Seven bridges, many culverts and a lot of washouts to the Mad River Ridge Runners’ network of snowmobile trails have left the local club facing $346,000 in damages/repairs from this summer’s July 10 flooding.
“The damage is all throughout our trail network. It starts near Center Fayston and continues around Harwood and up into Dowsville in Duxbury and beyond,” explained club spokesperson Doug Wilson.
He said that the Ridge Runners use, share and maintain trails on private, municipal and state lands. Some of the damage falls on lands where the local club is 100% responsible, some of the damage is on municipal land and some damage is on state lands in the Dowsville Headwaters parcel and parts of Camel’s Hump State Forest.
Wilson said that while towns will ultimately repair all their roads, some roads are higher priority than others, noting that parts of Ward Hill in Duxbury where Ridge Runner trails are located is only maintained in the summer and won’t be first to be repaired.
In and around Harwood Union, the Ridge Runners share quite a lot of trails with the school and its athletic programs. Wilson said some of those shared bridges and trails have been extensively damaged and, in some cases, streams have re-routed themselves, leaving behind large fields of debris that need to be cleaned up.
“Our trails and our network are definitely not first in line to get any funding for repairs and clean up once FEMA designation is secured. We may be higher on the list for VAST,” he said, referring to the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers, an umbrella organization for all of the state’s snowmobiling clubs.
Wilson said that the nature of the July 10 storms was sporadic and very localized so that some parts of some of the extensive high elevation trails were perfectly fine while other areas had such bad damage that the entire trail is unusable.
In addition to assessing the local damage, club members are working with VAST and others to reopen the trail from Northfield to Huntington where there are bridges and abutments that need work. Then they will focus on the Dowsville Headwaters and Camel’s Hump State Forest and where a 25-mile-loop is currently not usable.
“It’s going to take a while, but I do think a lot will get fixed and, in the meantime, we’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got. We will fix what we can but some places I don’t think we will be able to get reopened and we will have to come up with new routes. That will take some time. But we’ll get some donations from local riders, and local folks and contractors which will help. The Harwood trails are very well used by the community and we’re hearing from a lot of people who’ve seen the damage,” Wilson said.
The Mad River Ridge Runners carry only liability insurance, so the club doesn’t have a way to recoup the costs of the repairs, although club members did send a list of the damages and costs to VAST which will lobby the state for help, given the crucial financial role that recreation plays in Vermont’s economy.
To donate, send checks to the Mad River Ridge Runners at P.O. Box 248, Waitsfield, VT, 05673 and/or email
Founded in 1968, The Mad River Ridge Runners are stewards of 63 miles of trail.
