TRAILS NORTH Featuring The Trails Of Valley East: Occupying Langdon Park: When your goal is to preserve something of value for folks it is very disappointing to come upon this scene. Makes you wonder if any of it is worth the aggravation. PLEASE NOTE: THANKS TO A CITY WORK CREW THIS MESS HAS BEEN CLEANED UP.

NOTE: IN REGARDS TO THE ATV.

Sharp eyes will note a tendency towards negativity whenever the subject of ATVs comes up and a similar attitude towards Snow Machines but not as severe. The reasoning is simple, I remember the Valley before ATVs and being able to walk on trails anywhere, summer or winter. In winter snow machines riding on renegade trails made walking on those trails possible without interfering with users of the official snow machine trails. It was great to be able to go to places you could not go any other time of year such as swamps, streams, lakes, etc.

Regardless of the season anytime a ATV goes over a piece of land it leaves some form of permanent mark. When the ground is wet the ATV driver tends to experience wheel spin which strips off the top layer of an unpaved surface the end result is a rut. When the rut gets deep enough, a new trail has to be started. In drier areas, surface vegetation is stripped off resulting in a surface that is more beach then meadow. Result, trails that were once available to all users are now left almost exclusively to the ATV.