Windham, Maine, Snowmobile Club Could Lose Use of Trail Because of Some Jerks

It only takes one person to ruin the fun for everyone. That's what this Windham, Maine, Snowmobile Club is facing right now.

Maine has 14,000 miles of snowmobile trails across the state, more than 95% of which are on private property. Landowners are very generous to allow the recreational use of trails on their property. After all, we're Mainers. We love the outdoors, and we want others to enjoy it too, so landowners are happy to share until things go wrong.

The majority of snowmobile riders respect the property that they ride on, and do everything they can to leave it as they found it. When someone uses those trails with vehicles that they are not suited for, damage can be done, and landowners have the right to take away riders' access to their property.

In a post on the Windham Drifters Snowmobile Club's Facebook page, details were given about what happened to jeopardize the club's access to trails on private property:

It is extremely disappointing to hear from a landowner today that not only was someone riding the closed trails, they were doing it with a side-by-side with wheels. Unfortunately because of this, we might not be able to use this trail to north Windham next season, so thank you to whomever decided to ruin it for the rest of us. If anyone knows who is riding the side-by-side behind Lowe’s, please share their information with us in a message so we can pass the info along to the wardens. Thank you.

It is a shame that some joyriders are on the trails when they are closed, leaving the snowmobile club hoping that landowners will still allow the club to use the land next season. Let's hope those responsible are identified and dealt with accordingly.