Wheeled Vehicles On Multi-Use Trails

Wheeled Vehicles On Multi-Use Trails

15 November 2020 – Klondike Snowmobile Association

It’s that time of the year again, the snow is here to stay! We’d like to kindly remind everyone that wheeled vehicles are not permitted on the multi-use trails between November 1st and March 31st of each year.

This incudes cars, trucks, side by sides, ATVs, etc. We love sharing the trails with everyone, however over the years wheeled vehicles have consistently caused more damage to the snow base than our grooming team can keep up with. This leaves an unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation for everyone else using the trail.

ATVs and side by side type vehicles are welcome on the trails year-round, but must be fitted with tracks for winter use.

When just one wheeled vehicle goes down a multi-use trail during the winter months, it almost always leaves deep ruts in the snow base, regardless of how careful the driver is. These ruts are dangerous for other trail users and it often takes our groomers several hours to repair the trail. Our groomers are all operated by un-paid volunteers, and the maintenance for the grooming machines is paid for by your membership fees.

Over the course of a typical winter this adds up to dozens of hours of volunteer time and hundreds of dollars worth of membership fees that could have been spent grooming more trails and improving the multi-use trail network, but instead were spent cleaning up entirely avoidable messes left by just a few people.

This unfortunate situation happens every year, and it has already started to happen in the 2020/2021 snow season. If you’re driving a wheeled vehicle please please please do not operate on multi-use trails during the winter snow season unless fitted with tracks.

Also please encourage your friends and family to also not operate wheeled vehicles on the multi-use trails during winter months. At the Klondike Snowmobile Association we would much rather see these issues resolved through discussions and education instead of more fines and enforcements.

That being said, if you do see anyone operating wheeled vehicles on multi-use trails between November 1st and March 31st, please report it. In Whitehorse you can report it any time 24/7 to the City’s trouble line at 867 667 2111.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation, and we look forward to continuing to make the Yukon’s multi-use trails an enjoyable experience for everyone!

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