastic engines.

Me . . . I'm more of a Skidoo guy myself . . . currently riding a 2007 Skidoo GSX 500ss (600 engine) . . . it's my "old man" sled since it is my first sled with electric start.

 

[Skier76]

Thanks Jake. I always like the Ski-Doo's...had a SeaDoo watercraft back in the day.

I don't see many Ski-Doo's in the sub $1k price range I'm looking at. I'll see an occational Safari, but that's about it. And maybe an older MXZ.

I apprecite the heads up on the Exciters. I'm kinda leaning towards the Indy now.

 

[webbie]

I took a ride once up by Killington.....
Damn, those things are worse kidney bashers than my old Tarm Truck!

I hope they've improved the suspensions over the years.....

 

[quads]

Sometime Friday night another snowmobiler missed the corner in the pine plantation and went way out into the trees. He had to ride a long ways down through the rows to get back on the trail even. I didn't see any blood on the snow, but I bet the guy filled his pants.

There were at least half a dozen snowmobile accidents with injuries over the weekend, in just our county. I heard on the news that there were at least three fatalities in the state this weekend. It's not like the old days when I used to ride snowmobile. I was scared to death at 50mph! My favorite old snowmobile went 35mph, wide open, downhill, and that was plenty fast enough for me. Nowadays it seems like to many people it's a race from one tavern to the next. A lot of the cutting and splitting I have done this winter has been within earshot of the trail and it sounds like a busy airport runway....

 

[firefighterjake]

I took a ride once up by Killington.....
Damn, those things are worse kidney bashers than my old Tarm Truck!

I hope they've improved the suspensions over the years.....

The suspensions and handling have changed dramatically even from when I went from an early- to mid-1990s vintage sled to an early- to mid-2000 sled . . . rider forward design truly revolutionized sledding.

 

[firefighterjake]

Sometime Friday night another snowmobiler missed the corner in the pine plantation and went way out into the trees. He had to ride a long ways down through the rows to get back on the trail even. I didn't see any blood on the snow, but I bet the guy filled his pants.

There were at least half a dozen snowmobile accidents with injuries over the weekend, in just our county. I heard on the news that there were at least three fatalities in the state this weekend. It's not like the old days when I used to ride snowmobile. I was scared to death at 50mph! My favorite old snowmobile went 35mph, wide open, downhill, and that was plenty fast enough for me. Nowadays it seems like to many people it's a race from one tavern to the next. A lot of the cutting and splitting I have done this winter has been within earshot of the trail and it sounds like a busy airport runway....

I must admit I actually zip along . . . but you also need to bear in mind that a good portion of this speed is due to a change in the suspension and handling characteristics . . . I noticed a huge difference when I went from a 1996 sled to a 2004 sled . . . of course the real issue however is that you can engineer something to be safer (such as a car), but for the driver who doesn't utilize the safety gear (i.e. seatbelts for cars and helmets for sleds), common sense (i.e. obeying the rules of the road for cars and the rules of the trail for sleds -- such as always riding to the right), not drinking and driving (prudent for both cars and sleds) and the very important rule of utilizing commonsense and riding to your experience level . . . well those who make poor decisions often pay for it in the end with sled damage or personal damage unfortunately.

Never had any collision . . . strike that . . . last year my ski clipped a rock hidden at the side of a groomed trail and it pushed me into a small grouping of alders that broke my mirror . . . and wounded my pride.

Seems up here most of the fatal accidents involve a guy who a) has been drinking, b) is riding late at night, c) is riding at excessive speeds and d) often is riding without any protective gear . . . I can't tell you the number of incidents I have heard that have involved a late night "last blast" around the lake where the driver, half or all in the bag, ended up hitting the trees or rocks on the shoreline of a lake . . . of course there are the occasional deaths that are a bit atypical -- guy up here for example just hit a disabled groomer even though it was well marked.

By the way . . . I never drink and drive . . . cars or sleds . . . but I do stop to eat and take frequent breaks while out sledding.