RICHMOND – Stabbing a shovel into the ground, Gary Manuel digs a large rock out of the middle of a snowmobiling trail.

Armed with chain saws, hedge clippers, a mallet and neon orange reflectors, Manuel and two other members of the Richmond Trailblazers slowly made their way through a particularly wooded section of trail.

The weather was unseasonably warm on the last Wednesday of November as the Trailblazers and other snowmobile clubs prepped the trail for the beginning of the snowmobiling season, which started Monday.