Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

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two lunches
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by two lunches »

side by sides- think polaris, rzr, etc- have the capability to drive very fast very comfortably on unpaved roads and 4x4 trails. in so doing, the people who drive them rut up trails when hammering down over obstacles, and many who don't understand the popularity of some of these routes have a propensity to whip around blind corners-- sometimes into oncoming trail traffic. obviously it's a gross generalization to say that every SxS driver ever is a POS, and that's not what i'm implying- there are exceptions to every rule and outliers in every group.
if you want to spend $10-60K on a SxS i'm not here to stop ya from enjoying your hobbies, but those who spend a few hundred to screw around for a day or a weekend in the backcountry outnumber the owners. by disallowing short term rentals for SxS and instead going back to the Jeep model, our backroads would be much safer for all parties involved.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by Chicago Transplant »

They only banned them in town, the road north out of town toward Cinnamon/Engineer will still be the same mess that others are describing. One thing they forgot in their very accurate description of how bad the OHV use has become is the dust they kick up. Its very difficult sometimes to see, its like driving in a heavy fog. Definitely have had a few near head on collisions even when I am over as far to the right as I can when others cut the corners on curves flying down the road too fast.

Unless they decided to "cancel" Silverton in protest, the backcountry roads there won't be any better. They RV camp outside of town and drive in on the OHVs to shop/eat. The ones that also have a Ram will probably just drive into town and roll coal now instead. While I agree with the principal of the ban, I don't think it will ultimately fix anything.

LOL at the entitled $15k guy, I would have told him "15 grand huh? Then you can afford a ten dollar leash!"

Edit to agree with stephakett, stop renting the side by sides and the volume will go down.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by HikerGuy »

I'd like to see the permit fee increased and use extra funds for education, signage and trail maintenance/repair (especially the latter). $25.25 per year is way too low.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by mtree »

Open up access to act like a jerk, and people will flock to it. Human nature. People are ignorant and selfish. And some are just mean.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by climbingcue »

HikerGuy wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 9:20 am I'd like to see the permit fee increased and use extra funds for education, signage and trail maintenance/repair (especially the latter). $25.25 per year is way too low.
They should also have a $20 a year hiking fee. Use that money to improve the hiking trails. Hikers get away without paying their share and get the biggest benefit.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by Conor »

RyGuy wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:52 am
Conor wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 1:49 am
RyGuy wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 10:17 pm
Most of the time I see OHV's these days, I see a lot of:
OHV's treating back country roads like a rally course. Go as fast as you can and who cares about anyone else around you.
Lots of people who have little to no understanding of trail etiquette. Especially in rentals...
A complete lack of respect to the environment. Driving/Parking off trail, cutting switchbacks, donuts in the middle of the road, etc.
A general attitude of "I paid $10,000 to come vacation here, and I can do whatever the heck I want" from a lot of the tourists riding them. Especially Texans and Okies.
Driving at night with lots of flashing lights, roaring exhausts and blasting stereo system while normal people are trying to get some sleep when out camping.

Basically they are a plague and more and more places are trying to ban them. Moab is also dealing with this mess: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/02/25/ ... -sleep-he/
I hate to admit i don't make it to the san juans as much as i would like. But my experience is completely opposite of what is described here. It's all those hikers overcrowding trailheads - sleeping illegally and then bitching about the noise. What's up with them making a bunch of racket at 4 am next to my campsite? And they poop everywhere...
Conor, while I agree the new wave of COVID hikers is certainly similar in their general lack of education and courtesy, spend some time on the Alpine Loop in the San Juans during the summer. You'll be impressed just how reckless, dangerous and annoying the OHV hordes down there are. I've nearly hit several who were ripping around blind turns in the road at 45MPH plus on Engineer and Cinnamon passes. Got into an altercation with a group of Okies with a couple other forum members when they came up to the top of Cinnamon Pass and let a big dog loose who tore off trying to kill a nearby Pika. When we asked them to get a leash on the dog, the guy actually had the balls to walk over and then tell me "I paid $15,000 to come here and be on vacation and I don't give a $hit what you think, I'll do whatever the hell I please! Now piss off!" And then one of my favorites is when a group of them does this in the middle of the night and you are camping anywhere within a mile of the road: https://youtu.be/obZzL4ub1aI?t=943

It's a legit problem in the San Juans and I am glad it's starting to be addressed.
I make it down that way about once a year. Last year (2020), I ironically rented a sxs to run the alpine loop (family vacation and that is what they wanted to do). I actually rented a jeep, my other family members got sxs. I've run the loop multiple times in my landcruisers, so it was nothing really special for me. My experience has always been the same, no major complaints and a lot of bumpy action. Of course, I'm the type to pull over when someone wants to pass or let the dust settle when someone does come by me. Perhaps I don't have a hard on for all these pet peeves. The last thing I would ever do is get into some argument with a guy in the backcountry over a leashless animal that wasn't hurting someone. But what are we talking about now? Dog owners, side by side drivers or side by side drivers that own dogs? Areas are getting busy. With it comes annoyances and pet peeves. I try not to let the little things bother me. Hakuna Matata.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by Kiefer »

Reg0928 wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 6:58 pm Good work, Silverton! Hopefully the Silverton ban doesn't cause Lake City to get more overrun than it already is
I've seen a lot of posts of people crying & whining over on the Silverton Community Board Group of: sxs owners, Republicans, tourists, Razr owners saying they're going to boycott Silverton and such and head over to Houston, I mean Lake City. While it feels good to let out petty feelings like that, thinking, said person is getting the last word, all it's doing is showcasing how juvenile and petulant they are. Lake City WAS a nice place at one point in time, but the sxs crowd helped to ruin it.

Like Mike and Steph (and probably many others), I've had my share of rude, inexperienced and ignorant sxs drivers as well. I now don't move over anymore regardless of what direction I'm driving when I see them approaching. I figure, if they're going to show that kind of respect & manners for other drivers, I'll reciprocate. And it's not a case of a few ruining it for the whole, it's more like half ruining it for the other half. But that's JUST concerning the highcountry.

The ban is ONLY in town, obviously. But from reading peoples posts on FB, you wouldn't think it.
So back to my point of these D-bags forgoing Silverton in in lieu of Lake City, Creede or other towns, they're basically crying because they have to drive their toys outside of town to a staging area and THEN go have fun. They can't drive down Blair or Greene blaring their dumbass Trump/MAGA flags anymore. That's it! They basically don't want to drive an extra few miles. If that isn't juvenile & petulant, I don't know what is.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by mtree »

All this hullabaloo is making Bierstadt look pretty enticing!
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by RyGuy »

Conor wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 9:50 am
RyGuy wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:52 am
Conor wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 1:49 am

I hate to admit i don't make it to the san juans as much as i would like. But my experience is completely opposite of what is described here. It's all those hikers overcrowding trailheads - sleeping illegally and then bitching about the noise. What's up with them making a bunch of racket at 4 am next to my campsite? And they poop everywhere...
Conor, while I agree the new wave of COVID hikers is certainly similar in their general lack of education and courtesy, spend some time on the Alpine Loop in the San Juans during the summer. You'll be impressed just how reckless, dangerous and annoying the OHV hordes down there are. I've nearly hit several who were ripping around blind turns in the road at 45MPH plus on Engineer and Cinnamon passes. Got into an altercation with a group of Okies with a couple other forum members when they came up to the top of Cinnamon Pass and let a big dog loose who tore off trying to kill a nearby Pika. When we asked them to get a leash on the dog, the guy actually had the balls to walk over and then tell me "I paid $15,000 to come here and be on vacation and I don't give a $hit what you think, I'll do whatever the hell I please! Now piss off!" And then one of my favorites is when a group of them does this in the middle of the night and you are camping anywhere within a mile of the road: https://youtu.be/obZzL4ub1aI?t=943

It's a legit problem in the San Juans and I am glad it's starting to be addressed.
I make it down that way about once a year. Last year (2020), I ironically rented a sxs to run the alpine loop (family vacation and that is what they wanted to do). I actually rented a jeep, my other family members got sxs. I've run the loop multiple times in my landcruisers, so it was nothing really special for me. My experience has always been the same, no major complaints and a lot of bumpy action. Of course, I'm the type to pull over when someone wants to pass or let the dust settle when someone does come by me. Perhaps I don't have a hard on for all these pet peeves. The last thing I would ever do is get into some argument with a guy in the backcountry over a leashless animal that wasn't hurting someone. But what are we talking about now? Dog owners, side by side drivers or side by side drivers that own dogs? Areas are getting busy. With it comes annoyances and pet peeves. I try not to let the little things bother me. Hakuna Matata.
I guess I just prefer people actually follow rules and be respectful of others. These folks who just see the area as a their own little vacation playground ruin it for everyone. Yes it's a problem all over with just too many damn people, but for some reason the OHV crowd really seems to stand out in terms of not following rules, trail etiquette, and just being obnoxious. Again...spend enough time there and you'll quickly realize they are truly a plague on the area.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by tmud »

Seems clear, the more advertising/word of mouth a place gets, the sooner it gets bombarded by people, paved sidewalks, and a permit system.

And the OHV group loves telling anybody and everybody about the san juans, so hopefully they are serious and take their business elsewhere before they turn SW CO into Gatlinburg.
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by LURE »

there's a lot of issues in overcrowding, over use, and abuse of public lands by literally every user group. hate to single one out...

but gawddamnit if i was king of the land i'd be looking to shut down something like 90% of OHV legal roads and "trails" on public land permanently without question. heck, i'd be looking to shutdown a ton of forest service roads regardless of OHV use. we need more roadless areas without having to make them federally designated wilderness.

good on ya silverton
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Re: Silverton city limits OHV/SxS ban

Post by ltlFish99 »

stephakett wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 11:39 am
SkaredShtles wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 11:39 am
rijaca wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 11:18 am

Texans or OHVs?
whynotboth.jpg
bless this forum.
+1 on all of the above.
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