Trail permits for dual sport riding | GTAMotorcycle.com

Trail permits for dual sport riding

Ash

Ash

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I've been making an effort to explore more (dirt) back roads this season, and it is vastly more entertaining than the regular paved options. Google maps has led me in a couple of cases to what turned out to be snowmobile or ATV tracks, which were at the upper limit of my comfort zone on the Wee. Dumped it a few times in sand ruts today, but it was all good fun.

A few of the trails I hit were marked OFSC, so I looked them up when I got back and realized I probably needed a permit. But since it is summer, their site doesn't seem set up to sell me one now anyway. There were ATVs on those trails, so I looked up the OFATV site and read about their permits. And then the OFTR. And then the ODSC. And then I kind of got sick of acronyms and came back here.

I'm just looking to ride legally on any random goat track that I find through Google maps, but all of the sites/organizations seem really fragmented. I'm assuming that my (white) street plate and regular liability insurance is sufficient? Not sure what I should have for trail permits, or what the penalty would be without one. Ideas?
 
Often it would be considered trespassing there are a few areas that need permits. I wouldn't sweat it to much if it is not signed etc you will usually be asked to leave. Worst case scenario is a trespass fine and that is only $50 and usually only given after a warning the first time.
 
I think if it is a "road allowance" you are good to go. Even if marked like a snowmobile trail. Dedicated trails that were not roads way back when is different. See post above. ^^^
 
I spent some time digging through the ODSC forum and the OFTR site and found answers to most of my noob questions. Aside from areas like Simcoe County and Ganaraska, like you say, the main issue seems to be where trails cross private property. The private landowner may have an agreement with one of the various offroad organizations to allow access, which is where the permits would come in handy.
 
With your wee strom you are highly unlikely to ever go anywhere you'll need the permit, but all of the dirt clubs in Ontario fall under one umbrella, the OFTR, $90 /yr and you are legal for all trails in Ontario. The road allowances you are riding do not require permits. Have fun!
 
Did some trails up in Keswick on the weekend. A few were unassumed roads, some were single track between farms land tracts, and one was a snowmobile trail through crown land. All good fun. Consider buying the Backroads Mapbook for your area. That's what I use to plan rides and find tails.
 
I wish the GPS version of the Backroads Mapbook were a bit cheaper, but I'll probably pick it up one of these days. I suspect that having it would cost me a lot more in the long run though, as it will probably accelerate my need for a proper dual sport machine. I had a few moments this weekend where the bike wanted to swap ends on some sandy sections. Swapping in a more dirt oriented set of tires would help, but if I want to keep this up a DRZ400 would probably be a much better choice. I'm reluctant to give up the on-road capability of the Strom, though. I'm not sure my backside would be too happy with 2 hours on a DRZ just to get to the trails, or if I should just bite the bullet and get a much smaller bike and a trailer.
 
Is the Backroads Mapbook available at any local bookstore? Maybe that was a dumb question but that book sounds like a great coffee table tool. TIA
 
It's funny, I'm trying to get away from using my GPS; paper maps make much easier to make changes on the fly. I bought the PDF version of the Southwestern Ontario and Cottage Country maps and have found plenty of gravel and dirt roads as a result. This past weekend we got into more that my Sertao and my buddy's Wee-Strom can handle but, that's part of the fun. We did get solid proof that TKC80's are much better in nasty stuff than Heidi K60's.
 
Chapters seems to be mostly sold out of the Backroads Mapbooks, but it looks like you can order direct from http://backroadmapbooks.com/shop/

My exploring setup is a bit complicated. It currently involves an old GPS, my cell phone and paper maps. The paper maps are printed off Google maps with the roads highlighted that I want to explore. The cell phone is taped to the tankbag in a ziplock and has all of my Google maps roads cached and highlighted. I use the phone for mid-route checking since it's much easier than scrolling and zooming on the GPS, and the maps are much more recent. A 7" tablet in the tankbag map pocket would be even better. The cell phone is hard to read in direct sunlight, so the GPS is mostly just for on-road guidance to get me near the roads of interest.
 
The backroads mapbook can be had at any walmart, crappy tire, and many gas stations.
 
Those Mussio Back-roads books are OK but Mussio is a B.C. company who's primary market is B.C. & Alberta. Their Eastern Canada books tend not to be updated as often as their Western Canada books. There is a back-roads Ontario book coming out Dec. 2013 from another company that will cover the entire Province at a mapping scale of 1:250,000 and will be GPS compatible with UTM grid and many other features. Retail price will be $19.95 for back-roads coverage of the entire province. I'll try and remember to post something up here when the book is available for those that are interested.
 
Green Meenie said:
Those Mussio Back-roads books are OK but Mussio is a B.C. company who's primary market is B.C. & Alberta. Their Eastern Canada books tend not to be updated as often as their Western Canada books. There is a back-roads Ontario book coming out Dec. 2013 from another company that will cover the entire Province at a mapping scale of 1:250,000 and will be GPS compatible with UTM grid and many other features. Retail price will be $19.95 for back-roads coverage of the entire province. I'll try and remember to post something up here when the book is available for those that are interested.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested.
 
Ash said:
I've been making an effort to explore more (dirt) back roads this season, and it is vastly more entertaining than the regular paved options. Google maps has led me in a couple of cases to what turned out to be snowmobile or ATV tracks, which were at the upper limit of my comfort zone on the Wee. Dumped it a few times in sand ruts today, but it was all good fun.

A few of the trails I hit were marked OFSC, so I looked them up when I got back and realized I probably needed a permit. But since it is summer, their site doesn't seem set up to sell me one now anyway. There were ATVs on those trails, so I looked up the OFATV site and read about their permits. And then the OFTR. And then the ODSC. And then I kind of got sick of acronyms and came back here.

I'm just looking to ride legally on any random goat track that I find through Google maps, but all of the sites/organizations seem really fragmented. I'm assuming that my (white) street plate and regular liability insurance is sufficient? Not sure what I should have for trail permits, or what the penalty would be without one. Ideas?
Click to expand...
Most of the OFSC trails do not allow dirt bikes. Only ATVs. It's been a long running battle
 
Is the odsc membership different from the oftr membership with respect to permits and trail access? Not to concerned about the social aspect, just access and getting busted by the forest cops.
 
The ODSC is part of the oftr, if you join odsc you get your oftr membership and an odsc sticker. You also get access to the odsc maps database, very good tool for those looking for new areas to explore.
 
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