Because we suck! A must-read article.
We……meaning all of us “Just Plain Suck” at being good stewards and decent human beings out on the trail!
OHV’ers (mostly SxS’s) are pissing off the locals in Colorado’s mountain towns.
Infiltrated and overwhelmed by SxS’s…….local towns are trying to find a balance between welcoming the injection of SxS tourist dollars into their community and keeping their towns from becoming a scene of some kind of crazy mad max movie.
Yes…believe it or not…….. this is a huge problem. And we aren’t helping! Just look at the controversy it has created in the small mountain towns of Lake City, Silverton, Marble and Tin Cup because of noise, trash, trail over use, trail and surrounding echo system damage, damage to private property and heated confrontations between locals and SxS enthusiasts. (Just Google it and you too will get an eye-opening look at what we are and are not doing as good trail stewards to promote and save our OHV hobby.) The number of SxS’s out on our trails in Colorado has doubled if not quadrupled since Covid. And not only that but the influx of out of state SxS Tourists has gone up as well.
Back in the day you couldn’t come up with a better way to inject money into a community faster than promoting and having an event that just had the word “offroad” in it.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Its plane as the nose on your face. It’s the reckless behavior, overuse and all the stuff that comes with a SxS Rally…and how the media is reporting on it that killed any chance of a SxS Rally or any kind of event like it from ever getting the approval from anyone for the front range to have any of these kinds of events. Our front range cities and towns don’t want the issues and problems they are seeing in towns up in the mountains.
Obviously, there is a lot more to it than just this…but we do have some responsibility to the cause of it. Even if you’re not one of these kinds of people out on the trail…. but… did you stop to pick up some trash on the trail that wasn’t yours??? Did you go through the mud…instead of blazing a trail into the woods …off trail to go around like everyone else??? See …. it’s up to all of us to do something about it…!
I implore you to help, pick up that bottle or can or at a minimum…donate to or become a member of the following organizations….
Stay The Trail
Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition
https://cohvco.clubexpress.com/
Help us save our OHV Hobby… be good trail stewards …. be that person out on trail… lead by example and try to educate those who don’t know.
#packitinpackitout
#makeadifferenceonthetrail
#getoffthecouch
#coloradosxsadventures