Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Photo by RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post

By BRUCE FINLEY, THE DENVER POST

Recreational snowmobilers are finding white, wintry wildlands to ride through — and droning a bit less, under Colorado's new noise limit.

State and federal land managers are poised to enforce an 88-decibel maximum — below the 100-plus-decibel roar of snowmobiles in the past — with tickets topping $100 for violators.

"It's not going to affect me at all," Craig Kennedy, 41, of Denver said recently after shutting down his red Polaris.

While he's "not a fan of regulations," Kennedy said, "if this is what it takes so I can still ride, it's OK."

The noise made by snowmobile engines and the rotating Kevlar tracks that scoot these sleds across snowfields will probably still be loud enough to rankle naturalists. A machine emitting 88 decibels — comparable to a garbage disposal, freight train or propeller plane flyover — reverberates in an otherwise quiet forest.

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