The Straits Area Snowmobile Club performs work on EUP snowmobile trails. Members (from left) Quentin Goudreau, Gerry Riley, Paul Ollett, and Neil Hill stand in front of a new reach mower attachment for the club's grooming tractor. (Straits Area Snowmobile Club photograph) Snowmobile clubs in the county are gearing up to ready trails for eager snowmobilers in the upcoming months. The Straits Area Snowmobile Club, Les Cheneaux Snowmobile Club, and Big Mac Pack Snowmobile Club all have their own trails to prepare and maintain. Work is going on now on trails near St. Ignace and at the Carp River snowmobile bridge.

Straits Area Snowmobile Club

The Straits Area Snowmobile Club of St. Ignace maintains 101 miles of trail during the winter with groomers in St. Ignace and Brevort. The trails maintained include those in St. Ignace, Trout Lake, Rexton, Cut River, Brevort, and a connector trail to I-75. Each maintenance run can take between six to 12 hours to groom, said club vice president Neil Hill of St. Ignace, and is entirely done by volunteers.

"By the time you get 100 miles of trail done, it's time to start at the beginning," he said.

About 11,000 miles of grooming is performed each season by the club, with fuel bills costing up to $12,000 a month, Mr. Hill said. The club is reimbursed through the Michigan snowmobile program of the Department of Natural Resources.

Two major work weekends are approaching for the club. The members will gather at the Super 8 Motel in St. Ignace Saturday, October 17, and Saturday, October 24, and give work assignments to everyone there. Members will work all day and sit down to dinner together afterward, Mr. Hill said. Volunteers are welcome to join on either day.

The club obtained a new reach mower attachment for the groomer tractor that helps clear away brush, significantly speeding up the job, Mr. Hill said.

The Straits Area Snowmobile Club works to ensure trails and bridges used by snowmobilers are ready for use. About 100 people have registered for the club and are from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. About 15 people are local, Mr. Hill said.

A $48,000 grant is being used by the club to perform work on the bridge over Carp River by M-123. The bridge has been stripped down to its bare steel, Mr. Hill said, and a new wooden deck will be placed on it. Work on the bridge will be completed by contractors in time for the season.

Members have extended trail maintenance into the summer months, as well. Smoothing out the trails during the summer makes grooming easier in the winter, Mr. Hill said. Many of the trails are dual-purpose and are often used by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), he said, so smoothing out the trails during the summer benefits those riders, too.

Several social events will be conducted early next year. Members will erect a tent and kindle a fire on the trail to greet and socialize with interested snowmobilers every second Saturday from January to March. The club also holds its annual poker run the second Saturday of February.

Those interested in joining the club or helping with maintenance can call Mr. Hill at 643-9374 or at the Web site, www.Straits AreaSnowmbileClub.com Dues are $15 per person and $25 for a family.

Les Cheneaux Snowmobile Club

Like the Straits area club, the Les Cheneaux club members are readying their groomers to prepare the 106 miles of snowmobile trails. The trails run from Cedarville to Pickford, Pickford to DeTour, DeTour to Cedarville, and from the clubhouse on North Blind Line Road to I-75, said club president Stuart Volkers of De Tour. Each of the four runs can take seven to eight hours to prepare, and club members spend about three days each week working on the trails as volunteers.

"There's a bunch of man-hours put into it," Mr. Volkers said.

The club is also working with the county road commission and the Department of Natural Resources to perform work on some rough patches of trail, he said, including trail 491 near Pickford.

The club will conduct family snowmobile rides every Sunday in December through March, Mr. Volkers said. The ride begins at 1 p.m., snow permitting, and typically travels to a restaurant in different areas of the Upper Peninsula. Trips have taken the family riders to DeTour, Kinross, Drummond Island, and other locales.

An annual ride is planned for the weekend before Martin Luther King day in January. Snowmobilers will travel from Cedarville to Curtis and then to Grand Marais and Seney. The members return home from the long trip on Martin Luther King Day, Mr. Volkers said.

The club is involved with a Michigan Snowmobile Association raffle. Club members are selling tickets to benefit the association's education fund, with prizes ranging from snowmobiles to weekend getaways. Tickets are 12 for $10, and Mr. Volkers can be contacted for purchase.

Ralph Sommers of Cedarville, a member of the club, will take part in the MichCanSka snowmobiling event on February 15. A snowmobiler for 41 years, Mr. Sommers will take part in a 20-day-long snowmobile ride starting in Sault Ste. Marie and ending in Tok, Alaska.

"It's going to be great. We're going through five different states and six provinces," he said.

Along with 90 other riders, Mr. Sommers will drive 200 miles each day until he and his group reach Alaska. The trip may be treacherous, he said, as much of the driving will be done in the mountains. Alaska has few marked snowmobile trails, making it easy to get lost, he added. The participants are divided into teams of four. The journey benefits the Diabetes Research Institute.

Mr. Sommers decided to join the trip as a way to challenge himself, he said. He and his wife, Jean, have taken 1,200-mile trips that have lasted nearly six days. The trip costs nearly $6,000, Mr. Sommers said.

The Les Cheneaux club meets once every month. Contact Mr. Volkers at 297-3060 to join the club. Dues are $30 per individual or family.

Big Mac Pack Snowmobile Club

The Big Mac Pack Snowmobile Club of Naubinway is prepared to help the Curtis Chamber of Commerce groom numerous trails extending north of Naubinway, west of Naubinway, and around Gould City as needed, club president Harrol Beebe said. In addition to assisting in trail maintenance, the snowmobile club members are involved in the community

The club assists in a Department of Natural Resources snowmobile safety class for children in January. Members help prepare snacks for children who have just left school to prepare them for the three-hourlong course that teaches them snowmobile safety measures. About 35 children attended the class last year, said Dorothy Perkins of the club's board of directors.

Members sell hot dogs and chili during the Top of the Lake Antique Snowmobile Museum's snowmobile show and ride February 20 at the Naubinway pavilion. The snowmobile club will aid the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club by conducting an annual "radar run" race during the last week in February.

Members of the Big Mac Pack enjoy an annual weekend snowmobile ride. The three-day-ride begins in Newberry and ends at the Island Resort and Casino in Escanaba, Mr. Beebe said.

To join the Big Mac Pack, cont act Mr. Beebe at 477-6435. Dues are $10 a year.