The best way to communicate is to break things down to the simplest form possible. That might be emphasizing certain words, adding illustrations to increase understanding, or just making a 'complex' topic easy to understand with layman's terms. The Benton County Sheriff's Office won the internet today using an illustration with 'Minnesota speak' to emphasize where snowmobilers may and may NOT drive their machines. It was epically awesome.

Sometimes it helps to break down a complex topic into everyday language. The rules about where snowmobiles may drive can be a bit complex. We've put together the illustration below using Minnesota speak to help people understand where they may or may not operate their snowmobiles.

If you'd like a more complete guide to operating a snowmobile, we'd recommend following this link to the DNR snowmobile regulations.

The post shows a picture of a typical Minnesota road in the winter, surprisingly in good shape, with yellow text offering up simple explanations for where in the photo one could ride their snowmobiles. 

Snowmobiles
loading...

Not surprisingly it was a hit to those that follow the Sheriff's Office on social media as the post was shared more than 150 times in about 5 hours. Also, not surprisingly others on social media were chiming in on proper snowmobile riding etiquette and warning riders about the consequences of trespassing.

On the St Cloud, MN Area Community Page the vice president of the Benton County Snowmobile Club posted about what trespassing could do to the rest of the group if local landowners close their property to the group. It would amount to a 20-mile detour!

Good morning, Rice, MN!

My name is Aaron and I am the Vice President of
the Benton County Snowmobile Club.

As many of you might have noticed there are snowmobile trails which lead to Rice and allow access to our restaurants, gas stations, stores and taverns--snowmobiles are good for business.

We, as a club, are very serious when we post signs to stay on the trails because they go through private land and permission to go through that private land can be removed at any time because land-owners get really angry when their plantings are destroyed, cattle get harassed, and fences get hit.

It is an insult to the land-owners generosity and the club's multi-decade-long efforts to establish those trails which can be taken away instantly, at the drop of a hat or the crushing of a single planting.

North of McDonalds, just a couple hundred yards into the trail there is a big hole couple hundred yards wide that is extremely attractive to go monkey around in, though it is off the trail and posted not to trespass because of all the plantings below the snow which are getting broken. It is clearly posted.

If that one land owner closes that one trail access it will create a 20 mile (yes, twenty) re-route which will completely bypass your town. No gas, food, shopping, beverage sales or getting on your sled and hitting the trails from your development.

Since we don't have permissions from new landowners for that re-rout it may take years to establish. Yes, I said years to accomplish and years for you to trailer your sled somewhere else wile we cut trees down one-by-one because morons leave the trails.

So you may understand why we as a 40-year club who has put collectively decades into establishing these trails will be pretty angry if we lose it because of some bone head who is not educated of the importance of STAY ON THE TRAIL messages posted absolutely everywhere and still takes his white Polaris Indy, that dude on the yellow sled, and the other goofball on the black sled just keep ignoring the signs and insult our work and the generous gifts of the land owners.

Now we understand these might just be some locals who are ignorant of the laws and rules of snowmobiling courtesy, so we invite you to take classes the state offers on line, we offer as a club, or to talk to one of the extra officers who will be patrolling our trails and issuing the $250 fines to people caught trespassing.

We we also have trail cams set up in problem areas, and we'll be spending some time in blinds with telephoto lenses to nail the turds who will generate so much work for us when they cause our trails to be closed because of their ignorance of law and disregard of what it means to be cool.

Please share this post with your neighbors, friends, pals and buddies who snowmobile, especially if they recently purchased an older Polaris Indy, an older yellow Ski-Doo, or an older black snowmobile for their kid because we lack patience for this foolishness and we're on the hunt for you now.

Fell free to share the following links to consider joining our super-awesome club (maybe make a donation to help with our thousand-dollar-a-week fuel bill), or for better and more educated ways to enjoy our regional trails:
https://www.google.com/search...

https://www.bentoncountysnowmobileclub.com/

It seems here the lesson to be learned from all of the posts about snowmobiling is simply to respect other people's property, and to enjoy riding responsibly.

So Long! Minnesota's Ugliest Car Just Got Drove Off To Michigan

Alex Wayne recently bought a mash-up of a Minnesota vehicle. It's a Mini Cooper frame with a Chevy Express van skeleton on top. This vehicle definitely turns some heads as it goes by, but it was supposed to do that.

 

175 Years of Benton County History

 

More From 96.7 The River