Snow hasn't truly arrived in the North Bay area yet, but that does not mean the local snowmobile clubs have not been working hard to get the trails ready before the snow arrives.
Shawn Flindall, communications officer and director of marketing for the North Bay Snowmobile Club, believes Mother Nature is cooperating with their preparations.
"It is really important for the snowmobile clubs to get the ground, swamps, and waterways frozen first and whenever we get a bunch of snow it really starts to insulate that and delays that freeze so the fact that there is no snow on the ground is actually a gift to us because as this cold weather starts to turn within the next week or so, it will really start to firm things up and help us with getting things underway," he said.
Mother Nature can be a snowmobile clubs biggest challenge but last year, COVID-19 caused some significant challenges as the local health unit shut down the trails in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 from region to region.
Flindall believes snowmobile enthusiasts should not be concerned about that this season.
"I think most clubs are really positive at this point. We don't see any hiccups in the future, we don't see any issues from a COVID-19 or a closure perspective so we are all pretty positive this year and we are operating in a 'business as usual' manner and getting things in shape for the upcoming season," noted Flindall.
The club also received some provincial funding to help with a number of projects in the area.
"We have got work crews all over the place, we have got new trails opening, we have got trails re-opening, we are really excited to announce that we got infrastructure funding from the province this year which has allowed us to put a new bridge on the Turtle Lake Trail, to that trail will be re-opened again this year after being closed for three years," noted Flindall.
"We have a lot of work going on on the trail to Quebec which will be re-opened again after being closed for three years due to the construction on the river near Temiscaming. So that is being re-opened this year and there is a lot of work that goes into just those projects alone and on top of that we have a few other re-routes and some bridge repairs so there are work crews, full of volunteers all across the trail system in these months leading up to snowfall and again we are certainly grateful to all those volunteer hours that are being put in by a variety of people."
Flindall adds that early season pass rates expire on December 1.
