Re: dogs

Dogs and ski trails certainly create a dilemma. Certain folks love to ski with their dogs and don't feel that anyone should be able to restrict that right. What users of our trails must understand is that the vast majority of the trail system is private property. The wishes of the property owner are to provide an outstanding cross country skiing experience to the general public.

To achieve this we set a double track with our state-of-the-art groomers. Anyone familiar with the process knows that this is a costly endeavor, involving expensive machines, many operator man-hours and thousands of gallons of fuel. This is particularly so when you consider that the BREIA trail system encompasses 50 Km. Unfortunately, many years of experience have proven to us that dog traffic on the trails severely degrade the trail. This is especially evident on the Canal Trail where dogs are permitted. Skiers have mentioned on many occasions that within an hour of grooming the tracks were nearly obliterated by dog traffic.

A question that begs to be answered is: Given the vast surrounding landscape of woods, fields, logging roads, snowmobile trails, etc., why would you choose to take your dog on the only groomed ski tracks for many miles?

BREIA