The Other Rangers

Yes, we groom sometimes at -10º, we cut big trees that have blown down over the trail with chainsaws, we tear apart snowmobiles and Gator track modules (and try to find all the pieces later); but there are other Rangers at work too. They don’t get their videos or pictures up on the webpage or Facebook; but they have done wonderful work for us over the years.

There’s that mother of two who corrects our grammar and designs and prints and folds our new, updated brochures. She’s been known to print out a dozen newly updated maps and ski out to all the intersections with a hammer and hand-painted ‘you are here’ pins to post the most accurate maps we’ve got. On her weekend. On her time off. A club can’t get better help than that.

There’s the guy who deals with our banking and worries wether we need to spend this money on that or another thing. The stuff the groomers, to a person, seem to detest.

There’s the woman who writes thank you letters to donators. We could probably get away without such a nicety; but she does it because it matters.

We were joined by a young, energetic young man who will not only help out with the chainsaws; but decided we needed a webpage one evening and, after about a week, had the thing you’re looking at now up and running. These younger folks also hold down full time jobs, by the way.

It takes more than the three or four of us Neanderthals to keep a free, public trail up and running. The Other Rangers make it friendly and accurate, get the message out and make sure our bills are paid.

Don’t ever forget about them. -CZ