Minnesota is a snowmobile state. Get even a light dusting and avid sledders are already looking to get their rides out and on the snow.

The Good Time Riders Snowmobile Club, based out of the Adams, Rose Creek, Lyle and LeRoy areas, is one of several such clubs around the state made up of like-minded snowmobile enthusiasts that take to trails of the state.

But the club isn’t limited to just riding. It’s through the work of clubs like these that trails are groomed and ready for riders in the winter.

“If we don’t get club members out here, we don’t have trails,” said club member Al Mullenbach. “It takes a lot of time and manhours.

“Every fall we check the signs, put signs up, and go through the woods and clear away any tree that have fallen down,” Mullenbach said.

Simply put, trail grooming makes lanes passable for riders, but the job it takes to make trails optimal is anything but simple and isn’t limited to winter.

The club spends quite a bit of time during the fall working on the trails.

Mark Anderson, another Good Time member, estimates that 20 to 30 hours were put in by members clearing paths in November alone.

It’s not a small job by any means. Club president David Kirtz said there are 25 miles total of trails the club preens and grooms and that’s just one club.

The Spamtown Snow Drifts and the Lords of London do the same thing in the respective areas of Austin and London.

“We’re providing a safe place (to ride),” Anderson said.

Anderson spends a good amount of time grooming trails during the winter using a John Deere 7330 tractor with a special drag that can tear through accumulated drifts while simultaniously packing the snow.

The safety provided by these paths is the alternative to riding in the past. Before clubs started grooming trails riders drove through ditches that could pose a whole host of risks.

“People would ride in the ditches and there would be culverts and mailboxes to contend with,” Anderson said. “This way it keeps them out of the ditches.”

The amount of hours, grand total, can be exhausting. The Joe Lewison Memorial Trail just had a bridge built this year that was dedicated to the memory of Lewison last Saturday, the Pacelli teen who died tragically the first of the month.

Anderson estimated that 300 hours total were put into that bridge alone, which included getting the two semi trailers used, converting them for use as bridges, moving them into spot, and securing them. All of which Lewison himself spent several hours helping with.

Which raises another point. Numbers. Members of the Good Times club are currently trying to get younger members to join and they have been successful.

“We’re working on it,” Kirtz said. “I have four kids that enjoy riding and we get them out there to work on the trails and get them more involved.”

Mullenbach said much the same thing.

“We’re trying to recruit young people,” he said. “We need some young kids to step in and help.”

It’s not

just the club

While the club puts in hours and hours of time to grooming the trails, clubs like the Good Time Riders rely heavily on landowners who allow the trails through their lands.

Again, it comes back to avoiding accidents.

“It’s very important,” Kirtz said. “That’s why we push safety on the trails. If there is an accident (landowners) can just close it down.”

Obviously snowmobilers can’t simply race across someone’s property so permission is paramount. Again it comes down to finding the time and putting the work in.

“There’s quite a bit of work to find these trails,” Kirtz said.

Why they do it

It all comes back to creating the best ride possible and it’s a large reason why trail grooming is so important.

Sure you could ride the ditches and go across fields, but in this area you are seeing a lot of roads and flat land and not much else.

By providing actual trails that are more cross country riders are seeing more.

For instance the Good Time group tends the trails through Lake Louise State Park just outside of LeRoy, a prime ride that offers woods to ride through and a chance to see wildlife.

“You can go through the woods, see deer,” Anderson said. “In Lake Louise State Park people have seen bald eagles and fox.

“It’s just more scenic.”

More to do

It’s not all about grooming and trail prep though. The club is about supporting other clubs within their communities as well. They run various fundraisers for groups and causes.

The group held a fundraiser that included a chicken feed for the annual Rochester Eagles’ run cancer telethon.

“We try to support other groups in our area,” Kirtz said.

They also teach safety certification. Mullenbach said this year alone they had 56 from around southeastern Minnesota go through the certification.

And of course they ride.

“We do get out and ride,” Kirtz said with a laugh. “It’s getting out and having fun.”