10/19/2026
Wow September was a blur and now October is coming to a close. Welcome to all our new followers! Sorry for the delay, I misplaced my list of new emails to add to the newsletter.
Between trail work early in September, our member ride & grill event, our booth at the Tunbridge fair, a private event weekend in Lowell, and then Westshire ATV's Fall Foliage Ride made September really busy for us!
Big items:
Laquerre's Powersports contributed the raffle's 2nd place $400 gift certificate! Huge thanks to them and try to support them any chance you have. They were also the lead sponsor to VASA this year. Thank you Joey, Jeff and Jarrett!
Grant work on the Otto Merrill Road starts this with Brody Webster that won the bid with the Town. We worked with the Town to secure that grant as noted below.
Tomorrow I will be attending a Royalton Selectboard Special meeting to walk a Class 4 that the Planning Board is pushing to have reclassified to a legal trail for walking only. Surprise surprise.
Meeting this week 10-21 at 6:30pm at my house (1313 VT Route 110) to discuss next steps and roads we will try to add for next year.
There are a couple more rides that will be worth going on if you're looking to go with a group:
10-25 Stockbridge with Central VT Quad Runners from their trailhead at 9am.
10-31 Bethel with Bethel ATV Club from their trailhead at 1015am
Separately, 10-31 I'll have the General on the Green in Royalton for Trunk or Treat for 1pm-3pm if anyone wants to come hang out.
I was able to get something off to VASA for their quarterly newsletter before the deadline, hopefully they run at least a part of it. Here it is:
"Cascadnac Valley Wheelers enjoyed a great Member Ride & Grill on September 13th on our Oxbow/Otto Merrill trail network in Royalton. We had 8 machines and 16 riders join us for an afternoon on the trails, including a stop at our scenic overlook where we fired up the grill and enjoyed some fantastic meats from our local Roma’s Butchery. The ride also gave us an opportunity to travel many of the club’s privately maintained trails and enjoy the results of the work that our members and landowners help make possible.
We’re also excited to share some good news for the Class IV Otto Merrill Road. Club President Ian MacKenzie worked with the Town of Royalton Administrator to secure a $20,300 grant from the Northern Forest Center for drainage improvements along the road. These improvements will help preserve the road and its continued use for ATVs and other forms of outdoor recreation. A contractor has been awarded the work, with construction expected to begin in early October.
We also want to apologize to riders who were looking for our trail network on Polaris Ride Command this season. Unfortunately, our trails did not make it onto Ride Command as planned. Much of our summer was instead devoted to restoring our main trails following logging activity over the previous winter. We appreciate everyone’s patience while we worked to get the trails back into shape.
Looking ahead, we’re excited for 2027 and hope to continue growing our network of available trails. We’re grateful to our landowners, club members, volunteers, the Town of Royalton, and everyone else who helps make responsible ATV recreation possible in our community.
Finally, fundraising continues for our Land Acquisition Fund, which is aimed at helping the club acquire and protect land for future recreational use. Our current fundraiser is a r***e raffle featuring:
1st Prize: Browning BAR MK4 .308
2nd Prize: $400 Gift Card to Laquerre’s Powersports
3rd Prize: $100 Cash
Drawing planned for December 12th following the Royalton Holiday Light Parade at our hosted Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at the Crossroads Bar and Grill in South Royalton, VT.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Cascadnac Valley Wheelers this year. Whether you were club member, helped on the trails, provide land access, participate in our rides, purchase raffle tickets, or simply support our mission, it all helps us work toward a strong trail network in the future."
Our trails are now closed for the season with bow hunting having started on 10-1.
Thanks again for our supporting landowners, members and raffle ticket holders!
Feel free to message with any questions or to connect!
-Ian
