Requirements for trail riding near Calabogie?

I'd like to ride my ATV on the trails in the Calabogie area in the next couple of weeks. I understand that there are many trails on Crown land in that area, along with the K&P trail. I started looking online to determine whether I am supposed to get a (day) trail permit from the local ATV club, but it's unclear, and since many of the trails are on Crown land, I don't feel that I should need a trail pass.
Does anyone know for certain what the situation is in Calabogie? I don't want to drive all the way there towing my ATV just to find out that I "need" a trail pass to use these public trails.

I don't know if you have checked here OVATV club, you can get a 3 day pass for $50. If you use trails to access the crown land trails I highly believe you will need a pass of some sort. If you get an OFATV pass, they are accepted at any of the OFATV clubs in Ontario. http://ovatvc.org/trail-area/

As a side note, keep an eye on things before you go, there was a brush fire up there a couple days ago, most places are a tinder box right now, one fire down by me was started by a logging machine.

https://www.insideottawavalley.com/n...-on-bush-fire/

rf2 if you checkout this site the area around Calabogie is EOTA trails.
Yes you will need a trail pass. What makes you think they are all on Crown Land?
Government owned does not always = Crown Land. It depends on what level of government controls the land. The lower levels of government can control access and if the decide that a particular trail organization will be the the controlling authority you will require their or an approved trail pass. In this case a OFATV pass might not cut it.
https://qgiscloud.com/swhitehead/eot...=EOTA%20Trails

Another instance of a flawed system.

Government owned should be accessible by all in the province. Same rules for everyone.

While they may grant stewardship this can simply be revoked - and should be.

Until Ontario sees this as a resource nothing will change - they need to take the townships out of the equation.

I’ve had enough discussions with my own councillors years back about Kawartha Lakes trail use and realized and was frankly told they can do whatever they like.

They are corporations but not crown corporations.

Good luck RF2. It is a nice area.

If you plan on hitting the trails behind Mountain Chute Dam. You are in North Frontenac, and the township requires you buy a permit from them, no mater if its a dirt bike, atv, motorcycle or truck. Everyone pays.
Link to the sections that require a permit http://www.northfrontenacparklands.c...rmit%20Map.pdf
Everywhere else no permit required.

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Originally Posted by Woodsman

rf2 if you checkout this site the area around Calabogie is EOTA trails.
Yes you will need a trail pass. What makes you think they are all on Crown Land?
Government owned does not always = Crown Land. It depends on what level of government controls the land. The lower levels of government can control access and if the decide that a particular trail organization will be the the controlling authority you will require their or an approved trail pass. In this case a OFATV pass might not cut it.
https://qgiscloud.com/swhitehead/eot...=EOTA%20Trails

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All of those trails are on crown land controlled by the MNRF, with the exception of some roads in North Frontenac Township.

All this "trail permit" stuff needs to be streamlined with ONE province-wide permit much the same as a Provincial Park pass for off-road access,inclusively. The current disjointed "system" is a total PITA.

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Originally Posted by Woodsman

rf2 if you checkout this site the area around Calabogie is EOTA trails.
Yes you will need a trail pass. What makes you think they are all on Crown Land?
Government owned does not always = Crown Land. It depends on what level of government controls the land. The lower levels of government can control access and if the decide that a particular trail organization will be the the controlling authority you will require their or an approved trail pass. In this case a OFATV pass might not cut it.
https://qgiscloud.com/swhitehead/eot...=EOTA%20Trails

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Thank you for the information. From this thread I have three people pointing me to three different sites which each claim that they have jurisdiction over the trails in the area. Very confusing. I guess I will have to make some calls to find out what the situation is, although I was really hoping that someone on this forum had been there recently and could tell me what the situation is.

I'd just like to point out that I never said that I believed that all of the trails around there are on Crown land. Regarding why I believe that many of the trails are on Crown land around Calabogie, I've read online about this on "official looking" sites. Furthermore, the MNRF Crown Land Use Policy Atlas (http://www.gisapplication.lrc.gov.on...A&locale=en-US) indicates it as such.

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

If you plan on hitting the trails behind Mountain Chute Dam. You are in North Frontenac, and the township requires you buy a permit from them, no mater if its a dirt bike, atv, motorcycle or truck. Everyone pays.
Link to the sections that require a permit http://www.northfrontenacparklands.c...rmit%20Map.pdf
Everywhere else no permit required.

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Thanks for the info. I was thinking more about the trails near Barret Chute. I was aware about the North Frontenac road access permit, but I wonder if I would also need some sort of ATV club permit to ride the trails around there. Some of the sites pointed out by a couple of posters indicate that they have jurisdiction over those trails (in the North Frontenac Parklands). It's extremely confusing, even more so when one considers the Crown land aspect.

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Originally Posted by rf2

Thanks for the info. I was thinking more about the trails near Barret Chute. I was aware about the North Frontenac road access permit, but I wonder if I would also need some sort of ATV club permit to ride the trails around there. Some of the sites pointed out by a couple of posters indicate that they have jurisdiction over those trails (in the North Frontenac Parklands). It's extremely confusing, even more so when one considers the Crown land aspect.

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Barrett Chute is a little trickier to figure out, All land on both sides of Barrett Chute Rd are privately owned, but if you are going in off Barry Lake Trail, I wouldn't buy a permit, as this is our land (crown land) the ATV club can't do anything but whine about no stickers. These trails are the only reasonable access to several lakes, and you can rest assured that no ATV club built theses trails. They were made by loggers and true hard core sportsman many years before ATV's were on the market. If you are still leary about using the trails without paying ransome money to an ATV club, bring a small fishing rod with you, or pack a .22 and if anyone asks, you are skunk hunting (which is open year round)

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

Barrett Chute is a little trickier to figure out, All land on both sides of Barrett Chute Rd are privately owned, but if you are going in off Barry Lake Trail, I wouldn't buy a permit, as this is our land (crown land) the ATV club can't do anything but whine about no stickers. These trails are the only reasonable access to several lakes, and you can rest assured that no ATV club built theses trails. They were made by loggers and true hard core sportsman many years before ATV's were on the market. If you are still leary about using the trails without paying ransome money to an ATV club, bring a small fishing rod with you, or pack a .22 and if anyone asks, you are skunk hunting (which is open year round)

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I was actually hoping to do some fishing while out riding. Some of the trails go right by small lakes.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

All this "trail permit" stuff needs to be streamlined with ONE province-wide permit much the same as a Provincial Park pass for off-road access,inclusively. The current disjointed "system" is a total PITA.

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Completely agree, but people have been trying to organize that for quite some time. Don’t hold your breath.

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Originally Posted by 73hunter

Completely agree, but people have been trying to organize that for quite some time. Don’t hold your breath.

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Yup, just when things start looking good, some whiner club will take their trails and not play with the rest. As far as I'm concerned, they can go suck _______________, apply whatever suits the sentence.

I went riding today in the Calabogie area. I didn't go in near Barret Chute because I didn't want to deal with riding clubs harassing me for using Crown land without paying for their trail pass. Instead I went in from Calabogie Road since there is barely any private land around there. I parked at a pit off of a road (trail?) that goes to Limestone Lake. I checked out Limestone Lake and did a bit of fishing from shore, then rode some trails to Wabun Lake and got on a long power line trail with some nice climbs and incredible views. It's a really beautiful area with lots of space for recreation - Crown land camping, fishing, ATVing, soooo much space for hunting. I didn't see a ton of deer sign, but I almost had to run over grouse to get them off the trail. I'd love to start hunting deer there.

Come back during the rifle season and there won’t be nearly as much space - lots of hunting pressure in that area.

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Originally Posted by buckchaser

Come back during the rifle season and there won’t be nearly as much space - lots of hunting pressure in that area.

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Actually, I have to admit that after exploring the area, I started looking at your posts about deer hunting around there. Seems like you have had mixed results. I'd like to hear more, but maybe we can do that by PM?

Sure - brief summary is that there are a lot of traditional hunting camps in the area, the recent logging in the area has pushed more roads in and opened up access (making it busier), and the deer population is much less than it was about a decade ago. During rifle season you are pretty much guaranteed to bump into other hunters - unfortunately not all those encounters will be positive.

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Originally Posted by rf2

I checked out Limestone Lake and did a bit of fishing from shore, then rode some trails to Wabun Lake and got on a long power line trail with some nice climbs and incredible views. It's a really beautiful area with lots of space for recreation

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rf2 how was Limestone and Wabun for garbage? Been hearing far too much these past years about both those lakes being real bad. I think I may have heard something about no camping signs at the Wabun launch.
If you decide to back that way again try Limestone around the corner to the east where the old slide is. That's where it's deep and rocky. Also you may want to do a little jaunt up to Little Black for specks if you can find the trail, or what's left of it, but honestly I have no idea what it's like anymore. I imagine it still sees some use though. Last I heard about it was 7 or 8 years ago but they walked in after driving a truck to Limestone. Good luck.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by smitty55

rf2 how was Limestone and Wabun for garbage? Been hearing far too much these past years about both those lakes being real bad. I think I may have heard something about no camping signs at the Wabun launch.
If you decide to back that way again try Limestone around the corner to the east where the old slide is. That's where it's deep and rocky. Also you may want to do a little jaunt up to Little Black for specks if you can find the trail, or what's left of it, but honestly I have no idea what it's like anymore. I imagine it still sees some use though. Last I heard about it was 7 or 8 years ago but they walked in after driving a truck to Limestone. Good luck.

Cheers

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Limestone Lake was fine where I was. I was on the west side at a vacant campsite, sort of close to the only cottage on the lake. There was nobody else at the lake that I could see other than some guys at the cottage. There was a small amount of garbage at the campsite (pieces of partially burnt paper/plastic, some fishing line, the occasional can), but nothing extreme. Wabun was also relatively clean. There were several groups camping around there, and they seemed to be keeping the area tidy. I would camp in either of these areas. I actually want to go camp at the site at Limestone with my kids. It would be nice to bring the canoe, do some fishing, and do some swimming there. It was a nice, quiet spot.
I guess is depends on what you are used to. The public forests that I frequent around Ottawa are in way worse shape than what I saw while I was in the Calabogie area. That being said, I only drove about 30 km, so I covered a relatively small area.

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Originally Posted by buckchaser

Sure - brief summary is that there are a lot of traditional hunting camps in the area, the recent logging in the area has pushed more roads in and opened up access (making it busier), and the deer population is much less than it was about a decade ago. During rifle season you are pretty much guaranteed to bump into other hunters - unfortunately not all those encounters will be positive.

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Gotta love when a gang of guys owns 10,000 acres of crown land eh.

I will go up with you one weekend and we can bring the truck camper and boats if ponds are available. I have never been in that area and have always wanted to explore.

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Originally Posted by rf2

I went riding today in the Calabogie area. I didn't go in near Barret Chute because I didn't want to deal with riding clubs harassing me for using Crown land without paying for their trail pass. Instead I went in from Calabogie Road since there is barely any private land around there. I parked at a pit off of a road (trail?) that goes to Limestone Lake. I checked out Limestone Lake and did a bit of fishing from shore, then rode some trails to Wabun Lake and got on a long power line trail with some nice climbs and incredible views. It's a really beautiful area with lots of space for recreation - Crown land camping, fishing, ATVing, soooo much space for hunting. I didn't see a ton of deer sign, but I almost had to run over grouse to get them off the trail. I'd love to start hunting deer there.

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Originally Posted by line052

I will go up with you one weekend and we can bring the truck camper and boats if ponds are available. I have never been in that area and have always wanted to explore.

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We should chat. I doubt I can go for an entire weekend, but we maybe for a day of small game hunting? Lots of ponds, but I have no idea if they are any good for waterfowl.