A Whole New Kind SxS Trail Rider
This Is The Truth ….. I Hope You Can Handle It ????
This is my truth….this is my observation and opinion…..
I’ve really noticed 3 kinds of trail users ….. while out on the trail lately. I have paid specific attention to SxS drivers/riders.
Type 1,
Young, most are educated but are disrespectful about anything to do with you and our trails. Mostly just you! (Lol) They dont understand us and we don’t understand them. They are not truly disrespectful towards the environment…. they just dont know any better because they were never taught to be respectful of anything. (at least that’s how it appears). They know nothing of trail riding, common courtesy’s or trail etiquette besides what YouTube, Tik Tok or Instagram portrays and this portrayal isn’t always good. These people I tolerate and try to educate. Some are very receptive and attentive….they want to know more …. but you have to be delicate how you converse with them and it’s not so much about the complexity of the information as it is your tone of voice while doing it. So you must be respectful … to explain to them that they aren’t being respectful ???? (WoW) I don’t think these folks are acting this way out of rebellion (not like we did) but instead they just act like they dont know because they truly dont know.
Type 2,
This type are mean …. some of them are new to our country and some are from out of state. They both are not used to having something so beautiful to keep clean and preserve. They are disrespectful and dangerous.They care about nothing and no one to include you and the environment. Their idea of fun is tearing up the environment and daring you to say something to them or try to stop them. They want you to step out of their way or they will roll over you. These people ….. and there are a lot of them ….. demand respect and give none. They are dangerous to our society and harmful to our trail environment, historical trail courtesies and etiquette. Physical confrontation is what they crave because thats all they know.
3.)
Folks out trail riding …. solo or with family and friends. They respect the trail and its environment. They trail ride with respect, common courtesy and trail etiquette. Wave to you on the trail and are just out to enjoy the day. We are in this category…. the Trail Geezers of today.
So…………
Tell Me I’m Wrong ??…???
Tell me I’m Wrong about anything I just said?????
Lots of you have had interactions or have seen interactions with all 3 types of trail users.
Fighting for our right to recreate on public lands has never before been more of an uphill battle than it is today. Not only are we fighting the government organizations and entities that control our trails but now we have to worry about type1 and 2 users. You can’t educate someone if they don’t care, you can’t even have a conversation with someone who doesn’t care ….!
These people… are who we need to educate and hold responsible for their actions. They aren’t picking the fight with authorities …. they don’t care about the authorities.
They don’t know how to take criticism or how to respect someone trying to teach it!
Yes….. BIG TROUBLE ….. we are in friends…. and I sincerely can’t see a happy ending. In order to successfully fight for our continued right to recreate on public land and stop the uncalled for closing of our trails we must first police our own. Yes …. it is up to us to change these type 1 and 2 folks or we loose the type 3 folks. I don’t know how to do this…. but thats were its got to start. We really have no chance until we do.
And the sad part is ….. the National and State agencies who manage our lands and their trails already know this. They are just waiting to not only close everything but then take our right to be there away.
I helped fight this fight once…in the 90’s. We were fighting against the Sierra Club…. not our own fellow enthusiasts. These hikers were united and highly funded. But we were also United to fight this fight. This United front helped start organizations like: Stay The Trail, Tread Lightly and the Blue Ribbon Coalition and many others. The amount of political bullshit that we had to wade through to protect our right and keep our trails open was terrible and exhausting.
Getting the word out on social media ….. that disrespectful users shouldn’t be tolerated is one way to help us Police our own! Reporting these people to authorities is another.
Talking about this issue as much as we can ….. wherever we can will also help. Discussions about proper trail respect, courtesy and etiquette will also help. Talking it to death will leave some of you board and uninterested ….. but a lot of you will help me fight this fight by just reading this.
Thanks ….