dweese Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 I contacted both clubs a couple years ago. Turns out the town of Brighton doesn't want sleds riding down there way (south of the 401). The trail now ends at the 401 bridge. If you ride directly south after crossing the bridge the road sweeps to the right, in the sweep you'll see a farmers field and entrance on your left, this is where the trail used to run. Don't waste your time trying to find the trail, the township shut it down a few years ago and the OFSC hasn't updated their maps. There is other trails in my area (district 3) that are shown as "Green" right now that haven't been open, signed or groomed in years. Although the ride from Warkworth south to the 401 is a nice ride, you'll just be turning around once you get to the 401. That must have been just before they where reopened. There was a big thing about it in the local paper about 2 years ago. But there wasn't not enought snow last two years to open them up. I just moved out of Brighton this time last year. Sleds use to run along the road side to gas sations all the time with no issue. It was a funny story, when they where closed about 6 or 7 years ago. The tree hugger where out getting trails closed everywhere. So the town kick the sleds out and the tree lovers where happy. For a few years until the trails started to grow over. The tree lovers went back to the town wanting to know why the town stopped clearing the brush off the walking trails, they made this whole big thing about it saying how the town didn't care about them and so one. Town stepped up and said, we never cleared these trails the sled club did. So the local club said we'll clear the trails for you and town said sure and feel free to ride your snowmobiles on them again. But then we didn't get any snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Emailed OFSC to get some clarification and let them know that there was a descrepency with their map , the District map and actual trail. The fact that the Interactive map shows the trail with trail status but the District map does not. The reply said to check with the District and that the Interactive map IS NOT intended for use in navigation. I replied saying that I would contact the District and added that I thought the Interactive trail could be used for trip planning. This was part of their press release. The reply was a copy of the disclaimer that they have on the website. Wow, all I wanted to do is let them know that maybe the OFSC Interactive map is not as accurate as it could be and I would have thought that they would want to have it as good as it could be. But it looks like they are resting on the disclaimer and not concerned with inaccuracies. So bottom line, just because the Interactive shows a trail, it does not mean that there is actually a trail at all, and as far as the OFSC is concerned, that is perfectly OK because they have a disclaimer. This is at least the opinion of the person who was communicating with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reved Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Emailed OFSC to get some clarification and let them know that there was a descrepency with their map , the District map and actual trail. The fact that the Interactive map shows the trail with trail status but the District map does not. The reply said to check with the District and that the Interactive map IS NOT intended for use in navigation. I replied saying that I would contact the District and added that I thought the Interactive trail could be used for trip planning. This was part of their press release. The reply was a copy of the disclaimer that they have on the website. Wow, all I wanted to do is let them know that maybe the OFSC Interactive map is not as accurate as it could be and I would have thought that they would want to have it as good as it could be. But it looks like they are resting on the disclaimer and not concerned with inaccuracies. So bottom line, just because the Interactive shows a trail, it does not mean that there is actually a trail at all, and as far as the OFSC is concerned, that is perfectly OK because they have a disclaimer. This is at least the opinion of the person who was communicating with me. So this leads to the question is a trail open or closed. If they show a trail as open and it doesn't even exist and aren't interested in correcting it, how can they expect to enforce open and closed trails? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dweese Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 I guess its the old look for a sign or gate when you get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iang Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 So this leads to the question is a trail open or closed. If they show a trail as open and it doesn't even exist and aren't interested in correcting it, how can they expect to enforce open and closed trails? I am understanding now that the trail is closed from the 401 south to the island. It is showing red on the OFSC site now but it should really be removed. There was a goat path of a trail through the woods I was shown but there is no official sled trail anymore. Scratch to the island I guess...too bad! I guess this is what we can expect now that the government is involved!!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Got a reply from someone in the district. It was him that changed the status to RED. Here is his reply.. Hi Chris Sorry about your situation. I have changed the trail to closed until I can get an answer to your question. I don't think the trail connects like on the District3 map. This could have been an old GPS track that didn't get corrected. Randy Haven't heard back from him yet, but at least he took the first step to show the trail RED. That is a whole lot more than the guy at OFSC was interested in doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dweese Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well at least its red now, I emailed the club to see if they had any info still waiting for an answer back. That area of the map is all messed up, there is a trail that runs in to Wooler as well to the gas station (which is marked on the trail guide) next to the golf course but the map doesn't show it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 yes, that is correct. We took that trail in to get gas. Couple more signs would have helped but we found it. It is on the district map, but not Interactive map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutter Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Got a reply from someone in the district. It was him that changed the status to RED. Here is his reply.. Hi Chris Sorry about your situation. I have changed the trail to closed until I can get an answer to your question. I don't think the trail connects like on the District3 map. This could have been an old GPS track that didn't get corrected. Randy Haven't heard back from him yet, but at least he took the first step to show the trail RED. That is a whole lot more than the guy at OFSC was interested in doing. The OFSC cannot change anything in reguards to trails or status, they just provide the spot for the clubs/districts to put the information, the onus of trail accuracy and conditions is on the clubs who send this info to the district who inputs the info. There's 36,000 km of trail in Ontario, be pretty hard for the staff in Barrie to know what's going on for each km of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I am not privy to how the system works. Is there somewhere that it is written down so we can better understand it? I simply wanted to point out to the OFSC that there may be a problem with the map. I figured, they could sort it out after that. The guy said he would look into it, but was quick to point out that there is a disclaimer and that the Interactive map is not intended for navigation. Not sure where the problem lies, I just want to save someone else from trying to use the Interactive map as a trail planner and being disappointed when there is no trail. It is hard to believe that someone hasn't gone over the interactive map to see if it at least matches the district map, but I suppose it is manpower intensive. that is why I took the opportunity to try to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildbill Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Got a reply from someone in the district. It was him that changed the status to RED. Here is his reply.. Hi Chris Sorry about your situation. I have changed the trail to closed until I can get an answer to your question. I don't think the trail connects like on the District3 map. This could have been an old GPS track that didn't get corrected. Randy Haven't heard back from him yet, but at least he took the first step to show the trail RED. That is a whole lot more than the guy at OFSC was interested in doing. What does impress me is the effort that the OFSC is putting into fixing issues some of the staff are even watching the forums looking for issues and emailing clubs for corrected data at times and days that you would not expect them to I am a believer in that it will improve with time. The OFSC has been asking the clubs to keep the GPS up to date and some clubs have not co-operated fully the result is the flaws in the map. Maybe the only way to get all the data updated is to make it urgent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barberch Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 That is good to hear Bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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