The article below is not from our club but does an excellent job of explaining why the trails are not open even though it appears they should be…
Author: Colleen Winter, Special
Colleen Winter
Dave Cockburn (left), Daryl Grenville, and John Goodfellow of the Bonsecour Track and Trail Snowmobiling Club are already out on trails with the new Kubota maintenance vehicle purchased this year. But despite early snow, trails are not open for the season.
Early season snow may have riders chomping at the bit to get out on the trails, but with the frost not in the ground yet and trees down from the storms that brought the snow, it’s still too early to be gassing up.
“Just because there’s snow doesn’t mean the trails are ready,” said Dave Cockburn, President of the Bonsecour Track and Trail Snowmobile Club. “There are a lot more issues this year.”
Volunteers have been staking the trails and clearing fallen trees but with 88 kilometres of trail to maintain and only half a dozen volunteers doing the work, it won’t happen overnight. Two stakes are required for every 100 metres and each stake is pounded in by hand.
“We usually start riding around Christmas or New Years,” said Cockburn, who has been part of the Club’s executive for over five years. “But the last couple of years it’s been the first week of December.”
Cockburn was happy not to see any tracks on the trails when he was out staking and expects the trails that have been signed to be ready by early December. He cautions that early season conditions will still apply.
“We still need colder weather to get frost in the ground,” he said. The layer of snow isn’t helping as it provides insulation. Ideally, Cockburn would like to see this snow disappear and the thermometer to drop so the ground can freeze.
“Right now it’s very dangerous out there,” he said. “It’s pretty much just mud. Water hazards are still open, ditches need to fill in, and where water passes we need culverts in plus snow on top to hold them down.”
Another reason to hold off is that some farmers don’t have their crops off the fields.
“The ground is extra soft and we don’t want to damage the crops,” said Cockburn. “Since we have to pay for the damage.”
Waiting also allows volunteers to get the trails marked, since routes can change from one year to the next depending on land access.
“If you don’t wait it out,” said Cockburn. “Last year’s trail might not necessarily be this year’s trail.”
Maintaining relations with landowners is critical to keeping the trail system open and since owners receive no renumeration for letting riders use their land, it’s important that users respect the property.
“Different farms are now owned by one family. If we upset that family we could lose the whole trail system.”
Large trail systems require upkeep and trail fees help to offset some of the cost of groomers and maintenance vehicles like the Kubota unit purchased this year with partial assistance from the town’s Community Re-Investment fund. While fees help with costs volunteers do the real work.
“We’re always looking for volunteers,” said Cockburn, who says that it’s getting harder each year to find people willing to help. “Even a couple hours a year will help.”
Mandatory trail fees are $180 if purchased prior to Dec. 2 and $230 after that date.
“If we didn’t have the volunteers it (trail fees) would be over $500 because we’d have to pay people (to maintain the trails).”
While many trails go through fields and wooded areas, trails eventually cross roads so riders need to know the rules, Cockburn said.
“Like all sports there are basic road rules,” he said.
On roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h snowmobiles are limited to 20 km/hr. If the limit is greater than 50 km/h snowmobiles are limited to a maximum speed of 50 km/h. If the speed limit is over 80 km/h, snowmobiles aren’t allowed on the road.
“Speed is the killer these days,” said Cockburn. “It’s not alcohol so much these days though it’s still there.”
He cites the new machines that can reach high speeds in mere seconds as part of the problem.
“The speed limit is there for a reason,” he said.
Trails are marked so that riders are warned of a curve or obstacle 120 metres before it happens.
“Any machine going at 50 km/h will have no problems stopping or negotiating an obstacle,” said Cockburn. “But if they’re traveling 140 (km/h) it can get scary. If there are trees on a corner with ice, you’ll hit the tree.”
Last year’s accident where a man was struck by a car after failing to stop at a road shouldn’t have happened, Cockburn said.
“He either didn’t see the sign or the car,” he said. “It makes us feel bad. We don’t want our riders getting hurt.”
It wasn’t an issue in last year’s accident, but sign theft is also a problem.
“We lose about two to three stop signs per year. That could be two to three fatalities. People take them because they’re small and cute but they’re there to stop riders from going into traffic,” he said. “It costs lives not just money.”
What Cockburn also wants riders to remember is that it isn’t just adults using the trails.
“There are twelve year-old kids out there. If a rider passes them going fast they could make a maneuver they’re not supposed to and drive into the guy’s buddy coming behind him. Riders should assume everyone out there is inexperienced.”
To help new riders learn the skills of snowmobiling a Driver’s Training Class is being held at the Stroud Fire Hall on Dec. 20. The course is eight hours at a cost of $30. For registration or more information contact John Goodfellow at 436 3719.
