Ontario snowmobile trail map may be misleading to some, sledder warns

A snowmobiler near Sudbury says some sledders may not understand the map of trails on the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs' website.

Leo Deveau, a member of the St. Charles snowmobile club in Markstay, told CBC News he's concerned after hearing about a woman getting stuck in a swamp in Garson on Sunday.

The map on the website uses red, yellow and green to tell people whether the trails are safe. Yellow means there's limited availability, but it doesn't mean the trails are safe. Deveau said the trails should either be marked open or not.

"What my concern is, if someone buys their trail pass at one of the places they sell them or on-line, are not active members of the clubs, they don't know what that unavailability means."

Deveau said people should call their local club if they're not sure what a route in yellow means.

"As club members we know unavailability is 'ride at your own risk.' But you might not know if there are a lot of swamps here or not," he added.