My friend, Jay Petervary, is training for the Ididabike race in Alaska this winter. Last week he went to Yellowstone to check his gear and fine tune his system. After a few miles on the trail, he was approached by a park ranger and kicked out for riding his modified snow bike on them.
I also read in the paper this week that the park is now offering a high-speed/express shuttle to Old Faithful this winter. It travels at about 30mph and whisks tourist to the Snowlodge. These machines, along with snowmobiles, are fully allowed to cruise up and down the trails at will.
What gives? What harm is my friend causing by riding his snow-bike on the trails. Aren’t snowmobiles and snow-coaches more intrusive that one person pedaling their way through the park?
This is probably one of the silliest things that I’ve heard of to date. Bikes are (or at least should be) allowed on roads in the park. What makes this more outrageous is the fact that snowmobiles (more this year) and snow coaches are allowed on the road. This is just a prime example of the stupid double standards that the Park Service has…it’s a real problem. This and the fact that rangers must need more to do in the winter months. Pretty soon there will be policies in place restricting anyone from entering the park….that is unless you enter via an official park approved vehicle – with a combustion engine!
I guess they have a rule…”no wheeled vehicles”…in the winter.