Hit the trail to freedom

Hit the trail to freedom

King: You forget about work and any problems you might be having

There is no denying that when the snow flies in January many people wrap up in heavy blankets and prepare to hunker down until the tulips pop their heads out of the ground.

However, there is a special sort of hobbiest who sees late winter snow as a welcome invitation: snowmobilers. Helmets and strategically donned layers are the only armour a snowmobiler needs against biting wind and frigid temperatures.

“It is just a feeling of freedom,” Floyd County Groomers Trail Coordinator Steve King said about riding a sled along the trails. “You forget about work and any problems you might be having.”

King has had a love for snowmobiling since a very young age.

“I have been around snowmobiles pretty much all my life,” he said. “I started at about five years old. My dad had a snowmobile.”

For the past five years King has worked to help others enjoy the recreation of zipping through woods, across fields and along rivers as a groomer operator.

“We have, I believe, 13 certified groomer operators,” he said about the Floyd County Groomers’ members. “You have to be certified through the DNR.”

The trail groomers of the Floyd County Groomers snowmobile club are kept busy throughout the snowy season.

“(There are) 187 miles of trails,” King said. “We try to groom all of our trails on a weekly basis.”

The trails provide riders with a variety of scenery.

“A lot of our trails run along the rivers and the wooded areas,” King said.

Trails can be enjoyed for the sake of riding, however, they are also designed to take riders to a variety of destinations.

“Some of our trails cross over into Cerro Gordo and Butler and some other trails cross over into Floyd County.

Trails are not bound by county lines,” King said. “They try to connect communities.”

With 187 miles of trail, sections are bound to cross private property.

“We have nearly 200 landowners that have signed leases with the club,” King said. The leases permit the club to place trail signs on the property. It also releases the landowner of any liability on the snowmobile trails.

As a club member and rider, King appreciates each landowner who works with the club to establish trail routes.

“It takes a lot of them…

sometimes you can have three or four landowners in one mile and another (section) we have one landowner that owns six miles,” King said. “We have landowners that own land on several of our different trails.”

Recently, the trails have been perfect for riding.

“Ideal trail conditions are smooth and hard packed, generally (from) a wetter snowfall,” King said. “The light fluffy snow does not make for a good trail.”

As soon as the deer season closes, trails are open to be enjoyed.

“Our trails technically are closed for the shotgun deer hunting season…they’ll stay open as long as we have rideable snow, usually mid-March,” King said.

Once trails are opened, they can be ridden anytime of the day.

“Our trails are open 24-7,” King said. “There are some curfews in some of the towns — that is up to the towns if they want a curfew.”

Riders from near and far take advantage of Floyd County’s trail system.

“We’ve had a good amount of traffic,” King said. “Our trails are in good shape (and) a lot of people know about it throughout the state. We are getting people out of town. A lot of people from the southern part of the state are driving up to Floyd County and unloading their sleds and going.”

According to King, one trail in particular is very popular among riders for it’s scenic path.

“There is actually a trail system that runs from Rock Falls all the way down to Shell Rock. That trail sees a lot of traffic,” he said. King estimates roughly 200 riders will use the trail on a given Saturday.

The Floyd County Groomers have been active since 1981 and are always welcoming new members enthusiastic about snowmobiling. Not only does the club maintain and promote trails in Floyd County, they also maintain relationships with the landowners that make the variety of routes possible.

Saturday, Feb. 6 the Floyd County Groomers will host a landowner’s appreciation breakfast. The meal will be served at the Marble Rock Community Center, King said.

According to the club website, year long memberships run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Memberships include a subscription to the Iowa Snowmobiler Magazine, complimentary accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy from American Income Life and membership in the Iowa State Snowmobile Association. Membership, route maps and trail conditions can be found at http://floydcountygroomers. webs.com.

By Amie Johansen amie@charlescitypress.com