Brian has been working incredibly hard to get the ski trails ready for the season. Since they got home from College, both David and Mike have been pitching in too, -- picking up branches, packing the trails in, smoothing and flattening the toboggan runs, etc. Saturday the three of them spent five hours on the task, with the final touch being the smoothing of the trails with the drag groomer, prior to having the ski track set in.
Ski trails need to be different from snowmobile trails. Our local snowmobile club, the Algonquin Snowmobile Club, works hard to maintain their extensive network of trails. They work really hard to get agreements with property owners to permit the trails to cross private property. Nancy works with them at the Council level to ensure they are able to continue to access trails on public lands. It's a slow, almost we could say, painful process, to ensure that the Snowmobile Club trails interconnect, and offer an amazing network for sledders to enjoy. These trails are groomed very wide, and packed in very hard.
Ski trails are not as wide, nor as hard packed -- in fact, they require a fluff of snow to be perfect. They don't look the same, or feel the same -- and that's because they are doing quite a different job. The two sports don't work well on the same trails, for a huge variety of reasons.
We're not going to comment on the pros and cons of skiers versus snowmobilers. Nancy likes nothing better than spending silent time in the woods, with just the swish of the skiis or the tramp of the snowshoes on the snow. David, on the other hand, feels the need for speed. He loves to sled. Different people like to get outside in different fashions. That's fine. And without the 'workhorse' snowmobile Brian uses for maintenance, we'd have no trails for anyone, so we're happy to co-exist -- on separated trail systems.
And that said... today, after the five hours the guys put into the trails (because yes we have enough snow to open many of our trails, and yes, we've got guests --here from England -- who would like to enjoy them) just as our own machines were being put away for the day, along came three sleds, from down Fox Point Road. They hesitated where the ski trail leaves the road by our driveway. And then, oh yeah, you got it... they went roaring off up the hill, hooting, hollering, and spraying snow. Took part of the hill down to the dirt. Destroyed utterly the work done during the day. And drove past not one, not two but FIVE different signs that said useful things like "Ski Trail Only", "No Snowmobiles" "No Trespassing" "No motorized vehicles"... They tell me you need a license to drive a snowmobile, but I guess that doesn't mean you need to be literate.
Brian blew his stack, and went after them. Caught up with them near the Firehall, stopped them, and pointed out their error. One yelled profanities at him and just drove away. One was polite. The third wouldn't even give his name. As Dave says, 'usually we'd just talk to them', but their careless disregard has made the guys a mountain of unnecessary work, and we were not amused.
It's people like this that ensure that the Snowmobile clubs have to work overtime to work out trail access agreeements with landowners. They are the reason so many landowners are shutting down the trails across their properties. They can delight in the fact that they are the folks who give snowmobiling a bad rap.
And that's a darn shame. Because there should be a place for all of us. Because the Snowmobile clubs work as hard as we do to provide safe, enjoyable trails. And because behaviour like that displayed today will make all of that so much harder, all round.
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