Sidehillers Boast Scenery and Social Connections

Sidehillers Boast Scenery and Social Connections 

By Thomas P. Caldwell

The Sandwich Sidehillers Travel Club groomer clears a section of trail. (Courtesy Photo)

A wide expanse of open fields and mountain views in the Whiteface-Intervale area of the state is one of Ross Currier’s favorite places to ride a snowmobile.

“It’s the scenery,” he says, that makes the 25 miles of groomed track maintained by the Sandwich Sidehillers Winter Trails Club so special.

The Sandwich Sidehillers is but one of the many snowmobile clubs that maintain a total of 6,800 miles of groomed trails in New Hampshire, assisted in part by the registration fees that members pay to the state. Unlike most clubs, though, one-third to one-half of its membership is snowshoers/cross-country skiers. That is by design, says Ross, who is serving his fifth season as president of the small club.

Bob Condit operates the trail groomer. (Courtesy Photo)

“The original group knew it was going to be an uphill battle to try and get landowners to share their properties with snowmobilers, and the more [the club] appealed to the masses of the town of Sandwich, the better the chance to get the landowners’ support,” he said.

Today, the club has a “really good” relationship with the landowners, Ross says. “Basically, we keep in touch with them on an annual basis to update their permissions. Generally, the people that started the club treated them so well, there’s never much hesitation to renew. I think it’s also that our trails have been situated here for so long, and there are some very large landowners that are used to sharing their property with other uses.”

The club formed in 1998, with Dan Peaslee serving as its first president. The Peaslee family had taken the lead in operating the club over the years but decided it was time for others to step up to keep the club going. They put out a challenge, saying that either someone else from the town would need to take over, or it would have to be operated by a neighboring club.

“I’d retired that year and said, well, I’ve got nothing to do and have the free time, so I jumped in,” Ross said.

Beginning in late November or early December, work teams meet weekly on Saturday mornings to clean up the trails, clearing blowdowns and trimming branches.

The Peaslee Bridge crossing on a snowmobile trail maintained by the Sandwich Sidehillers Trails Club. (Courtesy Photo)

The Sidehillers’ trails stretch from Sandwich Notch to Whiteface-Intervale. Ross notes that it is a ride-in, ride-out system due to a lack of connecting trails.

The snowmobile trail leading from Whiteface Intervale Road to Bennett Street In North Sandwich. (Courtesy Photo)

“We lost a trail from Sandwich Notch Road to Squam Lake,” he said. That removed five or six miles from the original system. That section included a town road that never used to be plowed, but with increased development that brought in more lakefront property owners, the town started maintaining that road for winter traffic.

“Our neighbors to the west, the Squam Trail Busters, would like to see that get opened up because it would mean a lot to them, too,” Ross says.

On the eastern side, the Ossipee Valley Snowmobile Club lost its east-west pass, isolating the Sidehillers from them, as well.

“We’re almost landlocked,” Ross said.

There is limited parking at the end of Sandwich Notch Road, with room for two or three trailers, but most snowmobilers ride in from the Plymouth area, he said.

Between five and six miles of the trail runs along the power lines, with the majority of it lying within the White Mountain National Forest.

“It bridges two ranger districts,” Ross said, adding that they have an excellent relationship with the rangers. The trails skirt the edge of the wilderness, and one trail leads up to Flat Mountain Pond.

“It’s a pretty technical ride,” he said of Flat Mountain Pond, noting that there is no groomed trail there. “It requires a lot of snow to make it open, and it’s a very sensitive area, about eight miles long. The fact that we have a trail there at all in a protected wilderness area is a pretty cool feature of our trail system. You have to be an experienced rider because it’s too twisty to get a grooming machine up there.”

Sandwich Trail

Open to New Members

While the club had in excess of 70 family memberships at one time, the number last year was 34, and because it’s such a small club, getting help for trail work remains a challenge, even though it’s not difficult work.

“One of the reasons I came in as president was the dwindling participation,” Ross said. “The same people were doing all the work, with no one else helping to carry the load.

“I learned a lot that first year. When half or a third of those members are non-snowmobilers, it’s hard to get a quorum for meetings and to conduct regular business. This year, it’s a real challenge because of COVID. The clubhouse is so small it’s hard to meet and maintain social distance.”

Working on the trails is another matter. “This is the perfect way to enjoy a morning outdoors in a socially distant way,” Ross says.

The spiked interest in boating over the summer may translate into greater interest in outdoor recreation this winter.

“You read about how snowmobile dealerships can’t keep machines on the floor,” Ross said, “so you’d think there would be more members.”

He noted that membership in clubs affiliated with the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association, such as the Sidehillers, qualifies for discounts on state registration fees. Those registration fees are important to trail maintenance, helping to cover the cost of grooming machines, which can cost a quarter of a million dollars.

“Redoing the tracks on our Tucker Sno-Pad was $20,000,” Ross noted.

Ross and Bob Condit share the main duties of grooming the trails.

“We put boots on the ground to see what needs to be done,” Ross said, adding that the Saturday morning trail details tackle one section each weekend prior to the start of the season.

Despite the club’s excellent relationship with the landowners who allow the trails to cross their properties, there is always a challenge from users who do not obey the rules.

“Last fall, we had somebody go out with a four-wheeler on the snowmobile trail, and the property owner threatened to shut it down,” Ross said. “Things like that have a tendency to resolve themselves in this community because it’s easy to figure out who he was. The club had to do a little special attention to the landowner to get us past that, but the landowners knew they could count on us.”

Cars park along the easternmost end of the trail at Whiteface Intervale Road. (Courtesy Photo)

A bigger problem is along the power line. “We had people go off — they love to see that fresh powder and go off the trail, and as soon as people start doing that, it sends others off the trails. Mountain sleds are probably the biggest offenders: They’re designed to go off the trails. We’re trying to figure out how to handle that across the state because that’s the biggest offender type rider,” Ross said.

Still, he said, snowmobiling — as well as snowshoeing and Nordic skiing — remain a lot of fun.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people through being part of this club that I’d never meet otherwise,” Ross said. “That’s one of the things: It’s social.”

The Sandwich Sidehillers Winter Trails Club meets at its clubhouse, located at 303 Wing Road in North Sandwich, sharing a driveway with Young Maple Sugarhouse. For more information, email sidehillers@gmail.com.