Jump to content

Things aren't looking rosy in PE County


dweese

Recommended Posts

Not buying a permit this year, I've been out of touch with the local club. However this was on thier Facebook page this morning. 

 



Lots going on and lots of issues have recently developed. The face of the county is changing :p, with real estate selling non stop. This coupled with the abuse caused by ATV in the off season ( i am not grouping all ATVrS ) but we have lost a lot of trails  due to their poor edicts.    

What we desperately need, is riders to come together and bring the club back to the way it should be. Including our respectful ATV riders, as well as the sledding community its  time to stop complaining and take action and get involved. 

If you are upset that a trail is not clear or groomed, step up and voice your concern and offer a solution vs a complaint.  Talk to your neighbour about land allowance etc.... together we can make it.  

We need you all to have input, involvement and say about what happens in your trail system.

Please get involved, forget about the past, and look to the present / future. We need all of you to bring back a true County Sled designation. 

Prince Edward County has the longest running club in Ontario, the only club to  be honoured with a 40 yr award.  Lets drop our differences and come together again and make our club a premier destination again.

The ball is in your court, lets take action. Many want to ban us on the millennium trail but if we come together as an organization we have a voice. 

Cheers to all

Johnny

 

When he said the face of the county is changing. He means the population face, what was just a big farming community. Has now become a large retirement and cottage area for those selling thier homes in the GTA for stupid amounts of money and moving this way. So we have ended up with a population of NYIMBY city folk living in the rual areas. There has been countless pushes from the new locals to the municipal government to restrict the rail bed (millennium trail) to non-motorized users only. For now the local government is still long time residents of the area. But we all know politicians, they sell themselves to those who keep them elected. 

 

It's going to be interesting, the county club has lost about 25% of its trails in the last 10 years. You can no longer get to Belleville or Trenton because of the changing face of the population. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dweese said:

Not buying a permit this year, I've been out of touch with the local club. However this was on thier Facebook page this morning. 

 

When he said the face of the county is changing. He means the population face, what was just a big farming community. Has now become a large retirement and cottage area for those selling thier homes in the GTA for stupid amounts of money and moving this way. So we have ended up with a population of NYIMBY city folk living in the rual areas. There has been countless pushes from the new locals to the municipal government to restrict the rail bed (millennium trail) to non-motorized users only. For now the local government is still long time residents of the area. But we all know politicians, they sell themselves to those who keep them elected. 

 

It's going to be interesting, the county club has lost about 25% of its trails in the last 10 years. You can no longer get to Belleville or Trenton because of the changing face of the population. 

 

The face of snowmobilers is also changing unfortunately. There was a time that virtually all snowmobilers respected the rights of others to their property and others to be on multi use trails in particular. With the evolution of the snowmobiling demographics there is a significantly increasing number of snowmobilers with a sense of entitlement. Many have a burning need to run with cans even in close proximity to peoples homes, including the night time when people are trying to sleep. They see an open farm field with pristine snow and ignore the signs STAY ON TRAIL OR TRAIL WILL BE LOST. Those signs don't apply to them. After all they paid for a permit and are entitled.

 

The ATV riders are another problem in itself and again not all of them. There is a significant number that also feel entitled. Often they assume that the snowmobile trail that is on private property is also an ATV trail. After all a trail is a trail in their mind even if the land owner doesn't want ATV's on their property. There have been instances where locks on gates have been cut by ATV riders and the riders complaining that some jerk put a lock on the gate to THEIR trail where the jerk was the person that owned the property and the gate.

 

One of the things that really needs to happen is an attitude change with a lot of the entitled snowmobile and ATV riders with education that it's not their property and they are entitled to NOTHING.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 02Sled said:

 

One of the things that really needs to happen is an attitude change with a lot of the entitled snowmobile and ATV riders with education that it's not their property and they are entitled to NOTHING.

 

The interesting thing there, it isn't the younger generation from what I've seen. I know a few people who don't respect the sled trails with thier ATVs. And go riding in groups down a trail in the middle of January and posting about it on Facebook.

 

Everyone of of them is right around 50, and trying to hold on to thier youth anyway they can. I think going out and acting like a dildo on the weekends help them feel young and rebellious again. With little to no care about what it's doing to the sport overall. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, dweese said:

I think going out and acting like a dildo on the weekends helps them feel young and rebellious again.

 

CLASSIC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've stopped a few people running the B trail midwinter on their ATV's and almost all the time they were new to the area and genuinely didn't know they weren't allowed on sled trails with their ATV's. Most didn't know that it was a sled trail and just assumed they could ride their ATV on any trails. I've not seen any of them on sled trails a second time but have spoken with quite a few in the summer and even gone ATVing with a couple of them on the allowed trails. Long story to say that education would go a long way to improve things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, jrhz06 said:

I've stopped a few people running the B trail midwinter on their ATV's and almost all the time they were new to the area and genuinely didn't know they weren't allowed on sled trails with their ATV's. Most didn't know that it was a sled trail and just assumed they could ride their ATV on any trails. I've not seen any of them on sled trails a second time but have spoken with quite a few in the summer and even gone ATVing with a couple of them on the allowed trails. Long story to say that education would go a long way to improve things.

Would this not be the HATV association to do this??  I agree Education from the ATV side of things would go a long way  i think!!!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually HATVA is very proactive on trying to educate and keep people riding where they should be. They have a lot of the same issues that we do as sledders. We have azzhat sledders that ride where they want and run stupid loud machines and so do they. A lot of the people that I've met have moved up and don't belong to any groups or organizations. We as sledders and ATVers need to educate them. The azzhats will always be azzhats but lots are just uninformed. An example is: I'm president of our property owners association and have put together a welcome package that addresses the obvious items such as land fills and emergency numbers but also mentions HCSA and HATVA and I speak to these issues at our annual meeting. Maybe it would be good for more lake associations to address these items at their annual meetings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw the post on the PEC Facebook page as well. While this area does not have a long season or a large amount of trails compared to others, it does offer the perfect combination of sledding, nice hotels, and good dining. Good specials to be had at Isaiah Tubbs resort for large cottage like rooms and an excellent restaurant and bar proximate to trails.

 

It would be disappointing to lose the trails and the urban growth will likely dictate this eventually but what the horse riders and cross country skiiers seem to forget is that without the snowmobile trail grooming they will get this -

IMG_2373 (Medium).jpg

 

Instead of this -

IMG_2403 (Medium).jpg

 

(Actual pictures from my 2013 visit to the county after a blizzard)

 

That being said some attitudes aren't helpful as people have got to learn to share.....

 

fixed.png

 

And I'll further fix.....who will be better educated than you, have better jobs than you, be able to afford the land and region through which your trails run, will, at first, allow snowmobile trails, but, growing tired of the assholes who spew blue smoke and create unnecessary noise, will after some attempt at remediation, exercise their right to close access to property.

 

BTW - My observation is that Suburus have largely taken over from Volvo in the niche market described.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...