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Our groomer operator said one time he had a truck following him the whole way, like he was grooming it just for him. It was all rutted obviously. Must've been a snowmobile hater. Nothing the groomer operator could do about it either.
 
They (atvs ect) do buy a trail pass in Michigan ITS CALLED A ORV STICKER..... If your going to start meshing the two up, the atv/orv trails will gladly take your snowmobile money but it seems to me the state and its businesses make more money on atving considering they can do it all year long and snowmobiles 3 months IF LUCKY and you should be glad the atv money fixes your snowmobile bridges ect..... Here in Wisconsin on state Nicolet trails you can ride Atvs and snowmobiles.. Snowmobilers start getting to greedy and people will revolt. Lots of sleds getting sold and people getting out of the snowmobiling because of the huge cost of the sport and only if lucky to use them 2-3 months a year. They are trading them on sideXside s and wheelers... I only own 2000 dollar sled and a few fanners. There is no way I would buy a newer snowmobile to mostly ride snirt I put more miles riding out in the woods on the 440 and don't have to deal with people on the wrong side of the trail and driving like its the last snow on earth...
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
This was a marked (no wheeled vehicles) trail we were on was wide enough for two sled to pass without much room on either side in the middle off the national manistee foesest so it wasnt like we were passing through private property. This utv didnt have tracks it wasnt fire or safety, not a logging company yet some yahoo with more money than brains. It was 1000 razor all tricked out extended A arms ( no tracks) huge aftermarket tires throwing crap everywhere. I guess the biggest problem I had with was this guy didnt stop or slow down at all for oncoming traffic at least groomers stop or slow way down. I can't imagine what would have happened if he would have suprised a rookie first timer coming at him bad news for sure. The four sleds he ran off the trail gave him the your #1 sign the utv didnt care just kept on cruising down the trail.

One last thing in michigan orv stickers are half the price snowmobile trail stickers are. If he would have tore something up on the trail like bridge crossing or something it takes away from the groomer clubs that depend on the trail permit money to keep the trails groomed and everything we enjoy on them.

Signs only keep honest people honest and the rest just do whatever. Makes my blood boil sometimes
 
Orv stickers are half the price is because they don't groom (or grade) the trails 5 times a week with a grader (if lucky trail get graded 3 times a year).. As you can see the cost of maintaining dirt is a lot cheaper and there will always be guaranteed dirt unlike snow.... Atvs don't require ultra smooth trails to drive 80mph on we actually like the rough and tough technical stuff they are all terrain vehicles, although we do like it smoother on some of the grades... I do not like idiots on the trail on either atvs or snowmobiles.. But if you don't think a 2.5 to 3 inch lug track on some nut case throttle blipper doesn't screw up snowmobile trails, I cant help ya.. I ride my 4 wheeler on the trails all the time and it actually does less damage to the snow than the snowmobiles..
 
They (atvs ect) do buy a trail pass in Michigan ITS CALLED A ORV STICKER..... If your going to start meshing the two up, the atv/orv trails will gladly take your snowmobile money but it seems to me the state and its businesses make more money on atving considering they can do it all year long and snowmobiles 3 months IF LUCKY and you should be glad the atv money fixes your snowmobile bridges ect..... Here in Wisconsin on state Nicolet trails you can ride Atvs and snowmobiles.. Snowmobilers start getting to greedy and people will revolt. Lots of sleds getting sold and people getting out of the snowmobiling because of the huge cost of the sport and only if lucky to use them 2-3 months a year. They are trading them on sideXside s and wheelers... I only own 2000 dollar sled and a few fanners. There is no way I would buy a newer snowmobile to mostly ride snirt I put more miles riding out in the woods on the 440 and don't have to deal with people on the wrong side of the trail and driving like its the last snow on earth...
Snowmobilers getting greedy? Snowmobilers created that trail system before ATVs even existed.

ATVs are boring. They are useful for hauling stuff or getting to a backwoods fishing hole, but not much fun to ride, compared to a snowmobile.
 
What I hate to see more than anything is somebody towing a heavy load of wood on a groomed trail, the trails around where I live pass right along by several cutting areas and they often have the sh!t torn out of them from people hauling wood on them
 
The problem is they tear up the nice groomed trails, often leaving deep ruts. It does create a danger for snowmobilers.

I sympathize a little with ATVs. Up here, the winter trails are fairly abundant, but in the summertime, those trails are closed to motorized vehicles. This severely limits where ATVs can go for general family outings on marked trails. There are trails, but not many are marked or maintained.

In the wintertime, I can ride from my house and go until I run out of gas. In the summer on ATVs, I'm pretty much limited to trailering out somewhere.

But speaking of tearing up trails. This weekend I went out on a well marked, decently groomed trail (lack of snow is tough to groom) and every one of the steep hills had a deep groove right down the middle. Like someone was just spinning track all the way up them, but it was not as wide as a snowmachine track. So it made me wonder if some of the snow bikes went out there and ripped those grooves.
 
Don't forget that a landowner can drive whatever they want on those trails. Or someone that has written permission by a landowner.
We have at least one landowner that runs UTV's on his property. We would lose a major corridor trail without access to his land. Be careful about flipping someone off because they are not on a snowmobile. If they are driving down the trail like they own it, they just might.
 
This was a marked (no wheeled vehicles) trail we were on was wide enough for two sled to pass without much room on either side in the middle off the national manistee foesest so it wasnt like we were passing through private property.
We ran in to one in near Club 37 while riding down from Cadillac to Baldwin on Sunday. I assume the same guy. (without mirrors on the thing..)
 
If anyone thinks atvs are not fun and are boring I invite them to ride with us in Newald.. You will find riding 4x4s is a lot of fun. We don't ride RR grades either.. Prepare to get muddy and stuck.. Snowmobiles are fun only because they help to pass the time during winter, its a cold and very expensive sport and very questionable riding conditions dictate if you can ride. ATVS ALL YEAR..
 
In Wisconsin on the Nicolet state trail RR grade its legal to drive atvs on the groomed snowmobile trail without any flag ect.. As long as it is below 32 degrees.. When it warms up they don't want you on it because the snow gets soft and does damage.. But trails are mostly all rocks and snirt anyway this year so no big loss lol..
 
In Wisconsin on the Nicolet state trail RR grade its legal to drive atvs on the groomed snowmobile trail without any flag ect.. As long as it is below 32 degrees.. When it warms up they don't want you on it because the snow gets soft and does damage.. But trails are mostly all rocks and snirt anyway this year so no big loss lol..
Why don't you take your atv and get stuffed. The OP clearly states this incident happened on a designated marked no wheeled vehicles trail. Your opinion on atvs on other trails in others states is simply irrelevant.
 
If anyone thinks atvs are not fun and are boring I invite them to ride with us in Newald.. You will find riding 4x4s is a lot of fun. We don't ride RR grades either.. Prepare to get muddy and stuck.. Snowmobiles are fun only because they help to pass the time during winter, its a cold and very expensive sport and very questionable riding conditions dictate if you can ride. ATVS ALL YEAR..
I rode ATVs for decades, and have been so muddy that you couldn't tell what color clothes I was wearing. Slow and boring. But not nearly as bad as eating dust all day. The only thing I still enjoy about ATVs is a fast studded sport quad on a frozen river.

If you only get to ride a sled a month or two per year, it's because you aren't willing to travel. And ATVs require even more travel, because the trail system is so limited and broken up. Riding the same trails all the time is boring, and that's never a problem with sleds, because there are 25,000 miles in WI alone.

If you think sleds are "only fun because they help pass time in winter", what are you doing on a snowmobile site? And if you hate cold so much, why don't you move somewhere warm, where you can ride your slow ATV in comfort all year?
 
The best thing to do when you see any vehicle other than a snowmobile on designated sled trails is to steal their hat. Most are so shocked that you grabbed their hat right off their head that they don't react, they are simply stunned... Ride off with the hat... start a collection.. They will think twice about driving on our trails going forward and will tell their friends not to drive their ORV's on the sled trails because snowmobilers steal hats..
 
The best thing to do when you see any vehicle other than a snowmobile on designated sled trails is to steal their hat. Most are so shocked that you grabbed their hat right off their head that they don't react, they are simply stunned... Ride off with the hat... start a collection.. They will think twice about driving on our trails going forward and will tell their friends not to drive their ORV's on the sled trails because snowmobilers steal hats..
Lots of people don't wear hats; what then?
 
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