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December 12, 2009 From Scott Phelps: I made it out to 232N today - took me 6 hours to get from
where I left off above CA18 last friday, to the church camp turn around. Lots of stuff down, I got most of it out of the trail.
There were a couple of spots in the thick woods near the base of Hooker Mtn, that I had real trouble punching a hole big enough
to get my sled + buggy through. I cut up those trees as best I could, but prepare to move some lumber with big blue in that
area. All clear to the church camp turnaround, the big steep hill on hooker mtn seems much drier than usual, so that
is a good sign. The flat section at the base of hooker mtn is wet, no worse than normal. I tried to pack it two widths wide,
so it can freeze in a little better for the first Sur-Trac run through there. Sleds have been south on 232 from CA18,
so that will be good to go.
December 12, 2009
Rick Ames and Mike Lavoie checked the trail for downed
trees. From the Groton Village to CA 1 and turned up rt. 5 south to the Pit Stop.
December 9, 2009 Buzzy and Gary spent the entire day clearing down trees from Peacham Bog road thru to
CA18. Then in the afternoon they went south on 232 from Peacham Bog Road to Harry Chandlers land and cleared that section.
There was many trees and lots of snow. It was good to get the work done prior to the Groomer going through.
December 5, 2009 Email from Peter Uttero: We rode
trail 2004 from Cliffs landing to the Ruggles/Uttero property line and removed any downed trees. Hope that takes a bit of
work off of Buzzy. Pete/Lucie
December 4, 2009 From Scott Phelps: I have got clear trail from the northernmost railbed
crossing of 232, into lanesboro. I walked the wet trail section just above Lanesboro, rode my tractor the rest of the way
north into new discovery, out to CA18. Lots of stuff down with the wind last weekend. I went from CA18 north on 232,
all the way past where the old trail splits to the right, and down from the height of land to the "no wheeled vehicles"
sign near the clearing by hooker mtn. All clear to there. I did NOT cross the new sucker brook bridge and head south, ran
out of time.
November 22, 2009 Trail inspection on 232 from Peacham Bog Road to CA18, to New Discovery and Choates
pasture has been completed. Discontinued signs have been removed and replaced with Slow or Keep Right signs and Arrows.
Inspection of the trail from New Discovery to Lanesboro and from Choates Pasture to Highway Route 2.
November 15, 2009 Signing is in progress. Buzzy has been busy getting the Gore done, Dave and Dean
have done a great job signing the field across from Upper Valley Grill and stop signs from Ricker's pond to South Ryegate.
Gary and Taylor have been from South Ryegate down Route 5 south to pit stop. Everything is all set there. Gary
went from Ricker's pond to the Bog road in Peacham. The remainder of 232 will be completed next weekend.
October 23 - November 4, 2009 Trail maintenance has gone well, we got out there alot earlier this year and have acomplished
alot. We didn't have any huge projects which allowed us to spend extra time on important sections of trail. Dave
and Dean spent time limbing trees on the railbed where it crosses Boulder Beach road, they are getting their signing
up as well. Buzzy has completed all the mowing and Gary and Ken spent a couple hours opening up the section of railroad
bed along Ricker's pond. They also installed 16' of 4" culvert on the 232 trail to divert some water that was running
straight down the middle of the trail. Snowmobile season is only 5 weeks away, we should be all ready.
October 22, 2009 Dave
and Dean spent some time trimming the beech trees that have grown out over the railroad bed on both sides of the Boulder Beach
Road crossing. They also installed the stop signs at the West Shore Road crossing.
October 21, 2009 Ken,
Buzzy and Gary met at the Upper Vally Grill. They started the morning on Route 232, west of Devil's Hill Parking lot.
They spent an hour trimming limbs on a short section of trail. Afterwards, they returned to 302A and spent 3hrs clearing
the remainder of depot brook trail, near CA5. Unfortunately they found a pile of 14 tires disposed by someone.
They loaded them up in their trucks and the club had to use money out of their account to pay to dispose of them properly.
October 14, 2009 Gary,
Ken, Nate, Dean and Dave met at Lakeside station at 8:30am. They worked from the road crossing on the route 302 trail
going west up depot brook trail. The trails was in fairly good condition, mostly pole saw type work getting branches
that were hanging down or growing into trail. They cleaned out the beginnings of a culvert getting plugged, which possible
prevented a section of trail from gettting washed out. The crew worked till 1pm finishing up just past Terry's
landing on 302A back towards dead end road. The weather was perfect, alot better then the previous wednesday.
Sunday Oct. 11th The volunteer work crew, Buzzy Eastman, Butch Gandin, Dean Edson,
Dave Spencer, Peter Uttero, Kevin McDonnell and Karl Hollstein cut overhead brush in the Seyon area on trail rt. 302.
Butch used his John Deere tractor with forks and thumb to move the brush and trees. The men gathered at the Upper Valley
Grill at 8 AM to start this project. Left the Grill and traveled up to the third gate on Seyon Pond Road for access
to the trail. At noon Betty picked up lunch for the crew at the Grill and delivered it to the work site via the Buckaroos
6 wheeler. A full day was spent cutting overhead brush and trees. We were lucky the weather held with sun and
clouds, no rain, temperature in the 40's. Thank you guys. Every snowmobiler and the groomer appreciate the work
you do.
October 7, 2009 Buzzy,
Dean and Gary met at Lanesboro road and cleared brush were the trail runs parrallel to the road. Unfortunately is was
pouring rain and this is the only trail we worked on today. We were able to widen the trail thru this section of windy
softwoods, so to have better visability around corners, expecially when being groomed. There should be room for sleds
to pull off to the side when approaching the groomer.
October 2009 Two work days are scheduled so far. The first one is on a Wednesday, October 7th with
Dean and Gary, we will be cutting brush near Lanesboro. Contact Gary. The second project will be Sunday, October
11th up towards the Seyon towards the Gore. Contact Buzzy.
November 14, 2008 A work crew has been scheduled for Sunday, December 7th. We will be cutting limbs
and brush on Route 2 between north of New Discovery campground and Gravel pit prior to first bridge. We will be meeting
at Parking lot near trail road crossing at 8:30am.
November 6, 2008 Buzzy
has completed the mowing and almost all the signing and trimming of trails is complete. Dave and Dean have done
a great job signing Puffers field. Thanks to them we have a new sign post in Lanesboro. After deer season
for rifle is over, we hope to have a work day trimming the trail North of New Discovery on Corridor Route 2. Contact
Gary or Buzzy if you would like to help. Dean and Barb Edson volunteered to have the Steve Hatch Memorial sign refinished,
when it is complete we will reinstall in on the bridge at Upper Valley Grill. We will raise it higher, so that Buzzy's
Shurtrac won't hit it.
October 22, 2008 At 8:15 AM it started
to snow here at Betty's Cam Jct. CA 10 on snowmobile route 302. Bill Cam is up and running, Betty
Cam will be online soon. so you can check the weather. Today Buzzy and Gary have gone to rt. 232 near Choates
pasture to put some wood edgings in a mud hole. Signing has been completed from the yellow Barn in Ryegate down Route
5 to the Pit stop. The secondary trail that is used by local residents on Minard Hill have a re-route when they head
down from their homes to the railroad bed. Keep in touch and remember to buy your TMA from Buckaroos
of 302 Snowmobile Club.
September 2, 2008
Buzzy
has checked our trail system for wash-outs from the rainy summer. Everything looks good. If you know of
a place that needs attention please contact Buzzy. Bill Cassidy
with Matt's equipment has completed the approved trail repairs on route 232. Work started on Harry Chandlers with
a ditch and culvert. A culvert was installed on Paul & Mary Beiljung's land. Continued on
the trail to Alan Greenleaf's land, cleaning up after last years logging operation. Buzzy and I put up two
gates on rt. 232 on Alan Greenleafs land. The lower loop trail, the Club Volunteers cut it out last year and we groomed
it around and back onto the Bog road. This trail needed two culverts and several wet place's drained also removed
some stones. The last day was spent on Danny White's land installing a culvert and putting in a ditch.
The Town has graded the railroad bed from the Grill to Ricker Pond.
This is a trail that got turned back to the Town. It is up to the Town to keep it passable in the summer.
Either the Town or Matt Puffer will put in two culverts where needed. The next trail improvement is to change the trail at Lanesboro. Buzzy and Matt met with the new landowner
and talked about the changes he wanted. Matt Puffer will construct this change. The Hooker Mt. trail on rt. 232 needs a change in the flow of the spring that comes out of the ledge at the top
of trail. Some trees removed and culverts installed. We
need some help on the So. Ryegate bridge. The space in back of the "U" bolts needs to be covered. Buzzy
has picked up screws and plank to finish this job. Last year a sled caught his ski behind the "U" bolt and
did some damage to his sled. All of these changes and improvements
Buzzy received approval from VAST so the projects are funded by VAST.
Think Snow Buzzy & Betty
April 04, 2008
Next project is to replace bridge in South Ryegate. Hope to complete Spring / Early summer 2008.
November 23, 2007
Taylor and Gary spent five hours trimming, cutting out blow downs and signing from Ricker's Pond in Groton to the Bog
road in Peacham on Corridor Route 232. This sections of trail is all set. The remainder of the loop trail is still
to be done. Scott is working on the Corridor Route 2 end by Peacham pond. Scott has walked or road from Lanesboro
up through New Discovery over Sucker Brook, up towards the new bridge at JCT CA18. The Landowner above Lanesboro has
built a driveway and has burned down the old house. There is signing up to make sure we stay on the trail and not his
driveway. Signs have been all checked / reattached and brush / trees cleared. Scott hopes to continue up the trail
next weekend.
November 14, 2008
Trail signing has begun. Gary and Rob have signed and trimmed the trail from the Yellow Barn at the end of 302
near South Ryegate, south on Route 5 to the Pit stop. This section is in very good condition. Dave and Dean have
made some good progress on the long section between Ricker Mills and the Yellow Barn, were Rob and Gary had started.
November 11, 2007
Big Thank YOU to Dean and Todd for going up to the railroad bed and completing majority of the overhead brush cutting
between the Kettle Pond bridge and Boulder Beach road. It will make a huge difference this winter for the Groomers!!
The signing crews are starting to put up signs, if you want to assist contact Gary or Buzzy.
November 5, 2007
We had beautiful weather on Sunday. Dean, Scott, Willis, Taylor, Gary, Buzzy and Buster (the dog) had a productive
day. They replanked the entire surface of the old railroad tressel bridge near Kettle pond. They had enough time
afterwards to also add more planking to the bridge on Route 302 in West Groton.
| Bridge near Kettle Pond |
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| The Volunteers |
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November 2, 2007
Buzzy went to Poulson Lumber Co. this afternoon and picked up the planking for the bridges we
have to fix.
Everyone that can help please meet at the Upper Valley Grill Sunday 11/4th at 9 AM.
We will be working on re-planking the Kettle Pond Bridge on the railroad bed. Buzzy will be getting the planking moved
to that site so anyone that does not know where Kettle Pond Bridge is just meet Gary at the Grill. Bring your
best hammer to drive spikes with. We do appreciate everyones time and help.
October 28th, 2007
Todd, Dean, Rob, Howie, Taylor and Gary had a productive day clearing the trail of brush and overhead trees on the loop
trail on Route 232.
October 27th, 2007
Everyone that can please meet at the Upper Valley Grill Sunday morning 10/28 at 9 AM.
We will go to the Bog Road on rt. 232 and cut out the lower trail. This is the original trail, before we made the trail
by the beaver pond. The work crew will have to go up Minard Hill onto the Groton/Peacham Road, go by the
turn to Gregg Gandins and take your first left onto the Fields Road next onto the Great Road at the Llama Farm take the sharp
left, at the old School house (now a home) follow the Green Bay Loop Road for a distance. You will go by an old farm
house and barn, on your left, that has been refurbished it is now a beautiful white house and red barn. Take the
2nd left hand dirt road, This is the beginning of the Bog Road. Buzzy will hang one of his old red plaid shirts
at the entrance to the Bog Road. Keep going down the Bog Road till you see our Buckaroos boundary sign. Gary will
have the clubs 6 wheeler. You will need to park your vehicles where the Buckaroos sign is and put your tools in
the 6 wheeler and walk through the double gate down to the "Y" where you will start cutting and clearing the old, original
trail. If this is confusing just meet Gary at 9 AM and follow him up through. Thanks for your help and please pass the word on.
October 21, 2007
There was an excellent turnout of volunteers for Sundays trail work. Nine volunteers worked from 9 - 1
on the railroadbed (C2-302) towards boulderbeach road. We ended at the gravel pit closest to the road crossing.
This weekend, we will be working again on Sunday. Stay tuned for the project to be posted here. Please call Buzzy
Eastman at 802-584-3917 or bnbuzeastman@fairpoint.net to volunteer.
October 15, 2007
At last Friday nights club meeting plans were made for a trail work day, Sunday 21st.
We will meet at the Upper Valley Grill at 9 AM. It will be overhead work, will need volunteers with chain saws, we will
have the club pole saw, will need volunteers to handle brush. If you do not make it to the Grill find us on the railroad
bed between Boulder Beach Road and Kettle Pond.The following Sundays we will have three bridges to repair and overhead cutting
in the Seyon. Please pass this word on and hope you will be able to help.
Thank you very much and call if you have a question 584-3630
May - October 2007
Buckaroos of 302 have 50 miles of trail to maintain year round. Our landowners are very
generous to allow a trail to be on their land. Stop and think for a second would you be that generous? We must
keep a close eye out for anything that would upset a landowner. The Buckaroos of 302 club mails each landowner two tickets
to the Chicken BBQ in February. The landowners that can not attend the dinner will receive a cap that has our club's
name printed on it.
Buckaroos of 302 have divided our trail system into sections and our local members take care
of signage. This chore is very important because snowmobilers coming through our area rely on our trail signs.
Many of the signs have to be put up each fall and take them down asap after the snow is gone. The member that has charge
of a section of trail also checks for downed trees, wash-outs etc. and also picks up any trash. If you would like to
volunteer for a section of trail please call Gary Lamberton, 802-584-3917 or e-mail glamberton@charter.net .
April was our last club meeting. The next meeting will be October 12th that is the first
Friday after Fall Foliage Day. At the April meeting Dean Edson suggested that prehaps some members would be interested
in helping with the overhead work at their convenience. Maybe they might have a morning or afternoon that they
could work. Overhead work is hard work so maybe late summer would be better than mid summer. The overhead
work is never done it is on "growing". The limbs hit the top of the groomer and knocks out lights and sometimes does
other damage. If there is anyone that would have a few hours to help, please call Buzzy at 802-584-3630 or e-mail bnbuzeastman@fairpoint.net
OVERHEAD WORK
1. Kettle Pond to gravel pit to the State spring.
2. Choates Pasture up thru cedars towards Andy's logging.
3. Uttero's softwood below new culvert.
4. Seyon - the flat by big tube over Hatchery Brook.
5. Seyon- both sides of Heath Brook bridge.
December 2, 2006
We are just about ready for snow!! The bridge is complete on the 2004 trail. Route 5 south from CA5 near
yellow barn, south to the end of the clubs boundry has been cleared and signed. A crew is meeting a 9am on Sunday, December
3rd to clear overhead limbs from Dead end road between CA7 and CA5.
In
South Ryegate we have rerouted a section of route 5 out of the Town road. Snowmobile route 5 crosses highway
302 in South Ryegate. We have re-routed a section of route 5 to get the trail out of the Town road. The landowner
Bob Farquharson did the excavating and bulldozer work on this trail. The Buckaroos of 302 are very thankful to Bob for
excavating this new re-route on his land. This re-route will make it much safer for the snowmobiler.
November 18, 2006
Trail maintenance is going well. A second bridge on the 2004 trail, near Betty and Buzzy Eastmans' home needed
re-planking. This will be completed tomorrow. (See picture on Home page)
There are still trimming of trees needed on trails. Contact Buzzy Eastman or Gary Lamberton if you have time to
help out.
November 5, 2006
The bridge is done!! A good working crew showed up to plank the bridge over
Sucker Brook. The men working on the bridge today are as follows: Gary & Taylor Lamberton, K.C. Craige, David Wheatly,
Carl Emerson, Bruce Hale, Doug Murray, Dean Edson, Randy Ames, Howie Wagner and Buzzy Eastman. These guys made quick
work out of planking the bridge. The steal work that was completed the previous Saturday in the pouring rain, were Matt
Puffer, Bill Cassidy, Buzzy Eastman. The Buckaroos of 302 thank everyone that has worked on the trails.
November 3, 2006
Hurray!!! We received permission to use the old 232 trail from 5 corners north. We no longer need to use
the mile stretch of road on N. County rd. Signing and clearing will start today.
Posted November 2, 2006
Buckaroos of 302
December Club News
Caledonia County
Our Club met on
October 20th. There was a good turn out of members. It will be great when more of our members come to the meetings. Our
meetings are informal and friendly with a lot of information. The next meeting
is Dec. 1st at 7 PM in the downstairs room of the Groton Community Bldg.
The VAST TMA renewals are in the mail.
Look for pictures, trail conditions and trail grooming report on our club
web site www.buckaroosof302.com There is also a VAST TMA membership renewal form on the web
page that you can print off and mail into our club membership person, Rita Ames.
We have been reporting
about the new trail, in Groton State Forest that connects Rt. 232 to Rt. 2, we have our “circle” back, look for
new locations of CA 11 and CA 18 on your 2007 map. This past Sat. 10/28 Matt
Puffer, Bill Cassidy and Buzzy Eastman moved all the pieces of the Bailey bridge to the site and they got the bridge frame
work erected across Sucker Brook. A note of interest when Bill picked up the
pallet of 3” hemlock planks, with his crane the scales went to 6200 pounds. That
is heavy. When Bill, Matt and Buzzy moved the Bailey bridge pieces to its site. It was pouring rain and mud. The only
way they got all the pieces to the bridge site is Buzzy was driving Matt’s truck with the bridge side rails on Bill’s
trailer. The hills that Buzzy could not make, Matt pulled him with the hoe on
his excavator. The only good part of the day was quitting time. All the material for the bridge and the frame work for the bridge was in place. Sunday, Nov. 4th a group of guys will go in and plank the bridge. A great job done.
Our club members;
Gary and Taylor Lamberton, Dean Edson, Matt Puffer, Bill Cassidy and tractor, Mike Davidson, Howard Wagner, Robert Reid, Karl
and Caleb Hollstein and Buzzy Eastman, split into two groups and have been cutting limbs and clearing downed trees. So far they have cleared from Jct. CA 1 to Groton Village, Jct. Ca 12 west on Rt 302 to Jct. CA 5 to Jct.
CA 10. They started at Butterfield parking lot and went down to Jct. OE 76 to
Jct. OE 78 past the State gate towards Barre to the height of the land. Starting
clearing at Jct. CA 4, Ricker Pond towards Jct. CA 11. Gary Lamberton picked
up 40 old tires and wheels that some ignorant person had discarded over the bank, off the VAST trail on private property. Thank you Gary, as that is what it takes to show that we respect our landowners.
Our trails have
received TLC and ready for opening day. A big
Thank you to all
our members that gave up their free time to work on VAST trails.
The Sur-Trac groomer
is in for a check up and some welding on the groom. We will be ready to
go when Mother Nature drops that white stuff we all are waiting for.
Posted October 29, 2006
The bailey bridge has been installed across the river on Route 2. It was a wet and rainy day, but a crew of volunteers
stuck it out and completed the installation of all the steel components. We are looking for volunteers to help plank
the bridged on Sunday, November 5th. We will be meeting at Upper Valley Grill at 8am.
Posted October 27, 2006
Trail clearing has been completed from the Butterfield mountain parking lot Jct. OE76 West on 302 towards Barre.
On route 302 from Jct. CA5 East, has also been cleared. A crew went up and worked on the rail road bed and cleared the
overhead branches from Lanesboro Jct. CA12 towards Kettle pond. Signing has begun in the field across from the Upper
Valley Grill which includes the installation of a snow fence. Signing has also begun from Jct. CA4 on 232 North.
On route 232, over 40 tires and wheels were illegally disposed of over the bank of the trail. They have been completely
removed and will be properly disposed of by the Town of Groton. Next report should include an update on the bridge construction
on Route 2.
Posted 10/14/06
Trail Maintenance has begun. Buzzy Eastman has mowed the entire system, bridge construction is in the works
and Dean & Gary started clearing the overhead limbs on the railroad bed. They started on Route 302 in S. Ryegate
and have worked their way towards Groton village. They are with in 1 mile of the Powder Spring Road crossing.
Let us know if you want to volunteer.
Posted September 24, 2006
It is the start of the 2007 trail maintenance season. The new loop trail that will get you from New Discovery thru
peacham to Rickers Pond has started. The first volunteer work weekend will be the weekend of Oct. 21st and 22nd.
Trail Construction
Report
The summer trail maintance and re-route are on
schedule. Since my last report we have re-located the trail between Jcts. CA
18 and CA 11. This new re-route gets the circle back. Look for it on the 2007 VAST map.
The construction for the re-route was done by
Puffer Excavating and Allen Thresher Jr.
Matt Puffer is vice president for the Buckaroos
of 302 and owner of Puffer Excavating. Matt did the excavating on State of Vermont
land from Sucker Brook off snowmobile trail Rt. 2 to the Thresher family land.
Allen Thresher, Jr., owner of Thresher Landscaping,
used his construction equipment to excavate the trail on the Thresher family land. The
land has been in the Thresher Family for over 100 years. You only have to talk
with the Thresher Family a short time to realize they have strong community feelings and wanted the VAST trail system to stay
open as it has been in the past.
This total re-route project was made possible
with the cooperation from the State of Vermont, The Thresher
family, VAST and the Buckaroos of 302. A sincere thank you to all of the parties
involved.
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Below is the work that was completed to get our trail system ready for the 2005/06 riding season. The planning
for this coming winters riding season has begun.
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