Private Property

[Alpine Guy]

This morning I headed to James Peak Lake via the Mammoth Gulch trail (aka county rd N, or rd 176) but 3.6 miles from Tolland Rd I came to this sign. When I got home and checked Caltopo closer sure enough the Forest Service overlay does show a gate there. Anyone know how large this private land is? If it doesn't extend to the north side of Mammoth Creek that would be one way to bypass.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Lol

I need this for my driveway

[Alpine Guy]

I didn't bother to photograph the separate "You are under 24hr surveillance" sign. Now there's a job - watching some very wealth dude's camera monitors. Or maybe they just farm it out to the Boulder Watershed folks.

[nunns]

Are you sure that driving on the road isn't allowed? The signs seem kind of ambiguous.


Sean Nunn

[mbourget]

I'm not 100% positive but pretty close this is the same gate:
It does not extend to Mammoth Creek, but the creek itself if owned by the City and County of Denver. If you go north from the gate about 100 yards, you'll be back on USFS land and you'll be able to get around the private property.

gate.png

[wombat]

Classic.

This landowner is guaranteed a right of way and uses public Forest access and the publically funded forest road to reach their private property, yet denies the public the right of way through the segment of trail that lies on their property.

[rmattas]

...and thereby making the land afterwards "his".

the exact reason why I'm not on my way to created butte.

[Alpine Guy]

Thanks Mbourget - exactly what I was looking for! I'm sure there's a story out there somewhere on how this plot landed across a FS road. I don't have any problem w/ private land ownership but it was obvious that significant amounts of public funds were used to build and maintain the road right up to the gate (and probably well beyond).

[LURE]

Just cause the road is there doesn't mean it has public easement. But it might. If it does then that gate is illegal. But if it doesn't, that gate is totally up to the landowner. Sifting through the courthouse records could reveal it and even then it often takes an attorney to pick apart the easement language to show what kind of public access and use is allowed off that road.

It's safe to assume that because that gate is there, there is no public easement on that road. Someone would've raised the stink and gotten it removed already otherwise. But you never know, might be worth some research.

[peter303]

I recall people claiming old mining access easements were public according a 19th century mining law. Then there was a cat and mouse game of outdoors users finding these roads and neighbors trying to hide them. The article I read was about Boulder foothills and I couldnt find it. But here is a similar story in Montana.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2263356/crazy-mountains

[rmattas]

I come from a small family. if I'm the last to go, I want to give a portion of my estate to an organization who will build trails right around these people, so we can reclaim what is collectedly "ours".

any ideas?

[Trotter]

Reminds me of the landowner who closed off the road by Mt Evans B.