How Does PEI's ATV Trail System Work?

You've motored up steep hills behind the Mark Arendz Provincial Ski Park at Brookvale, meandered through the woods, and arrived at a clearing where Strathgartney appears in the distance. Who knew this was possible? 

You're only minutes from The Handpie Company, and yet you're a world away from the hustle and bustle of the Trans-Canada Highway. Making your way towards the old causeway road in Borden, you find yourself exploring an otherwise inaccessible portion of our little island. 

Maybe you're taking it easy on a woodsy route toward Oyster Bed Bridge, following a well-trod path between Richmond, Tyne Valley, and Enmore, or joining the Fall Colours Run in Donagh. Regardless, Prince Edward Island is home to jaw-dropping, unexpected ATV experiences. 

Plenty of Islanders have enormous fun with their ATVs on their own private land. Many more see 4-wheelers as a necessary means of getting work done around their own property. But PEI has a lot to offer beyond the limited scope of your own backyard. 

Here's how it works. 

The PEI ATV Federation, led by president Peter Mellish, hosts under its umbrella five ATV clubs: East Prince Quad Trax, Eastern Kings ATV Club, Evangeline ATV Club, Red Isle ATV Club, Tignish Sportsman ATV Rider Club. These volunteer organizations preside over an increasingly broad trail network: building, maintaining, re-routing, and acquiring proper agreements to bolster the network.

"Our ultimate goal," says Peter Mellish, "is to link all the trails together so all five ATV clubs can provide trails from tip to tip." It's a five-year goal, which only seems unrealistic until one realizes the huge leaps forward made in various corners of PEI over just the last two or three years. 

Acquiring a trail pass is very affordable: only $50 in 2018. "It'll be $50 in 2019," as well, says Mellish. Not only does an ATV trail pass provide access to the PEI trail network, it does the same on trails in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario.  

There's no denying the joy ATV enthusiasts get out of their machines: increasingly more powerful, more capable, more comfortable machines. But in the end, the journey is what you'll remember. And in PEI, it's getting easier and easier to head out on great journeys all over the Island.

ATV trail passes are available at Centennial Auto-Sport & Tire in Summerside and Charlottetown. The pass "helps the local ATV club of your choice purchase new trail signs, build bridges and help cover the costs of clearing new trails," the PEI ATV Federation says. "Additionally the Federation portion goes directly to covering the $5,000,000 insurance policy that we put on all out property owners land that our trails system runs through." The first 40% of the fee goes to the provincial federation, another $23.48 to the local club, and HST accounts for the other $6.52.