WINTER RECREATION
Dog Days of Winter and sled races set for Saturday
BROWNVILLE JCT. — On Saturday, Jan. 31 the town of Brownville and the Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club will present the sixth annual Brownville Dog Days of Winter and Distance Sled Dog Race. The headquarters will be located at the Brownville Jct. High School Alumni Building, hosted by American Legion Post 92.
Observer file photos/Stuart Hedstrom
EAGER TO JUMP THE GUN — On Saturday, Jan. 31 the town of Brownville and the Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club will present the Brownville Dog Days of Winter and Distance Sled Dog Race. The day will include races of 30 and 20 miles, starting from the end of Railroad Avenue, and other events in the morning and afternoon in the Junction.
The day begins with breakfast starting at 5 a.m. and going through 9:30. Mushers arrive from 6-8:30 a.m. and equipment checks will take place from 8-9:45 a.m. with a drivers’ meeting at 9.
Dog sled teams will start the 30-mile race at 10 a.m., departing from the edge of Railroad Avenue with teams scheduled to be on the trails until the middle of the afternoon. The 20-mile race starts at 10:30 a.m.
The trails are on a scenic out-and-back course, traversing varied terrain running along the west branch of the Pleasant River to Katahdin Iron Works. Teams are required to carry the necessary survival gear for the musher and the dogs. Race entry forms can be found at www.mainesleddogclub.com.
The Brownville Snowmobile Club maintains the trail, assists with marking the route and is providing sweep sleds for the safety of mushers. The Piscataquis Amateur Radio Club is manning radio communications safety checkpoints along the trail.
A mushers’ fun run, which allows beginning mushers to practice with their teams at a distance they feel comfortable with, starts at 11 a.m. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Dog Days of Winter will include a number of other events during the early afternoon along Railroad Avenue, such as turkey bowling sponsored by the American Legion with participants trying to hit frozen bottles of soda with a frozen turkey; arts and crafts; snow art competition, also sponsored by the American Legion; scavenger hunt sponsored by DeWitt-Jones Realty and Katahdin Gateway Insurance; snow sledding sponsored by the General Store and More; and the Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club’s one-dog event.
The day will conclude with a public dinner and musher awards ceremony taking place at the Brownville Jct. United Methodist Church from 3-5 p.m.
The town of Brownville supports the race in several areas. Town crews assist with the snow removal at the start of the course, and the community also provides a special honor to the fastest 30-miler racer in addition to assisting with the event planning and promotion leading up to Jan. 31.
For more information on the Brownville Dog Days of Winter and Distance Sled Dog Race, please call the Brownville Town Office at 965-2561 or go to www.trcmaine.org/dogdays.
Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
RACER DU JOUR — Alyssa Reischauer took part in the dog skijor division of the 2014 KI and Beyond Sled Dog Races in Brownville Jct. She and her dog covered 20 miles in just under two hours. This year’s races are scheduled for the morning of Saturday, Jan. 31, with the first teams departing from the end of Railroad Avenue at 10 a.m.
Shirley Bog Trail Busters Jan. 25 trail report
By Debi Lynne Baker
SHIRLEY — The Shirley Bog Trail Busters Trails are icy and hard since last weekend’s rains but sleddable. With snow predicted this week we hope to get out as often as possible grooming and further smoothing out the trails.
Our Odway Pond Trail across the East Branch of the Piscataquis River is not passable due to a washout going up to the ITS85 Trail. It will be closed until further notice.
Respect landowners and stay on marked trails. We have a new landowner that graciously is letting us cross his land from the Draper Road to the Shirley By Pass Trail and does not want us to sled over his blueberry bushes. Please do not litter on the trails.
Stay off of all plowed roads. Logging operations are working very heavily this winter in the Shirley/Greenville area.
Cole Museum and House in the Woods
to offer free Maine Guide class to 30 vets
BANGOR — Thirty Maine veterans will have the opportunity to take a two-day Maine Guide class free at Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor, with instruction provided by House in the Woods Military and Family Retreat, a sporting camp in Lee which provides an opportunity for healing and rejuvenation to veterans who have returned from combat.
Applications to attend the Maine Guide school are due Monday, March 2, for the class which will be held 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, at the museum on Perry Road in Bangor.
Those eligible to apply are honorably-discharged Maine veterans and current military personnel. Those chosen for the class will demonstrate a desire to become a registered Maine Guide within one year of taking the course. Applications will be screened by the Cole Museum and House in the Woods during March, with applicants chosen notified the first week in April.
The Cole Museum of 200 vehicles and many more artifacts highlighting the history of Maine land transportation is known for its visitors from throughout the world and for enthusiastic classes of Maine school children who come annually for tours and to interview Maine veterans about their military experiences.
The museum which marks its 25th anniversary this year also is popular for its Walking Stick Program, the effort begun by founder Galen Cole in 1999 which has distributed more than 9,300 Maine-made maple walking sticks to Maine veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Global War on Terror.
Those who take the two-day Maine Guide course will have to arrange on their own to take the Maine Guide Exam administered by the Maine State Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department, but the course will give them necessary skills in hunting, fishing and recreation.
The Maine Guide class, like the Cole Museum itself, will be sponsored by the Cole Family Foundation.
“One of the pillars of the Cole Family Foundation, as laid out by our founder, is to promote patriotism and pride in this country, especially through the recognition of our war veterans and their sacrifices,” said Jim Neville, director of operations for the museum. “This class, like the walking stick, is a tangible thanks. We are giving these veterans a skill set that they can use to start a business, work for an outfitter, or have for future endeavors.
“We also believe in the ‘pay it forward’ concept,” he said. “It’s our hope that these veterans will pay it forward and use this skill to help others, as does House in the Woods.”
Neville, a retired Marine who has visited House in the Woods, finds it highly appropriate that the organization is a partner in this project.
“All you need to do is spend 10 minutes with Paul and Dee House and you’ll know they’re the real deal,” he said after going to the camp during the fall bear hunt. “There were seven veterans there, from Vietnam to a young Marine just back from deployment. The camaraderie and healing that you witness amongst those fellas was palpable.
“Paul and Dee lost their son Joel in Iraq in 2007, and since then they have dedicated their lives to helping other veterans and their families,” Neville said. “They, like me, believe that there is healing that can occur on the water and in the woods of our great state.”
Veterans interested in taking the Maine Guide class may obtain an application online under “Guide School” on the museum website www.colemuseum.org or call 990-3600, ext. 13. Applications, including DD-214 discharge paper and contact information for three references, may be submitted online, by fax, or by mail to the Cole Museum, 405 Perry Road, Bangor 04401.
More information may be obtained from Jim Neville at 990-3600, ext. 14, or jneville@colemuseum.org.
IF&W looking for additional outdoor partners
AUGUSTA — The endless outdoor recreational opportunities that can be found all across Maine would not be possible without the state’s many landowners who allow public access on their land.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Outdoor Partners Program recognizes the importance of that access and works to preserve and enhance it while improving relations with landowners and providing an opportunity for land users to show their support and gratitude.
The new Outdoor Partners Program is an updated version of the Department’s Supersport program, which began in 1996 and had at least 1,000 participants every year.
Joining the Outdoor Partners Program is simple and can be done when you purchase any license or through the Department’s online store at www.mefishwildlife.com for just $15.
People who join the Maine IF&W Outdoor Partners program agree to abide by a code of ethics that includes respecting the law, public land, landowners, other outdoor users, fish, wildlife and the environment. Those who join this program also agree to assist a landowner in the upcoming year.
In return, Outdoor Partners receive valuable benefits, including periodic electronic newsletters with timely information from Maine’s biologists, wardens, guides, snowmobilers, landowners and others, free passes to the Maine Wildlife Park, Swan Island and the North Maine Woods and discounts to a variety of places such as Kittery Trading Post, DeLorme, Cabelas and more.
“When you join the Outdoor Partners Program, your money helps fund enhanced law enforcement details in problem areas, equipment to investigate and prosecute landowner abuse and criminal trespass complaints and promotional and educational programs designed to improve and maintain access,” said IFW Commissioner Chandler Woodcock. “Funding also goes towards IFW’s landowner sign program, which aids landowners in managing access to private land by offering an alternative to ‘No Trespassing’ signs.”
For more information on the Outdoors Partners Program, go to www.mefishwildlife.com.