Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Buzzing machines scrape to a halt next to you at the gas station. Businesses
post advertisements along snowmobile trails. Lodgings cater to snowmobilers ex-
clusively—with rentals, linked trails on-site (they can park at the door), and more.
Some regard 'biling aficionados as single-browed Cro-Magnons who despoil the
bucolic landscape. And yes, in a time-honored tradition, making “pit stops” can
translate as bar hopping. About 25-40 snowmobilers die every year.
True 'bilers cringe at the antics of the few yahoos fueled on Leinenkugel's lager.
Snowmobile clubs are actually a respectable bunch who do as much charity work
as they do trail maintenance. Snowmobile clubs are the ones who best bring togeth-
er local officials and landowners and even work with environmental groups to share
access—so much so that Wisconsin's club trail network is an officially recognized
highway system. And while true that an engine is an engine—thus pumping hydro-
carbons into the air—technology is reducing emissions annually. And the number
of snowmobiles is still far lower than the pollution machines of other folks' SUVs,
lawnmowers, leaf blowers, powerboats, and so on.
