Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club Newsletter September 2012
Membership Meeting & Club
Ride: We had our September membership meeting on
Saturday September 8th at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood. We had a total of 30 people in attendance. We had 11 guests from the Kettle Morraine ATV Club (they are located around West Bend WI) that attended our meeting and joined us on our club ride. After our meeting we left the Trailhead in Lakewood at approximately 11:00 am for our ride. We had a total of 24 ATV’s and one UTV on the ride, it was a very pleasant day and the trails were great with very little dust. We traveled north on the Nicolet State Trail to Townsend and then traveled west to Animal’s Bear Trail Inn for lunch and then continued on the new trail back to the Nicolet State Trail and then back to Lakewood. We arrived back at around 3:00 pm and the Kettle Morraine ATV Club sponsored a cookout for our group at the Trailhead Picnic area. Fortunately we had a nice shelter as the rain arrived around 4:00 pm, we had a very nice visit with the Kettle Morraine ATV Club and after talking to them realized how nice of trails and riding
opportunities we have. Their club is very limited with only one riding
opportunity in their area and that is only during the winter months from
December to March and only if the temperature on their old railroad grade is
below 28 degree’s. Their club actually travels and trailer’s their ATV’s
throughout the state to enjoy riding, so as you can see we are very fortunate to
just leave our homes or cottages and get to an ATV trail. The afternoon ended
around 7:00 pm. Big thanks go out to the Kettle Morraine ATV Club for
sponsoring the cookout and riding on our club ride. If interested please visit
our website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for pictures of the days event.
Membership Report: We now have a total
of 125 members, we gained 7 new members at our Fundraiser on August 18th and another member at our Membership meeting on Saturday September 8th.
Lakewood Report (County F): Our club
signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Oconto County to legally open the ditch line on County F in the following areas: From Clubhouse Lane to Old 32 for a distance of .30 miles and an additional segment on County F from the Beach Club north to an existing ATV trail .90 miles. This area will not be opened until the signs are in place, we will notify our members as soon as this is open, hopefully in a few weeks. The opening of these 2 sections will allow residents in the golf course area to get to the Nicolet State Trail via Lake John Road, Forrester Road & North Road. They will cross County F at Whitetail Lane, continue on private property to Lake John Road. Marilyn’s Greenhouse has given us permission to use her property as long as riders obey all the rules and the 5 mph speed limit on her property. This ditch line will also allow the people from the Wheeler Lake Area to access the Nicolet State Trail quicker by using Thielke Road, Old 32, the ditch line on County F and then crossing County F at Whitetail Lane. The other portion of County F by the Beach Club will allow
riders access to the Beach Club when coming from the Crooked Lake Area &
from Northern Marinette County. The .90 of ditch line on County F will connect
with the existing trail that goes over to Crooked Lake & to the Northern
Marinette County Trail System. Please remember
this will not be open until our club installs the proper
signage. The signs are ordered and hopefully should be
here in a few weeks.
Riverview Report: At our last Board of
Directors Meeting in September the Board is looking at holding a Spring 2013
Fund Raiser to raise money to help pay for the ATV signs that our club will be
putting up prior to May 1st, 2013 on the remainder of roads in the Town of
Riverview. The Fund Raiser will be at the Riverview Town Hall on Highway 32,
more information will follow.
Doty
Report: The Doty Town Board has agreed to open 3 more
gravel roads in the Town of Doty in the Boulder Lake Area. This will allow
individuals from both Campgrounds in the Boulder Lake Area to access the new
trail that was opened last fall. These roads will be posted with ATV signs as
soon as we complete the other portion of the Boulder Lake Project with the
Forest Service and a private land owner.
Forest
Service: We just received a notice from the Forest Service
that they are initiating a 30 day comment period beginning September 7th on 2
projects that our club is working on, one being the Boulder Lake Project and the
other being the ATV Trail from the Nicolet State Trail just North of Mulligans
over to Sullivan Springs Road. The Boulder Lake Project once the comment period is closed should be close to opening depending on any negative comments or reasons. The other project may have some delay due to grant money that may be needed to install gates where this new trail crosses the cross country ski area. We are meeting with the Forest Service on Monday September 10th and hope to have some more definitive information after that meeting.
County
T Ditch Line: Shawn our President and I met with Pat
Scanlan from the Oconto County Highway Department in regards to improving the ditch line that we presently use from Hwy 64 along Hwy T over to the ATV trail. The ditch line is fine to use just go the 5 mph speedlimit and be careful. The ditch line is starting to erode some and it not flat, our plan is to do some
gravel work and put wood chips along the entire stretch to avoid more
erosion.
Raffle
and Fund Raiser Result: We had a very successful Fund
Raiser on Saturday August 18th. I want to thank all the members that helped
that day, we had a total of 25 members that worked that day. Also thanks to all
members that attended and purchased a $100.00 raffle ticket. A special thanks
to Dave Thompson and the Paul Bunyan Snowmobile Club for running the meat
raffle, we had in excess of 100 meat spins that day. The proceeds from this
event will go back into creating more ATV routes/trails, the signing of all
routes/trails and the maintenance of trails (we recently repaired the trail from
County T over to Blue Spruce and now we will be repairing the ditch line along
County T).
Elections & Annual Report: We will
have our yearly elections & go over our annual report at our next membership
meeting on Saturday October 13th at the Pine Grove Bar on County W at 10:00
am.
VIP
Ride: John Brantmeir, President of the Red Arrow Club and
I will be attending the VIP Ride on Friday September 14th in Tigerton WI at the
Embarrass River ATV Park. This event is sponsored by our Wisconsin ATV
Association (WATVA) and it brings together many of our state lawmakers, state
DNR officials, Forest Service Managers along with individuals from the WI
Tourism Department. This year the Fisher’s ATV World film crew will be there
filming the entire event. Our job is to patrol the areas as many of the guests
that attend will be driving an ATV for the first time.
Kettle
Moraine ATV Association: The club that attended our
meeting and club ride is also holding an event in our area on October 13th, 2012
at the Mountain Trails Motel on the corner of Highway 64 & Highway 32. This
is their 5th annual “Chix 4 a Cause” Cancer Ride. The ride starts at 9:00 am
with registration at 8:30 am, cost is $25.00 per family. They will also be
holding some raffles, silent auctions, 50/50 raffles after the ride starting at
5:00 pm. More information can be obtained on their website at: www.kmatva.com.
Business Gold Members: Please
support our following Business Gold Members: Animal’s Bear Trail Inn, Boulder
Lake Campground, Firehouse Bar, Halfway Bar, Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Motor
Sports, Lakewood Super Valu, Lizer Lawn Care in Depere, Maple Heights
Campground, Mulligans, Pine Grove Bar, The Firelite Lounge, Timberline
Restaurant, 9 Mile Resort, J & J Contracting, Sandtrap Bar & Grill, Tebo
Lakewood Realty & Cellular, Prospect Lodge & The Beach
Club.
Next Membership Meeting:
Our last membership meeting of 2012
will be held at Pine Grove Bar on County Highway W in Doty starting at 10:00 am on Saturday October 13th.
Thanks
Jim
___________________
Jim and Patti Wisneski
pattipearl@centurytel.net