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Legal Off Trail Riding Areas


Basketcase

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It is never talked about much, and most people that know good areas never want to talk about them to people who don't. But it would be nice to have a thread for off trail riders and locations. 

 

Flatland, boondockers, freeriders, and anyone who likes to ride deep snow that isn't groomed and is LEGAL to ride in. Post up some locations you ride and like!

 

An obvious spot is going to be the hydro lines up around the Bracebridge area. 

 

Where else are off trail riders finding good spots to play?

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you will find out people MIGHT talk about general areas but, like fisherman, hunters, and trappers... they will never reveal exactly where they are going, for fear someone else will poach the areas they have found, and save for themselves. even today if I take friends, family, ect... the rule is no gps allowed. I don't want to have to fight, and race people to my spots when the conditions warrant it. too many people go in a track areas up before the "snow gets good", and once it is tracked, it is done. you will have hard tracks under any amount of snow that comes, and you lose the full affect of deep snow riding.

 

I have spots I have been utilizing for over 15 years. and now with more and more people going off trail, it is getting more and more difficult to ride some areas (easier access spots), because, it becomes a race to get there before someone else does. 

 

I hate to be painfully obvious but...

if you want to have your own areas, put in the time, like the rest of those that seek untouched powder. Ski

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28 minutes ago, skidooboy said:

you will find out people MIGHT talk about general areas but, like fisherman, hunters, and trappers... they will never reveal exactly where they are going, for fear someone else will poach the areas they have found, and save for themselves. even today if I take friends, family, ect... the rule is no gps allowed. I don't want to have to fight, and race people to my spots when the conditions warrant it. too many people go in a track areas up before the "snow gets good", and once it is tracked, it is done. you will have hard tracks under any amount of snow that comes, and you lose the full affect of deep snow riding.

 

I have spots I have been utilizing for over 15 years. and now with more and more people going off trail, it is getting more and more difficult to ride some areas (easier access spots), because, it becomes a race to get there before someone else does. 

 

I hate to be painfully obvious but...

if you want to have your own areas, put in the time, like the rest of those that seek untouched powder. Ski

I know exactly why people don't give out their spots. And if you don't want to, then don't.

 

I ride in a lot of spots that are untouched around my house near Collingwood, and crown land around Gravenhurst area where my cottage is and wouldn't be afraid to offer to show someone else thats on this forum if they wanted. I like to think we are here to help each other not keep everything to ourselves. I get that you want it untouched, and yes it is nice for sure. I think it is also nice to ride with others who know new areas as off trail riding when you don't know the area can be very dangerous. 

 

I just thought this may help keep the people who want to ride off trail in legal areas instead of riding outside of the stakes on trails and getting land owners upset.

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31 minutes ago, mxzx121 said:

Hydro lines are not always legal.  My friend lives outside of Bracebridge and has a major hydro line through his property. It is private, but hydro has a right of way to use it.

I was specifically talking about the hydro line trail south of Bracebridge that a lot of people ride off trail when there is new snow. Not a private hydro line in the middle of nowhere. 

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Come to Sudbury, I can show you tons of them

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Mike at Horwood Lake Lodge is specializing in the off trail market, look him up.

 

 

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2 hours ago, mxzx121 said:

Hydro lines are not always legal.  My friend lives outside of Bracebridge and has a major hydro line through his property. It is private, but hydro has a right of way to use it.

You will also see hydro towers running through farm fields. Private property there too. When you find those legal spots... have a blast.

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Farther north you go the easier it is to find. Unploughed Logging roads are my favorite. I go from lake to lake to get back into untouched areas. Easy for me on my Tundra. Two years a go we did 120 km off trail on old logging roads in 3-4' of powder.

 

RR

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2 hours ago, Basketcase said:

I was specifically talking about the hydro line trail south of Bracebridge that a lot of people ride off trail when there is new snow. Not a private hydro line in the middle of nowhere. 

He is directly east of Bracebridge,  5 min off hwy 11.  So that would be the same line that eventually runs south to Houseys Rapids.

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2 hours ago, Basketcase said:

I know exactly why people don't give out their spots. And if you don't want to, then don't.

 

I ride in a lot of spots that are untouched around my house near Collingwood, and crown land around Gravenhurst area where my cottage is and wouldn't be afraid to offer to show someone else thats on this forum if they wanted. I like to think we are here to help each other not keep everything to ourselves. I get that you want it untouched, and yes it is nice for sure. I think it is also nice to ride with others who know new areas as off trail riding when you don't know the area can be very dangerous. 

 

I just thought this may help keep the people who want to ride off trail in legal areas instead of riding outside of the stakes on trails and getting land owners upset.

 

 

If you have a lot of untouched snow now close to home, the best way to have less, is tell people about it. I understand meeting new people, new areas ect... but, be careful what you wish for... the more people you show your areas, the faster it gets tracked up, and you will have less areas of access without being a race to that snow. been there done that... hence the rules. you tell 3 people, they tell 6... and so on. pretty soon, it's not a secret, and there is less area, for more sleds. keep your stuff private, or you may not have any areas left to ride. but, again, it's your choice.

 

your results may vary. Ski 

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The pole line east of 11 around bracebridge is all private land. You see, this is the problem with off trail. People think they are riding on crown and never bothered to look. Here is the crown land atlas, the pole line talked about is to the left of the red line, and as you can see, all but one tine spot is private property.

pole.JPG.05357f22cb7c1f3e3b26136b3f80f2ba.JPG

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why do so many people assume that power lines are all free to ride crown land when so much of it isn't... at least in Muskoka and south.

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1 hour ago, skidooboy said:

 

 

If you have a lot of untouched snow now close to home, the best way to have less, is tell people about it. I understand meeting new people, new areas ect... but, be careful what you wish for... the more people you show your areas, the faster it gets tracked up, and you will have less areas of access without being a race to that snow. been there done that... hence the rules. you tell 3 people, they tell 6... and so on. pretty soon, it's not a secret, and there is less area, for more sleds. keep your stuff private, or you may not have any areas left to ride. but, again, it's your choice.

 

your results may vary. Ski 

Well said skidooboy!  I know in the collingwood area where newbie is probably talking about.  However, that area is monitored by MNR. 

 

I know this because I'm a rep from the club and been out personally with the MNR warden for walks to discuss our plans and their plans. 

 

Our club has permission to access to trails that are marked but when sleds start going in places that may be "protected areas" or areas they don't have permission to go, it only makes it more and more difficult for us as the club to ask MNR for more permission down the road to use other trails or do "improvement" projects. 

 

We're trying to stay in the good books with MNR so please don't start inviting the entire world to go for a free for-all, you're only making things harder for us when the warden comes to see all the tracks everywhere.  They've already complained to us about that area that I'm thinking about, between sleds in the winter, and 4x4 trucks and atv's in the summer, they've asked us to stay off trails that are not sanctioned snowmobile trails.  There's endangered species that they're protecting.

 

Thx for your cooperation,

Blue Mt Snowdrifters

 

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1 hour ago, zoso said:

There is also zero crown land around collingwoood, wasaga, clearwater, or anywhere in those areas,m not even close.

 

50 minutes ago, cds13ca said:

Well said skidooboy!  I know in the collingwood area where newbie is probably talking about.  However, that area is monitored by MNR. 

 

I know this because I'm a rep from the club and been out personally with the MNR warden for walks to discuss our plans and their plans. 

 

Our club has permission to access to trails that are marked but when sleds start going in places that may be "protected areas" or areas they don't have permission to go, it only makes it more and more difficult for us as the club to ask MNR for more permission down the road to use other trails or do "improvement" projects. 

 

We're trying to stay in the good books with MNR so please don't start inviting the entire world to go for a free for-all, you're only making things harder for us when the warden comes to see all the tracks everywhere.  They've already complained to us about that area that I'm thinking about, between sleds in the winter, and 4x4 trucks and atv's in the summer, they've asked us to stay off trails that are not sanctioned snowmobile trails.  There's endangered species that they're protecting.

 

Thx for your cooperation,

Blue Mt Snowdrifters

 

I was actually talking about private land here that I either own, or have the permission to ride on as I live here and have talked to my neighbours of concern. Thats why I didn't mention the locations exactly.

 

I wasn't trying to start a big debate. 

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48 minutes ago, Basketcase said:

 

I was actually talking about private land here that I either own, or have the permission to ride on as I live here and have talked to my neighbours of concern. Thats why I didn't mention the locations exactly.

 

I wasn't trying to start a big debate. 

You did mention the pole line running north south east of bracebridge, and that is all private property. If you want to share ride spots, use the crown land atlas and make sure they are crown land. That being said, technically all pole line and gas line clearings are private property as the utilities have land use agreements with either the private land holder or the crown.

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7 minutes ago, zoso said:

You did mention the pole line running north south east of bracebridge, and that is all private property. If you want to share ride spots, use the crown land atlas and make sure they are crown land. That being said, technically all pole line and gas line clearings are private property as the utilities have land use agreements with either the private land holder or the crown.

I know that I mentioned bracebridge. I was always told that area was ok from locals that rode it often. Thats why I didn't comment about that spot after, because I was mistaken. 

 

I quoted you about the Collingwood comment. I ride on private property. 

 

You don't need ONLY crown land to ride off trail. there are A LOT of people who don't mind sledders riding their property, but you obviously need the permission first. 

I use the Atlas for crown land. And not all crown land is ridable either so we can't make that mistake either. Around my cottage is mostly crown land, and a lot of it is protected for different reasons (environmental etc) and you are not allowed motorized vehicles on. 

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26 minutes ago, Basketcase said:

 

 

You don't need ONLY crown land to ride off trail. there are A LOT of people who don't mind sledders riding their property, but you obviously need the permission first. 

I use the Atlas for crown land. And not all crown land is ridable either so we can't make that mistake either. Around my cottage is mostly crown land, and a lot of it is protected for different reasons (environmental etc) and you are not allowed motorized vehicles on. 

 

wait until a rider gets hurt, wrecks a sled, ect... then the insurance companies, lawyers, try to sue the landowner for damages... again... it's "your area" do with it what you want but, you are opening up a can of worms, you cant contain. once the area is known, it cant be unknown... keep your areas to yourself, or you may lose all access. what do you think is going to happen to your relationship with these landowners when you bring 3-4 people. then the next time, they come with 6-8 and you are not with them... then someone gets hurt...??? how do you think the land owner is going to feel about you riding there any more???

 

you are not thinking this through very clearly. Ski  

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There are a lot off riders who think they can ride anywhere in the Simcoe Forest system. They are mistaken. This is the link to the Simcoe County Forest website. Riders are required to have a valid trail pass and ride only marked Trails. This refers to Snowmobiles, Bikes and ATVs.

 

 

https://www.simcoe.ca/Forestry/Pages/Motorized-Trail-Riding.aspx

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6 minutes ago, skidooboy said:

 

wait until a rider gets hurt, wrecks a sled, ect... then the insurance companies, lawyers, try to sue the landowner for damages... again... it's "your area" do with it what you want but, you are opening up a can of worms, you cant contain. once the area is known, it cant be unknown... keep your areas to yourself, or you may lose all access. what do you think is going to happen to your relationship with these landowners when you bring 3-4 people. then the next time, they come with 6-8 and you are not with them... then someone gets hurt...??? how do you think the land owner is going to feel about you riding there any more???

 

you are not thinking this through very clearly. Ski  

Read up a couple comments. I said I wouldn't release the location of private land. I would never tell someone else they could ride where I am the only one who has permission.

 

Can a mod please delete this thread? I regret starting it. 

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7 minutes ago, Reved said:

There are a lot off riders who think they can ride anywhere in the Simcoe Forest system. They are mistaken. This is the link to the Simcoe County Forest website. Riders are required to have a valid trail pass and ride only marked Trails. This refers to Snowmobiles, Bikes and ATVs.

 

 

https://www.simcoe.ca/Forestry/Pages/Motorized-Trail-Riding.aspx

And nobody in this thread said that they could ride wherever. I know that you have to stay on trail in SCF areas...

 

This wasn't a thread for where people COULDN'T ride. 

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