Dues are $10 per year; Oregon State Snowmobile
Association dues are $25 a year.
There will be a snowmobile safety
class Jan. 11, 9 a.m. at
the Mill City Boy Scout cabin.
To register call Russ Goffin, 503-897-2915.
For information on North Santiam Snowmobile Club,
call Doug Eilers, 503-854-3166 or go to
www.santiamsnowmobileclub.org
By Mary Owen
Snow is packed in above Detroit Lake and snowmobilers are revving their engines to hit the trails.
“It’s right local to us,” said Doug Eilers, president of the North Santiam Snowmobile Club. “We groom up to 60 miles of trails every year, all year long.”
Eilers is sure club members are getting excited about riding in the snow-park, which offers a variety of looks along groomed forest roads that lead to McCoy Shelter.
“We built a cabin – a snow shelter – there, up McCoy Creek Road, about a mile or two past Idanha,” Eilers said.
At the time of this writing, the Deschutes National Forest Service reports new snow at higher elevations as being “light and fluffy, with no base,” just right for a good ride. The first event of the winter posted on the NSSC Web site was a ride slated for Dec. 31- Jan. 1 to the cabin in the McCoy Creek Winter Recreation area, monitored by the U.S. Forest Service Detroit Ranger District. The shelter has a wood-burning stove and two picnic tables inside, and is stocked with firewood by NSSC.
“Everyone cleans up after themselves,” Eilers said.
North Santiam is an area sometimes overlooked by a lot of riders, but has “great shelter, groomed trails and off-trail riding as well,” said one blogger.
Local snowmobilers first met on Oct. 26, 1973, at the old Idanha fire hall. Since then, club meetings have taken place on the third Friday of the month from September through July, with a barbecue in June or July. The club has grown to 130 members, representing 19 Oregon cities.
“We always have a potluck dinner before the meeting,” Eilers said. “Some folks just come to socialize. A third of the members doesn’t even ride anymore or even own snowmobiles!”
This year, the potluck dinner meetings will be on the third Saturday of each month at Detroit City Hall.
“The highlight for me, and for most of the people in the club, is you get to meet so many people with the same interests,” Eilers said. “The sport covers everything from people who want to stay right on the groomed road to those who want to climb the steepest mountain.”
Eilers got comfortable with his snowmobile after spending about an hour on the trails.
“Then you like to get off the side of the road, get in the ditches, stuff like that,” he said. “Of course, we like to go around the lakes, especially near Pauline Peak. We stop every half hour or so, eat some candy bars, sit and talk a bit and figure out where we want to go next.”
Member Sharon Bonnett loves snowmobiling.
“I’ve always been afraid of riding motorcycles, so I assumed that riding a snowmobile would feel the same,” said Bonnett, who rides with her husband, Terry. “Shortly after we bought our place in Detroit, we decided to join NSSC, even though we had not yet purchased snowmobiles. We joined more to meet the town folks.”
But after two years, they bought a couple of machines.
“I was 60 at the time and still uneasy and not too sure about the whole idea,” Bonnett said. “But after the first season, with excellent training, things have changed. I now know what my machine will do and I’m keeping up with the rest of the gang.”
Bonnett said she’s still not a person who rides up the steep hills, but added, “Who knows what I might try this season.”
Bonnett said she now prays for snow and she and others definitely got those prayers answered with the last series of storms.
“A couple of bonuses are the beautiful, breathtaking scenery and the awesome friends we’ve met in the club,” she said.
