Avoid Silverton Colorado

[azdryheat]

If you RV and own or rent an OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) you can take Silverton Colo. off your list to visit as the town council voted yesterday to BAN ALL OHV traffic inside the city limits. I'm just trying to get the word out as Silverton is a very popular destination for RVers with OHVs.

We were in Silverton last September and fell in love with the town and surrounding area. Friends and us have toyhaulers and OHVs. We enjoyed driving our OHVs around town to go to restaurants, shopping, and to get to the outstanding OHV trails leading out of town.

Our basecamp was Silver Summit RV park, in town, and it was packed with campers and most had an OHV. The ban will not allow OHVs from this park to access the riding trails. During our stay there we saw all the other RV parks and boondocking sites were also full. Most of these campers were also OHV owners.

I don't know the rational behind the city council 4-3 vote yesterday to ban OHVs but it seems to me there is going to be a huge loss of revenue with the absence of OHV people. Time will tell.

[IDman]

My daughter has a gift shop in Silverton and their customers, (tourists) complain about so many OHVs ruining their visits. The tourists stop coming if they are overrun by OHVs so the merchants let the city council know that businesses were hurting BECAUSE of OHVs.

Council acted properly by representing THEIR constituents! More tourists spending money and fewer OHVs in area, which usually camp and eat in their RVs anyway. Not big spenders.

[ferndaleflyer]

I used to own 350+ac in WV and it was a constant fight to keep those things from tearing up the place. Seemed like if they drove down a dirt road 1/2 a mile that made it open for them to do their damage. I once hauled a family off the side of the mountain where they had overturned not near a trail or a road. Had come from the other side of the mountain. Late Nov, cold as he!!, not dressed for it, and had no idea where they were. Lucky we saw them, as we had been up there deer hunting, or they might have froze to death. Took 4 of us and a chain saw to get them loose and off the mountain on our side. No respect for others property. I suggest if you want to ride buy yourself some land to ride on.

[dedmiston]

I'm sorry to hear that the OHV community didn't behave better and got their privileges yanked. So many places where we ride have signs up warning us to behave or risk having the town shut down to OHV traffic. I always take these warnings seriously and keep our speeds down and remind our group to behave.

I've never ridden out of Silverton before. I've taken the narrow gauge train from Durango umpteen times since I was a kid. It's not as extreme as riding off road, but it's still a gorgeous trip. I only took my own family there once when our kids were all young. Our oldest (now a doctor) had her nose in a book the whole ride. It was her 8th birthday and she finished book four on that train ride. I think she enjoyed the day as much as the rest of us.

Losing the OHV revenue probably won't kill the town. Hopefully it's a lesson to the rest of us to watch our behavior when we're guests in similar destinations.

[Y-Guy]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Then it would appear the Town Council listened to their community.

Wish we knew, could also be they just pandered to a loud organized minority.

[Jay_Pat]

There are a lot of trails in the area.
Very unique and popular place.
The trail riders will adapt to enjoy the area.
Rental companies may have to move outside the city limits.
Pat

[Old-Biscuit]

Y-Guy wrote:
Thanks for the update. I did some digging, looks like there was a petition from the community to make the change. But the City minutes make it really hard to understand what caused the petition and one of the papers is behind a paywall so that's of no help either, the other isn't much help either.

Then it would appear the Town Council listened to their community.

Kudos to the Town Council. Local Government working for the people they represent.

[ndrorder]

Sorry to hear this. Renegade behavior of the wild west made the town. Good luck taming that heritage.

Have made many trips to Silverton and the OHV traffic has never been any worse or better than the cage traffic. There is no peace and quiet in any town that allows traffic. Once again the choice is made to forgo revenues rather than enforce existing statutes (noise and reckless behavior). That same enforcement will now be enforcing a ban and without the ohv crowd there will be reduced revenue to pay for it.

FWIW, The town will survive as it is a top tourist destination. The OHV crowd will move on to make another town until banned. And, the cycle repeats.

I'm guessing the peace and quiet crowd will be banning the rowdy bars next. Can't have that in the mountains after all.

[Y-Guy]

Thanks for the update. I did some digging, looks like there was a petition from the community to make the change. But the City minutes make it really hard to understand what caused the petition and one of the papers is behind a paywall so that's of no help either, the other isn't much help either.

[IDman]

Not everyone likes hearing them in town. Dodging them is also another sport that is not for everyone. You love them, but most people would like peace and quiet when in the mountains, especially when walking around towns.

[wowens79]

Unfortunately I bet some people were not just riding through town, and were acting a fool in town on them. I've got a couple of Jeeps and a few go off trail, or rut up the trails, and it gets everyone banned.

Hate those bad apples.

[pitch]

How much are yo willing to bet that this action was taken due to the actions of the OHV community and their disrespect for traffic laws.