Even when riding in the fall in Vermont, I carry a chainsaw to clean trees back. I am mostly benefitting snowmobilers, because the atver's don't know too much about the trails in the backwoods where I have some property. The town in VT that the property is in closes the roads (which are now legal trail connectors) in mid-October due to freezing and thawing and don't open until mid-May. So, I haven't run into any snowmobilers in Vermont yet. I did run into a group doing trail maintenance in the fall when I was riding in New Hampshire on my club's trails. They had a backhoe and were building a new bridge on a trail where we wanted to hook up with another trail called Markow. One of my buddies asked about Markow and the snowmobile guy replied kind of nastily that it was closed. We told him if we see a closed sign we stay out and he went on with a bit of a rant about 4 wheelers tearing things up. We turned around and went back down Whitewater. I found it interesting that they took a big 4wd truck and drove it over a decent looking bridge to get to the one they were working on. Not only did the big, and heavy truck go over the (intended for quads and snowmobiles) bridge, it also was DRAGGING a telephone pole. WHO, is doing the damage now. And, yes they also had a guy with a telephone pole on a trailer who was using (you guessed it) a quad. That being said there are bad apples on both "sides". We should respect where we drive, not break any laws, treat other groups with courtesy, and maybe we'll continue to have trails to ride on.

 

Some people just don't get it ,that we all have to help each other ,out there to many tree huggeres trying to close us down as it is .

 

I agree.
MN seems to be getting worse and worse for tree huggers.
Funny thing is more and more people are buying ATV's.

They need to figure out if they give us places to use we're less likely to cause trouble.
in my area theres no where to ride without a long drive so people are always sneaking on to private land which stinks because it gives people like me who doesn't cause trouble a bad name.
I use my utility to ride out ot my parents farm and drive it around my little town population 500 no one cares long as i'm not being stupid.

 

A treehugger is someone not good enough looking to get a real date... That is a great point about getting people to work together. Vermont seems to be opening new trails that connect or expand existing snowmobile trails. With the last couple of winters (including this one) having a bit of snow drought you would think they would be asking ATVer's in with open arms. It seems the trails are going to be dual use now which I think is great. I tried one of the fresh trails in Vermont last spring when I had a 2-stroke 250cc Xplorer 4x4. I hit a clay/mud ditch about 10 feet across and a couple feet deep. I almost went over the handlebars when I completely stopped in the middle. It took us a bunch of gun and jerk tow strap method pulls to get unstuck again. But, the trails are looking good for the future. The communities that rely on revenue from snowmobilers are dying on the vine in New England. I'm seeing a lot more activity geared toward attracting ATVers than I have ever seen. We'll see.

 

Another thing we can do that I try to do is use the local gas stations, stores, and restaurants in the areas that are opening up new trails to show them I appreciate them opening their areas up. It gives them an immediate benefit from allowing ATVers into their communities. There is a new park that is starting to get moving in New Hampshire called Jericho State Park. When it gets going it should be one of the bigger ATV parks in the Northeast. This is in an area where the papermill industry is closing plants right and left. I'll even use the hotels if I go that far North. It is a win-win for communities that are financially strapped.

 

I've got both wheelers and sleds. The wheeler's are a lot of fun BUT, a sled is a wild date with a super model, it's in power and speed no comparison. The slowest production sleds will blow the doors off the fastest wheelers.

That said, in a no snow year like this, I would LOVE to ride my wheelers on our club sled trails in Silver Bay / Finland MN (that are open to wheeler's in the summer and fall) But the DNR says no way, because as soon as we let them on the trails, it will snow a foot and a half and they would have to be told thanks for coming but please go home now.

 

I have three sleds in my house-hold and been sleddin for many years..........However this June I bought two S.P. 450's and never looked back since..Still have the sleds though!!..But no trail passes bought this year.........The trails here in Ontario,Canada are closed for the winter season for ATV's Due to the snowmobile Clubs and federation paying for insurance on the trails(for snowmobiles only).
My question is .......Would you really want to be out there with these sleds sharing the same trail?????
NOT ME!!!!!!......The closing rate on the trail between the sleds and the quads....WOULD BE DANGEROUS!!!!
I still like the RUSH you get from sleddin compared to the Quads......Maybe I should have got a Sport instead of a Utility................Does not even come close for me squeezing the throttle on the Quad or pushing the throttle to the bar on the sled!!!!..........Caper...........

 

You hit the nail on the head in regards to the speed thing. As I said earlier I have both. What I would say is if your on your ATV be aware of any sleds behind you and let them go by. If you hold them up you are sure to get some looks. Keep riding just be aware.

 

see here in maine we have sled clubs and we have atv clubs which use to differnt trails some of the times. the biggest thing is the sled trails cross alot of farming land and person properties such as back lawns and what not so the frozen ground prevents alot of damage where wheelers woulds really chew up the ground. we also get seprate funding for each clubs from the state(mainly part of registing fees) so thats how they get the equipment to maintain and build bridges and what not. as far as speed goes i live right on a sled/atv trail and the sleds sometimes hit 100 mph behind my house w/out thinking what can walk out or whats around the next corner, so i wouldnt want to have my wheeler out there unless i had a death wish.

 

Yep love the speed rush of a sled ,but not for only riding a couple months if your lucky .