A question for the snow folk

Probably everyone on here knows how much I love snow. We get very little of it in the area of NC where I live, usually 1 or 2 decent snowfalls a year. If DH and I ever win the lottery, I hope to move to Maine (or at least the NC mountains.) My question is about snowmobiles...do most of you in the Northern states and Canada have them? Someone at work said you have to have a track to ride them on? I don't understand...can't you just ride them in the woods or anywhere where there's a lot of snow? It looks like they would be so much fun.

Don't have one - don't see a reason to have one, and they are $$ to maintain (just one more expense).

You don't have to have a track to ride them on, not in the sense of a railroad train needs a track. I've heard people, once in awhile, refer to riding their snowmobile on the snow track, or in the tracks of others. Maybe that was what they were referring to?

I'm originally from Upstate New York and my Dad is big into riding snowmobiles. He rides with a 'club' a lot of the time. They go up into the Adirondacks and ride on trails. I don't think he can ride just anywhere; but they have trails for them. I don't know that you'd want to ride in the woods per se...seems like with the trees you'd have to go slow to navigate them. I know if the lakes are frozen he's crossed them too. But I've never been out with him. When we go hiking he'll point out places he's been and good places they stop to eat in the winter.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

.... He rides with a 'club' a lot of the time. They go up into the Adirondacks and ride on trails. I don't think he can ride just anywhere; but they have trails for them.

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That's what I was thinking. Most snowmobile clubs charge memberships to keep groomed trails for their members during the winter months.

My family always had a couple of snowmobiles when I was younger at the cottage. But we always had private lands to use (neighbours and relatives who owned large properties).

I love snow (I live in some northern USA mountains) and love to snow shoe. I do not love brushing off my car five times a day (lake affect snows), but everything has it's price.

I hate snow mobiles. They are noisy and stink. There is nothing worse than clomping along in a pristine peaceful white world, to suddenly be forced out of the way by some inconsiderate snow mobiler. Not only does the noise make my ears ring for ages afterwards, the stink is then there in the woods for the remainder of the hike.

Originally Posted by otto

I love snow (I live in some northern USA mountains) and love to snow shoe. I do not love brushing off my car five times a day (lake affect snows), but everything has it's price.

I hate snow mobiles. They are noisy and stink. There is nothing worse than clomping along in a pristine peaceful white world, to suddenly be forced out of the way by some inconsiderate snow mobiler. Not only does the noise make my ears ring for ages afterwards, the stink is then there in the woods for the remainder of the hike.

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Arrgh! They stink? This is kind of putting a damper on my fantasy. Well, I do know I love the snow. I was en route to Atlantic City once and spent the night in Delware. They had a beautiful snow. I absolutely fell in love with the entire state.

Originally Posted by nurseangel

Arrgh! They stink? This is kind of putting a damper on my fantasy. Well, I do know I love the snow. I was en route to Atlantic City once and spent the night in Delware. They had a beautiful snow. I absolutely fell in love with the entire state.

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Yeah. Like exhaust fumes. I went for a hike with a friend who does not seem to notice externals like noise and smells. We hiked at a state park that allows snow mobiles on one side of the park. The whole time we were hiking on one side, I kept feeling this annoying buzz in my head. It was just below sound..subliminal if you will...it was a snowmobile from the other side of the park of course, she didn't even hear or notice it at all.

Well eventually we crossed to the other lake and ended up on the snow mobile trails. She thought it was great because we could walk on the packed snow. (we had to break trail in our snow shoes on the other side) I was almost gagging from the exhaust stench, even though the machine had passed through at least 15 minutes before.

It was awful.

It's the same with four wheelers in summer. Have you ever noticed what someone smells like after being on a four wheeler? Gag. I hate 'em all.

What you would need are snow shoes! No maintenance, no gas, no destroying the environment, no vibrating for hours after you take them off, no noise....

They must have been referring to snowmobile trails, not tracks. Gary and I were up in Northern Wisconsin with the RV for part of the summer a number of years back. We went to visit a friend of his whose family had a cabin up there. This was pre-GPS, but we did have a mapping program (not online). Printed out our directions, headed off....only to find out that part of them turned out to be what in the winter are snowmobile trails.... and there was a rather large boulder blocking our passage. We got hopelessly lost trying to get out of there... lost in our car on snowmobile trails in Northern Wisconsin. Then, of course, it started raining. Thankfully we finally found a home - and they helped us figure our way out of there.

Around this area, it is about half and half family-wise that own snow machines. Most of the cattle ranchers have them but they are not toys, they are work machines. They go places where you can't easily get to on foot or horseback in winter to perform such duties as ice chopping, fence fixing, cattle checking and sometimes grocery getting. Many grain farmers have them too, more as an emergency vehicle rather than a toy. I don't have one, but probably should to do chores with and as emergency vehicle. Can ride one, learned quite young and did my share of fence checking on one. I can think of 15 things I would rather do than ride a snow machine - I hate getting chilled to the bone, and doing chores is bonechilling enough without riding on a machine that makes its own wind. I do ride a quad in summer though

If you ride just for pleasure, it is best to stick to maintained tracks and trails because you don't know what is under that snow - there are people that have been killed or maimed by hitting a buried fence line. falling through brush, over a cliff or even a steep embankment or falling through ice while taking a short cut. Tracks and trails (difference is width, btw) are maintained and regularly pass by some form of civilisation such as cabins for warm up use, and homes that welcome riders. Riding alone is also not terribly safe and not recommended. Best to join a club, ride the maintained tracks and trails if that is what interests you.

We live in MN but we don't have a snowmobile (not till we have more land). You can't just "ride them anywhere" around here. If you own your own land/farm you can but you are restricted to riding the ditches in rural MN. And you are supposed to be riding with traffic; you can be fined for riding the ditches against the traffic!

Also many of the farmers plant winter wheat in the fields and riding in the fields will ruin the crops.

Originally Posted by sk_pacer

If you ride just for pleasure, it is best to stick to maintained tracks and trails because you don't know what is under that snow - there are people that have been killed or maimed by hitting a buried fence line. falling through brush, over a cliff or even a steep embankment or falling through ice while taking a short cut.

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Good point...I fell through a deadfall in my own woods while walking in the snow a few years ago.

I concur with the previous posters. You have to be considerate about where you ride - you can't just go willy nilly around private land. Snow mobiles can cause a lot of damage. I grew up in small town wisconsin with lots of snow mobilers and we would often have people riding them through town and ripping up people's sprinkler systems as they went over their lawns.

Here the snowmobilers think they can do whatever they want. They ride whereever, whenever... last year I was almost hit by one because he drove right out onto the sidewalk where I was.
It's incredibly frustrating and I can imagine it will be worse with driving.

we have a snowmobile, you can ride on crown land, powerlines, or on private property , Other communities you can get them licensed to ride on the road. Dh drives down the back alley for about a block then he is on trails that lead to the powerlines and crown land.

You know how they say that 4-wheelers can be dangerous? Same for snow mobiles. Not to rain on your ambitions here, but a true story:

A friend's brother taught snow mobile safety courses. He and a crew were making a safety training video when he lost control of his snow mobile. There was nothing reckless about his driving, as he was demonstrating the right way to drive one. He died in the crash. He left young children and a pregnant wife behind.

So not only are they noisy and they pollute, they are dangerous. Don't get one!

(just my humble opinion)

Here's my opinion on snow:

It should start snowing about 4 p.m. on Dec 24, and keep falling until it's 18 inches deep by 7 a.m. on Dec 25, when the sun comes up in a bright blue sky. It should stay like that, below freezing, until the morning of Dec 31, when the temperature should go back to 75 degrees.

If I win the lottery, I'll buy/rent a cabin in Jackson Hole every year for the week of Christmas. That would guarantee a snowy Christmas, and I could go back to Hawaii after New Years Day.

I disapprove of the recreational use of snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, JetSkis, etc. I think they're dangerous, noisy, and smelly, and their users tend to be inconsiderate and irresponsible. They do have their legitimate uses, though. I won't ride any of them, they scare me to death. I nearly got killed on a snowmobile before I developed this opinion.

Actually most people i know have jet skis and go south for the winter.. me i just have a 4 wheel drive truck and live here all year round.. When the snow gets deep enough and its late night the snowmobilers come out and play on the road... Which will probably start tomorrow night if the weather people are correct...

Snowmobiles and 4-wheelers/ATVs are both pretty dangerous. In some places they are also illegal to ride except on (your own) private property.
And yes, the fumes are often really smelly.

Originally Posted by nurseangel

Arrgh! They stink? This is kind of putting a damper on my fantasy. Well, I do know I love the snow. I was en route to Atlantic City once and spent the night in Delware. They had a beautiful snow. I absolutely fell in love with the entire state.

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A beautiful snow in Delaware? Are you talking about the same Delaware I'm thinking of?