This Trail is Not Your Trail

[Freedom2016]

This article cheesed me off: https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/essays-culture/private-trails-neighboring-properties-dispute/?fbclid=IwAR11LW6iy3Rmut-yoTfIWylFENCTlNAyUoKkSFy-jfCu4fRncN8Is6Ng7yY&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=facebookpost

Entitled ER doctor trespasses on neighbors' land, gets earfuls from the neighbors to stay off their land, CONTINUES to trespass and get flak from neighbors, then pens an article for a prominent outdoor magazine with elaborate justifications for his shitty behavior. Gah!

Maybe this belongs in the "when everyone but the OP can see it" thread. What do others think?

[Jenny Wren]

While I agree that the author is wrong, and that he acted like an ass on more than one occasion, I don't agree 100% with the way private land is treated in the US so I can get his frustration if not his reaction to it. I would love if we had something similar to the UK's Countryside and Rights of Way Act. Unfortunately, we have so little sense of community or sharing in the US, I doubt we could ever be so enlightened.

[Metalcat]

He told his neighbour that he's going to die hated by his neighbours.

Who does that??

Fucking hell. Whatever your opinion about private property, this guy's entitlement and arrogance is fucking insane.

[Freedom2016]

I think what pisses me off the most is the doc tries to blame his neighbors with the "we're all isolated, and not a community anymore" rhetoric while completely blind to the fact that *he* behaved in exactly the way he is lamenting. No empathy for his neighbors, no consideration of their needs, no polite inquiry in advance. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Botany Bae - yes, I've heard of how Europe treats commonly-used land. I'm not convinced it would work as intended here, because I think people would abuse the intentions of such an act. To wit: our property abuts a nature preserve and there are well-marked entrances to it half a mile on either side of our property. This has not stopped people from traipsing through our immediate neighbors' lightly demarcated trail on their own property that they use to walk their dogs from their house out to the public trail. The neighbors' trail dumps people onto our driveway and it is unnerving to come upon strangers walking through our property.

[sonofsven]

Welcome to rural America, it's full of assholes just like you.
I grew up in the rural backwoods of the Olympic Peninsula, I learned early to respect No Trespassing signs.
The "I'm your new neighbor" schtick is not gonna fly.

[youngwildandfree]

I would bet his neighbors are warning each other about him...

Runners on a private mountain biking trail are absolutely a liability. Who keeps using a private trail after being explicitly asked not to do so?

It can be a complex topic. I've seen people buy land and try to wall off trails that have been established and maintained by the community for decades. But, that is not what is happening here. He is the new person. He hasn't built or maintained any trails. The "trade" he is offering of sending his kids to maintain the trail or provide medical services in case of injury sounds condescending even from his written perspective.

From this piece, I would absolutely NOT want this man as my neighbor.

[Metalcat]

Welcome to rural America, it's full of assholes just like you.
I grew up in the rural backwoods of the Olympic Peninsula, I learned early to respect No Trespassing signs.
The "I'm your new neighbor" schtick is not gonna fly.

It especially doesn't fly when you trespass first and then try to dictate to people that you have some God given right to access their property because they're neighbours.

How is it neighbourly to just demand the use of a neighbour's property without even asking??

That's like assuming that your neighbour will let you borrow their tools, so you just walk over as a total stranger and take them and then call the owner an asshole for getting pissed off when a stranger takes their tools.

[MissNancyPryor]

Welcome to rural America, it's full of assholes just like you.
I grew up in the rural backwoods of the Olympic Peninsula, I learned early to respect No Trespassing signs.
The "I'm your new neighbor" schtick is not gonna fly.

It especially doesn't fly when you trespass first and then try to dictate to people that you have some God given right to access their property because they're neighbours.

How is it neighbourly to just demand the use of a neighbour's property without even asking??

That's like assuming that your neighbour will let you borrow their tools, so you just walk over as a total stranger and take them and then call the owner an asshole for getting pissed off when a stranger takes their tools.

My neighbor has an odd entitlement about my things.  What is hers is hers, and what is mine is hers, and I get to hear about how that arrangement is "best for everyone."  I have had to draw the line and hurt her feelings more than once, but she keeps at it and is sure that I am the defective one here.

Seems pretty common.   

[Metalcat]

Welcome to rural America, it's full of assholes just like you.
I grew up in the rural backwoods of the Olympic Peninsula, I learned early to respect No Trespassing signs.
The "I'm your new neighbor" schtick is not gonna fly.

It especially doesn't fly when you trespass first and then try to dictate to people that you have some God given right to access their property because they're neighbours.

How is it neighbourly to just demand the use of a neighbour's property without even asking??

That's like assuming that your neighbour will let you borrow their tools, so you just walk over as a total stranger and take them and then call the owner an asshole for getting pissed off when a stranger takes their tools.

My neighbor has an odd entitlement about my things.  What is hers is hers, and what is mine is hers, and I get to hear about how that arrangement is "best for everyone."  I have had to draw the line and hurt her feelings more than once, but she keeps at it and is sure that I am the defective one here.

Seems pretty common.   

This is totally foreign to me.

[Dicey]

Related: Whenever a large-ish tract of land in my mostly built-out community is about to be developed, the neighbors all start screaming about how unfair it is. It just pisses me off that a private citizen can't sell their long-held land without these jackasses with no skin in the game believing they can dictate what the owner can do with their property. The leader of the current battle lives in adjacent multi-family housing, which is just too rich. She got hers, niw everyone else should just go away from the land she doesn't-fucking-own, but wants to control. No, just no.

FWIW, our community has a great deal of dedicated Open Space that can never be built on, and the proposed development has elements of "greater good" for the community, not to jam in as many McMansions as possible.

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

The guy is an asshat and there is no shortage of publicly accessible trailheads in Colorado. Given what clueless tourists can get up to, I can understand some of the latent hostility in those who spent their money on remote parcels only to have incessant waves of intruders for 4 months out of the year.

Additionally many easements exist that allow for hiker access through private land, in particular, near RMNP.

[Just Joe]

Welcome to rural America, it's full of assholes just like you.
I grew up in the rural backwoods of the Olympic Peninsula, I learned early to respect No Trespassing signs.
The "I'm your new neighbor" schtick is not gonna fly.

It especially doesn't fly when you trespass first and then try to dictate to people that you have some God given right to access their property because they're neighbours.

How is it neighbourly to just demand the use of a neighbour's property without even asking??

That's like assuming that your neighbour will let you borrow their tools, so you just walk over as a total stranger and take them and then call the owner an asshole for getting pissed off when a stranger takes their tools.

My neighbor has an odd entitlement about my things.  What is hers is hers, and what is mine is hers, and I get to hear about how that arrangement is "best for everyone."  I have had to draw the line and hurt her feelings more than once, but she keeps at it and is sure that I am the defective one here.

Seems pretty common.   

This is totally foreign to me.

I have a coworker like that too.

[Metalcat]

I also want to note that this guy being a doctor has no relevance to the story, so why bring it up??? It's literally the first fact he leads with.

What does it matter if he's a doctor or a deli clerk? I'm a medical professional and I bring it up in two contexts: medical discussions and discussions about business and finance because the medical world is very different from the typical corporate world, so it helps explain why my experience is different from most.

I would never start an article with "after training for over a decade to become a medical professional, I bought a home and got into a conflict with my neighbours over recycling bins"

[youngwildandfree]

I also want to note that this guy being a doctor has no relevance to the story, so why bring it up??? It's literally the first fact he leads with.

What does it matter if he's a doctor or a deli clerk? I'm a medical professional and I bring it up in two contexts: medical discussions and discussions about business and finance because the medical world is very different from the typical corporate world, so it helps explain why my experience is different from most.

I would never start an article with "after training for over a decade to become a medical professional, I bought a home and got into a conflict with my neighbours over recycling bins"

Oh but it does! Because he can save his neighbors life if he stumbles upon them injured and alone. Without his talents they will surely die from an excessive abundance of privacy. /sarcasm

[Rural]

He's a total asshat, and he's likely to get shot.

[roomtempmayo]

Peak Colorado.  Top is in.

[MissNancyPryor]

That reminds me of my last house-  a woman who lived behind my neighbor (so, kitty corner to me) came around to my street banging on my door, outraged, because my next door neighbor was building a fence between his lot and mine.  This back lot neighbor came to see me pissed off because someone was doing something on our shared lot line, not at all on her lot line, only adjoining her property at a single point where the end met hers at the T.  I don't think he was even attaching it to her fence, just abutting. 

First thing she said to me:  "My husband is a prominent urologist.  I live behind your neighbor.  What is going on with this fence?  Why wasn't I informed?"  Give me a break. 

Stop the work!  The pee-pee doctor's wife was not informed!

I got the clear impression that is how she introduced herself all the time. 

"My husband is a prominent urologist.  Can I get fries with that?" 

Lots of people are self righteous jack wangs who are certain the center of the universe spins right through their pointy little heads. 
   

[Metalcat]

"my husband is a prominent urologist and I don't like this fence"

HAHAHAHAHA, I'M FUCKING DYING!

[Just Joe]

Or the people who lead off with their moniker (?) in a place of leisure as if it has any relevance in that environment.

The fact that you are a professional of the X variety is not relevant out here on this bicycle canal path at this time. How about we just call you Doug since that is your first name?

Decades past might have been difficult for non-formal personality types.

[Metalcat]

Or the people who lead off with their moniker (?) in a place of leisure as if it has any relevance in that environment.

The fact that you are a professional of the X variety is not relevant out here on this bicycle canal path at this time. How about we just call you Doug since that is your first name?

Decades past might have been difficult for non-formal personality types.

lol, I'm the new president of my condo board, so I have the wonderful pleasure of having to be the go-to person for every problem in the high-rise, which is so much fun.

I typically have to play the "bad cop" as a foil to the "good cops" who are the building managers. So they deal with the construction companies and contractors on a day to day basis and make sure to have a good relationship with them, and I come in and play the demanding, unreasonable "Board President" when management needs to push them harder.

So I told management "any time you mention me to the contractors, make sure to refer to me as Dr. Malcat, because only total fucking assholes insist on using the title "Dr." in contexts where it doesn't matter." Also, when I'm in a meeting I often throw out "If I was this sloppy with *my patients' care* I would never get away with it, so I don't see why you should."

I have a fun time playing the role of Self Righteous Doctor, but it's fun because it's so absurd. I can't imagine having to be that person for real.

The whole "prestige" of having the Dr. title really wears off when you honestly look around at some of the losers who are your classmates and colleagues and you think "oh fuck, now I'm lumped in with these asshats."

[mm1970]

Related: Whenever a large-ish tract of land in my mostly built-out community is about to be developed, the neighbors all start screaming about how unfair it is. It just pisses me off that a private citizen can't sell their long-held land without these jackasses with no skin in the game believing they can dictate what the owner can do with their property. The leader of the current battle lives in adjacent multi-family housing, which is just too rich. She got hers, niw everyone else should just go away from the land she doesn't-fucking-own, but wants to control. No, just no.

FWIW, our community has a great deal of dedicated Open Space that can never be built on, and the proposed development has elements of "greater good" for the community, not to jam in as many McMansions as possible.

Same.  15-20 years ago or so, there was this massive tract of land about to be developed.  The locals got all up in arms.

The owners of the land made a deal.  They would build in this one small area - and then they would donate 200+ acres as open space with a park and trails.  Essentially, agreeing to build 8 "estates" on 100 acres of land.

So, they start building the homes...like, recently.  So, since 2007-ish, the space has been open, but the deal was agreed upon.  The locals go NUTS about the greedy developers, and I had to start reminding people about the deal, with links to the original article.  Many of my friends, after this, at least acknowledged "wow, I did not know that".  Some of them were still horrified, so they started trying to raise money to save it.

I know they raised some of the money by the deadline. $18M or so.  So, I guess it's been saved forever.