When Pam Wilson first joined the Blow-Me-Down Snowriders club in 1976, there wasn’t an expansive trail network to ride on. Snowmobiles were clunky and most of the time spent on them was dedicated to breaking trails.
“When it first became popular, it was like riding a two-by-four with a motor on it,” she said. “You would always get stuck trying to break trails. Now people just go on the trails and complain if it has a bump in it. They have no idea what it was like to break trail every place you went.”
This winter BMD celebrates 50 years as a club, and with it a 56-mile trail system that encompasses the towns of Cornish and Plainfield, connecting with trails in Lebanon, Grantham and Claremont. Members such as Wilson helped create the current network of paths, which are now maintained by a small group of BMD volunteers.
“We wouldn’t be successful if it weren’t for the landowners,” said Wilson, who is the nonprofit’s treasurer. “Every year we get permission from every land owner to make sure we’re allowed on and where exactly we can go. Dealing with landowners is a very critical part of our operation; it only takes a few bad eggs for everything to fall apart.”
The club came into existence in 1971 when Fred Sullivan and Milton Jewell of Cornish and other community members from Plainfield set out to create some navigable trails, which were hard to come by at the time.
Citing the Blow-Me-Down Brook, a tributary of the Connecticut River, and the Blow-Me-Down Grange in Plainfield as inspiration for a name, the group was formed. The same logo in use today was picked from a drawing contest with submissions coming from members’ children.
John Berry moved to Cornish in 1984 and has been a member of BMD ever since. In his current role as trail administrator, he oversees the group that works on the trails all year long. After big storms, he and his crew are out moving any fallen trees or brush.
He’s also charged with sitting in at county and state meetings, and he has the unofficial title of landowner liaison.
“The state rules say that from Dec. 15 to early April, if there is a continuous six inches of snow on the ground, we are able to groom and open our trails,” said Berry, who joked that his job with BMD keeps him busy in retirement. “Our club works to have everything ready to go by then in case we do have snow.
“We had a great start (this winter) with everything going well. But then, boom, it was all gone. It’s the nature of the beast.”
BMD has between 75 and 100 annual members who pay $35 in yearly dues, which includes membership with the New Hampshire Snowmobiling Association.
The rest of the cash from membership fees goes into the bank and is saved for when new snow-grooming equipment needs to be purchased. Because states typically don’t receive enough federal or state funding to maintain trails, volunteers with local snowmobile clubs, such as BMD, often step up to do the work.
Berry and Wilson file for grants that exist strictly for snowmobile clubs to help with purchasing costs. The club also has a food stand at the Cornish Fair which it uses as a yearly fundraiser.
BMD currently owns four professional-grade snow groomers, two snowmobiles and a tractor for preparing the network of trails.
Another part of the club’s long-term success has been its relationships with other local associations, such as the Blue Mountain Snow Dusters in Grantham and Cardigan Snowmobile Club in Canaan.
“The beauty of New Hampshire is if you belong to one club, you can ride all over the state,” Berry said in a phone interview last week. “If the snow is good, I’m usually outside 25 hours a week. It’s very scenic, relaxing. It’s either in your blood or isn’t, and it’s in mine.”
The club’s oldest member is 90-year-old Maurice Mercier. He joined the club in 1979 when he moved from Connecticut to Plainfield, and he remains one of BMD’s most active members.
“I just love to ride,” Mercier said on Monday morning. “I tried to go out last week, but I ran into some water holes. I didn’t want to go through because it gets my machine messed up. I’ll probably check it out later this week.”
This winter has been tough going for snowmobiling around the Granite State. The N.H. State Parks website said that it maintains over 7,000 miles of trails, but as of Monday morning, the Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee region is not open to riding.
In a typical winter, BMD holds group rides with its membership and takes pride in its warming hut, located off a trail in Plainfield. When riding does get started this winter, the hut will open with COVID-19 precautions in place. Wilson said members will be asked to socially distance and keep to themselves. At this point the focus is on getting some snow on the ground.
“We used to be able to ride right from our yard straight to Canada, up to La Tuque,” recalls Wilson. “Being able to do that is a fantastic feeling, the freedom that comes with that. So many people just hop in their car and take the trip for granted, but when you do it on your snowmobile, it is a surreal experience.”
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.