Unlike in the U.S., there are no dedicated off-roading parks in Canada.Jeremy Sinek/The Globe and Mail
The Ontario Federation of 4WD Recreationists and the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia both declare their mission as working to “keep public lands public.” Access to Crown land matters to them because, unlike in the United States, there are no dedicated off-roading parks in Canada.
The B.C. association lists 20 clubs under its umbrella (with names such as After the Black Top Ends, Bone Shakers and Herd of Turtles) and says it is “involved in active stewardship … of eight rec sites in B.C. so that avid off-roaders can use them free of charge.” The group has agreements in place with BC Parks and the provincial Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resources Operations.
The Ontario federation provides members with an online list of trails. Both organizations make trail maintenance a core part of their mandates and subscribe to the principles of Tread Lightly!, a U.S.-based group that promotes responsible off-roading (for example: “Go over, not around, obstacles to avoid widening the trails,” it advises).
Organized events are family-oriented, and off-roaders are anxious not to be seen as a bunch of yahoos. “We don’t want to see people going out and tearing up the trails,” says Jake McGibbon, founder and president of the London and Area Jeep Owners Club (LAJOC), in London, Ont. “The season typically runs from early May to late November, when it’s dried out and not muddy and you’re not going to do damage.
“We also let tire pressures down so they are softer. And we are not racing, so there’s no wheelspin and throwing mud everywhere. Most guys don’t like that anyway. Mud and sand gets into the equipment. And in deep water you can lose a clutch.”
A Jeep Grand Cherokee rips through the Purcell Mountains in B.C.Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
Trail difficulty ranges from “mild, to ones that keep you on the edge of your seat all day,” McGibbon says. “But it’s not competition, it’s just recreation. In a standard vehicle, you’re driving around in first or second gear.”
The most extreme “technical” challenges typically involve rock-climbing, where damage is far more likely to be done to the vehicle by the terrain than vice versa. Speeds are slower than a walking pace.
Still, some environmentalists and conservationists would argue that any wheeled off-roading is too much. Never mind SUVs – “an ATV, dirt bike or even a bicycle can destroy the habitats of ground-nesting birds, trample rare plants or kill any number of small amphibians, reptiles or mammals,” says the Bruce Trail Conservancy, which cares for the footpath that runs the length of Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment.
While some off-roaders have extensively modified 4x4s that are dedicated to recreational off-roading, McGibbon says most participants use their daily drivers. “We’ve had people come out with 500 kilometres on a brand-new Jeep and they are going to take it off-road.”
The Ontario federation organizes “newbie runs” to introduced first-timers to the sport. And then, for all-comers, there are the special-event weekends such as “Trailfest.” Run by LAJOC every August long weekend in the Bobcaygeon area, Trailfest partly fills the shoes left vacant after the erstwhile cross-Canada Jeep Jamboree program was terminated in 2007 (Jeep Jamboree still runs in the United States).
If you’d like to enter Trailfest this year, you’re too late. When registration opened, the event sold out in half a day.
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