ATV trails, four wheeler laws and what you can and can not do in Maine
Because Maine is so vast, under populated, unspoiled it appeals to someone not looking to fall into an expensive, crowded coastal tourist trap location.
More remote areas of Maine are insulated and not isolated in my opinion. The reason for less traffic purely the time to spend of the typical tourist / vacationer. The travel time to discover those special areas of Maine that get return visits from surprised tourists lucky enough to stumble onto them and return for life is what separates the men from the boys. They made the effort. They see and hear and feel the real Maine, not the four color glossy folded up brochure one.
Time to spend at new destinations in Maine is the currency not every tourist possesses nowadays.
It seems most outside Maine lead over booked lives. This limiting factor helps protect the locations in the Maine deeper regions which don’t see every Tom, Dick and Harry visit round the clock. Where home grown trumps store bought.
So ATV four wheeling, snow sledding ITS trails are a big nature can opener used to gain access to the rural areas of Maine. MOOERS REALTY has pushed the snow sledding in Maine blog post button hard and I am a sled head. I have a snowmobile ITS sled trail crossing my 300 acre northern Maine farm because I love the sport. I own three snow sleds currently. And have have some classic ones over the years, from back when there were fifty flavors of snowmobiles like Sno Jet, Ski Horse. Back when they called them all ski doos.
But snow sleds do less harm to the environment if everyone goes easy. Does not spin, is not so aggressive on squeezing the throttle of the ice rocket. Four wheelers, all terrain vehicles don’t have the cushion of the snow blanket between them and the ground. Maine farmers are not so cranked on opening up their agricultural land for ATV hot shots. It only takes one to spoil the ATV barrel of fun right?
If a Northern Maine potato farmer has $3500 an acre invested and wants to recoup that figure and a profit on top, he does not want blight brought into his crop from the neighboring grower down the road.
That is on the same ATV four wheeler trail. The same Maine farmer does not want cowboy operators doing donuts out in the middle of that prize acreage either. Like snow sledding, any trail use on private property, it is a privilege, not a right.
So the current ATV four wheeler laws in Maine. The all terrain vehicle four wheeler registration is good for a year. The cost for a Maine resident to register their four wheel ATV is $33. For an out of state to register the same ATV the current cost is $68 a year. A week long pass is $53 a year. The ATV registration cycle starts July 1st.
For a definition of what is an all terrain vehicle, we asked the state of Maine to spell it out.
” “All-terrain vehicle” or “ATV” means a motor- driven, off-road, recreational vehicle capable of cross-country travel on land, snow, ice, marsh, swampland or other natural terrain. “All-terrain vehicle” or “ATV” includes, but is not limited to, a multitrack, multiwheel or low-pressure tire vehicle; a motorcycle or related 2-wheel, 3-wheel or belt-driven vehicle; an amphibious machine; or other means of transportation deriving motive power from a source other than muscle or wind. For purposes of this subpart, “all-terrain vehicle” or “ATV” does not include an automobile as defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection 7; an electric personal assistive mobility device as defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection 22-A; a truck as defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection 88; a snowmobile; an airmobile; a construction or logging vehicle used in performance of its common functions; a farm vehicle used for farming purposes; or a vehicle used exclusively for emergency, military, law enforcement or fire control purposes.”
A. Land on which that person is domiciled;
B. Land owned or leased by that person’s parent or guardian; or
C. A safety training site approved by the department.
A person under 16 years of age must attend the training program with that person’s parent or guardian. The training program must include instruction on the safe operation of ATV’s the laws pertaining to ATVs, the effect of ATV’s on the environment and ways to minimize that effect, courtesy to landowners and other recreationists and landowners and other materials as determined by the department.
Respect where you ride, join an ATV club first, and pitch in beyond your membership dues.
To maintain, help create and improve ATV trails. More on ATV / snow sled trails in Maine. More on the list, Maine ATV clubs. Activities for the local ATV clubs around Maine. And if you live in an area of Maine not served by an ATV club, maybe you should take the bull by the horns and start one. More on starting an ATV club in Maine. Building the trails to ride and open up a new area of Maine. Money, funding for Maine ATV trails. The trails need to be marked consistently and for safety reasons. To help the ATV tourist new to these parts know better how to navigate around them! More on ATV trail building rules.
Other Maine ATV trail systems to tap into when you can sneak away to twist the grip, steer the handlebars. Lots of Maine ATV dealers of new and used equipment, all the accessories, all kinds of places to eat and stay in Vacationland too. So don’t worry about buying it all out of state.
Shop local, become a part of the ATV Maine trail riding and maintenance program and we look forward to meeting you in person! Stop in, we are right off the ATV and snow sled ITS trail system in Northern Maine, in Aroostook County!