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WI Snowmobile Trail Pass Information

In the state of Wisconsin you need to have a current registration and a trail pass to legally ride a snowmobile on public trails. There are a number of ways to go about this. The best way is to register your snowmobile in Wisconsin, join a Wisconsin snowmobile club, and get discounted trail passes. Let’s break it down and make it easy.

Registration

Non-residents CAN register their snowmobile in WI, and are actually required to if it stays in WI for 15 consecutive days or more. Here is a link to the WI DNR page that explains the registration ins and outs. To do the actual registration you will need to go to The DNR GoWild site and set up an account. The cost isn’t bad, it is a 3 year registration for $30.

By registering your snowmobile in Wisconsin the snowmobile trail grooming and maintenance fund gets a payment of what they averaged for gas usage and pay the fund the equivalent road tax. That is a lot of the money used to set up and maintain the trails.

The next advantage is that your trail passes are a lot cheaper. A non-resident trail pass is $50 and a resident trail pass is $30. If you have a WI registration and join an AWSC snowmobile club and plan ahead, you can get trail passes for $10 a snowmobile. This is a program that was set up to improve club membership, save people money, and get more money to the trail grooming fund.

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Here are the steps...

  1. Register your snowmobiles in Wisconsin.
  2. Join an AWSC approved club. The Paul Bunyan Riders on-line membership form is here or at a link in the menus above and below.
  3. Wait anywhere from 1-3 weeks for the club to assign you a AWSC member number. Remember that they are volunteers and have a flood of registrations hit all at once, right around the holidays. Plan ahead.
  4. Go to the AWSC web site and get your discounted trail passes for $10 each.
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What if I forget? Can I still ride legally while I am waiting for the club or AWSC?

Yes and no. If you have your AWSC number from the club you can get your AWSC trail passes and legally ride with the receipt. If you haven’t done the club part of it and want to ride you will end up going the full price route. You can go buy a trail pass for $30 at the local DNR outlet or on line at the GoWild DNR site and print a temporary trail pass or registration receipt but you will end up paying the full $30 a snowmobile.

Important Links

Riders can save a lot of money if they plan ahead and join a club in advance.