MINISTIK ASA TRAIL SYSTEM - OPENS December 1, 2012

[Ministik Man]

HI All

I have spoken to the Alberta Sustainable Resources Department today and they have given Tri-County Snowmobile Club the go ahead to unlock and open the gates at Ministik

(Need 5 snowmobile riders for Saturday and 5 riders for Sunday (No quads now) – call Brian 780-990-9339)

TCSC will be opening the gates around 10:00am Saturday December 1.

This is an Alberta Snowmobile Association Trail and therefore requires an ASA Trail Pass (See attached form for TCSC membership and ASA Trail Passes)
Also for memberships/ASA Trail Passes go to our website for locations

Need on ASAP look for the Tri-County Sled Trailer in Parking lot #2 at Ministik on Saturday or Sunday

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ:

TRAILS:
We have ridden and cleared all the fallen trees on the trails this past November
- Thanks to all the hard working TCSC Trail Maintaince VOLUNTEERS - great job.

• Be careful as a new tree may have fallen overnight.

• Please stay on the treed trails and out of the meadows
• It is illegal to cut or create new trails and ASRD has requested that TCSC as trail stewards, close all illegal trails inside of Ministik
• Lake/ice surfaces all belong to Canadian Oceans & Fisheries and Department of Transport – and are deemed transportation hi-ways and you are allowed to public ice surfaces on rivers/lakes.
• Please stage at the proper locations on Parking Lot #2 (West), Parking Lot #33 (north) and Access #22 (East) all other access is considered illegal by ASRD and will request TCSC to close the Illegal Trail.
• We have asked ASRD to assist TCSC to have the Counties clear the Parking Lots to prevent everyone from being stuck.

LAKES/ICE/ROCKS/ICE HEAVES:
The land trails are open but please stay off the LAKES/ICE until we have had time to drill the ice depth and put up Trail Lake markers across the lakes
If the ice is a minimum of 4” deep this weekend – then we will keep drilling the ice for depth and placing trail lake markers across the lakes
If there are no lake markers then do not cross the lakes, until the lake markers go up.
ICE:

• If crossing the Lakes/ice please stay to the shoreline
• Watch for dark colored snow and do not go near it – usually means the water under the snow has melted the snow changing its color darker.
• If you smell rotten eggs do not go on the ice – the smell is from springs and spring cause the ice to melt thin or even to no ice. Stay off that lake.
• If you see a very dark or blue circle in the snow or ice – stay away – this is a methane bubbler – which is constant bubble coming from the lake bottom that carry warmer water upwards and melts a hole in the ice – due to constant bubbles it may never freeze over or will have very thin ice cover.

ROCKS:

• Most all shorelines in Ministik have large rocks on the shoreline
• When leaving the treed trail onto the lakes or from the lakes onto treed trails - drive slow and watch for rocks
• There are many islands on the lakes and they also have rocky shorelines so be careful

ICE HEAVES:

• Most lakes have ice heaves somewhere the ice solidifies and as it gets colder the ice expands pushing up shorelines or the ice will crack and one section will push up onto the other section – as high as 3’ in the air.
• Do not race across a lake until you have safely drive from one end to the other – then turn around and ride back down your own track – that’s the only way to know what is under the snow. If you hit an ice ridge you will damage your machine and yourself.
• Ice heaves change and grow and it is impossible to mark them all – so it is up to you to drive safely.

TCSC has spent over $100,000.00 to purchase a snowmobile trail groomer and over $5,000.00/yr maintaining these trails, for your trail benefit.
The groomer costs about $1,000.00 per day grooming and takes 2 days to do all 102km or about $2,000 per complete grooming.
A groomed trail can take 300 to 400 sleds before grooming again – it takes 2 quads or UTVS to destroy the trail surface to the point it needs grooming again.
When grooming starts (Around Dec 15) there is to be NO QUADS/UTVs on the snowmobile trail. They can park in the parking lots and access the lakes but not on the snowmobile trails – stop any quads you see on the trail and advise then they are on a Snowmobile only trail.

Alberta Off Hi-way dropped out of the Board of Directors for Ministik and therefore there is NO Representation for quads/utvs in Ministik.

If we already have snow by December 1 we might just get 3 full months and sledding until the end of February. SO let it snow.

 

[RXN]

I'm in for Sunday Brian.

 

[stevel]

Looks to be a fun winter.

 

[gordhunt]

I need to buy a sled so I can come ride the trails we cleared

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ministik Man]

Just be very nice to the wife for CHristmas and maybe she will be nice to you after ---- and let you by a sled hahaha

Thanks again for all your help on the trails this year

You need to borrow Rogers new Freeride and do a DEMO with the wife....

 

[Ministik Man]

we had 5 riders out on December 2 riding all the trails in Ministik at -16 degrees - a cold day for maintenance...
Thanks to the TCSC Trail Maintenance Crew (Roger D, Ryan R, Greg T, Gord T, Brian B)
- no new trees down - trails are clear and wide open
- drill 20 some holes in the lakes/sloughs and found an average of 8-10" of ice 50-100' from the shore lines
- We rode the actual trails across the lakes to help pack the snow, driving the frost into the ice, increasing the ice depth, also marking the trails location across the ice. Lake markers will not be put up until the weather warmes up.
- little Ministik lake, Big Ministik lake and Oliver lake (Larger lakes) are showing surface water on top of the ice but under the snow
If you pass over the surface water/slush increase your speed and do not stop
If you sink into the slush /water you are in big trouble
The track will spin on the ice with no traction and can not push you out of the slush

 

[nast70]

We went out on Saturday. Stayed in the trees on the North side of the system. Noticed some new fence lines cutting off one trail at least (used to be an old tent by the trail). Can't get over how overgrown the area is south of parking lot 2! Had weed knots the size of watermellons around my skis. We'll try and get out again this Saturday and try the South trails.

 

[CobraCDN]

I need to buy a sled so I can come ride the trails we cleared

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Let me know if your going out Gord.

 

[CobraCDN]

Oh it's Marcel BTW lol

 

[RXN]

Some gates are still closed and locked.

 

[Ministik Man]

HI Ryan

Which gates are closed??

The south west between Oliver and Larry???

We hope to have these open this weekend - still working with the land owner

 

[RXN]

Yep, those two, and another over near Joe Lake, however that one is Not an ASA trail, just a path through the bush from the Large Field by Joe toward the Oil lease. First time I've ever seen that gate closed.