wireburnguy
Member
Constructive input, rather than the pissy input I feel like offering. While this forum says I am a new user, I once was an avid johndee.com user and an advertiser on the site. I am pro snowmobiling and know many folks that count on winter tourism. You will not find me at a council meeting trying to end sledding...but we are getting closer to the day when you may get splattered with paint balls as you travel across my property. Not a single person reading what I have written below would be okay with this being done at their own homes. SO....:
1. If you are in town, it is a safe bet that there is no public property to ride on that isn't a street or part of the trail system. Do not explore. Period.
2. Following someone else's sled tracks is not a valid excuse to go anywhere.
3. Read the damn signs.
I was out of town Wednesday and Thursday this week. I arrived home last night just in time to catch a group of riders blowing past the sign as you enter my yard. I stopped the 1st sled and made him (and the 2nd one) both turn around, the others hadn't entered yet. He told me he didn't know it was private property, then told me he was "only following sled tracks". Said he wanted to get to the water (we are near Lake Superior and on the Ontonagon River), I advised him there was no access anywhere for him to do so.
When I showed him the sign he drove passed, the used some choice language with me. To be fair, I wasn't polite when I stopped him, nor do I need to be. They left and then proceeded to poke in and out of other parking lots and streets nearby, trespassing at least one other time that I saw. They wanted water access no matter what. My wife has stopped several this year too and had several foul men speaking back to her, not sure how you can be clearly in the wrong and be sassy or confrontational.
The sign he drove past is octagonal shaped, red and white in color and says "Private property, No Tresspassing, No Soliciting, No Loitering" on it. Looks like a stop sign without even reading it. It is centered in the driveway, from a sled you can extend your arm and touch it as you drive by. In order to negotiate past it, there is no way to avoid seeing it. The other entrance (the drive is wrap around) has a red and white sign, rectangular shaped that says "Private Driveway, Do not enter, No turn arounds" on it and also is front and center as you approach.
I decided to check out the cameras I have set up to see just how much traffic was went thru leaving tracks that others want to follow. There was a large number of camera triggers from 3:15pm to 5:15pm so I counted the sleds. In a 2 hour time slot, 24 sleds came thru my backyard, this was not including the group that I spoke to. Every sled caught on camera was going at cruising speed, not a single one slowed down or stopped to read the signs (different groups entered from opposite entrances).
This wasn't something unusual or extraordinary, this was an average day at my home. I estimate 20-40 do this each and every day. I tried everything to stop it...nothing works. A couple years I put up a PVC plastic rope (so nobody would get hurt) across the entrance. Orange flags attached to get attention, again no possible way to not see it...yet the traffic would go thru anyway....breaking the rope as often as I was willing to re-hang it again.
This isn't a couple renegade young bucks doing as they please, this is group after group after group...day after day. I suspect a good number of you reading this right now may have been thru my yard this season. I have grandkids and nieces and nephews that play in the snowbanks in my yard...it isn't safe for the smaller ones. There is no excuse for it. None.
In this case, you are in town. At the end of Main St. My home doesn't have a bar or restaurant sign out front. Even despite signs and ropes, there is zero reason to believe that this is a public place you should be allowed to ride. You are welcome to ride our streets and trails. You are not welcome to explore the neighborhood.
1. If you are in town, it is a safe bet that there is no public property to ride on that isn't a street or part of the trail system. Do not explore. Period.
2. Following someone else's sled tracks is not a valid excuse to go anywhere.
3. Read the damn signs.
I was out of town Wednesday and Thursday this week. I arrived home last night just in time to catch a group of riders blowing past the sign as you enter my yard. I stopped the 1st sled and made him (and the 2nd one) both turn around, the others hadn't entered yet. He told me he didn't know it was private property, then told me he was "only following sled tracks". Said he wanted to get to the water (we are near Lake Superior and on the Ontonagon River), I advised him there was no access anywhere for him to do so.
When I showed him the sign he drove passed, the used some choice language with me. To be fair, I wasn't polite when I stopped him, nor do I need to be. They left and then proceeded to poke in and out of other parking lots and streets nearby, trespassing at least one other time that I saw. They wanted water access no matter what. My wife has stopped several this year too and had several foul men speaking back to her, not sure how you can be clearly in the wrong and be sassy or confrontational.
The sign he drove past is octagonal shaped, red and white in color and says "Private property, No Tresspassing, No Soliciting, No Loitering" on it. Looks like a stop sign without even reading it. It is centered in the driveway, from a sled you can extend your arm and touch it as you drive by. In order to negotiate past it, there is no way to avoid seeing it. The other entrance (the drive is wrap around) has a red and white sign, rectangular shaped that says "Private Driveway, Do not enter, No turn arounds" on it and also is front and center as you approach.
I decided to check out the cameras I have set up to see just how much traffic was went thru leaving tracks that others want to follow. There was a large number of camera triggers from 3:15pm to 5:15pm so I counted the sleds. In a 2 hour time slot, 24 sleds came thru my backyard, this was not including the group that I spoke to. Every sled caught on camera was going at cruising speed, not a single one slowed down or stopped to read the signs (different groups entered from opposite entrances).
This wasn't something unusual or extraordinary, this was an average day at my home. I estimate 20-40 do this each and every day. I tried everything to stop it...nothing works. A couple years I put up a PVC plastic rope (so nobody would get hurt) across the entrance. Orange flags attached to get attention, again no possible way to not see it...yet the traffic would go thru anyway....breaking the rope as often as I was willing to re-hang it again.
This isn't a couple renegade young bucks doing as they please, this is group after group after group...day after day. I suspect a good number of you reading this right now may have been thru my yard this season. I have grandkids and nieces and nephews that play in the snowbanks in my yard...it isn't safe for the smaller ones. There is no excuse for it. None.
In this case, you are in town. At the end of Main St. My home doesn't have a bar or restaurant sign out front. Even despite signs and ropes, there is zero reason to believe that this is a public place you should be allowed to ride. You are welcome to ride our streets and trails. You are not welcome to explore the neighborhood.
