ATV Trails In the Kawarthas

By Carolyn Richards, President, Kawartha ATV Association katva.ca

As the years go by and the seasons change, winters seem to get shorter, at least for the snowmobile enthusiasts in southern Ontario. In some areas we don’t seem to get the same amount of snow, or at least it’s later coming which presents a challenge for our friends at the snowmobile clubs. With this change comes other opportunities to fill the gap in some areas with winter ATV trails.

Every year we get asked if we have winter trails or if we are going to consider winter trails in the future because of the lack of snow some years.

At the moment the answer is no. In the Kawartha Lakes area we don’t have winter ATV trails for various reasons, the most important ones being that because some ATV trails are used for snowmobile trails in winter we choose to relinquish the trails to the snowmobile clubs and respect the short season that they have. As an organization we don’t necessarily feel that it is safe for ATVs and snowmobiles to share the same trails in winter because of the difference in speed between the two machines. Sleds often travel much faster than ATVs do, especially ATVs traveling on trails in the snow. We also have a tremendous respect for the work that the snowmobile club volunteers do grooming the trails and don’t want to in any way cause damage to the trails. In fact, the E108 snowmobile trail runs right through the property owned by Kawartha ATV Association and we close the trails including that one on our property to ATVs for the winter to allow the sleds to enjoy it. We have a land use agreement with Twin Mountains Snowmobile club giving them use of the trail on our property in winter.

The other reason we don’t have winter ATV trails is because our volunteers simply need a break by the time winter comes. The ATV season runs from May 1st to November 30th, that’s 7 months of trail maintenance, patrolling, club rides, events and governance that keeps our volunteers extremely busy. We use the month of December to take a much needed break and by the beginning of January we are hard at it planning for May 1st when the trails open again. As with any volunteer organization, we rely on a few key volunteers to manage the organization and maintain the trails, and adding winter trails would add that much more work to what they already do. Winter trails would also require significant investment in new equipment such as groomers and a new crew of volunteers dedicated to running those groomers. So, as you can see, it’s not as simple as just keeping the trails open year round.

For anyone looking to ride winter trails, Lake of Bays ATV Club in the Dorset area and Quad Niagara in the Welland area have winter ATV trails and your Kawartha ATV Association trail pass is recognized on those trail systems. Otherwise, please check with your local club before taking your ATV out for a winter ride, even if you think you’re riding on Crown land, to be sure that it’s ok to ride there.