Originally Posted by
jon c.
Having said all that, a public trail is a whole different matter. I understand land owners wanting to be more restrictive when there is the potential for much greater use. Such use would lead to a host of potential issues and who needs the headaches. I would be hesitant to buy property abutting a public trail for that reason. Once you transition from 'a guy laying down a bedroll for the night' to 'public use', the rules of accommodation change a great deal in my view. A bike tourist in that setting should be cognizant of the realities of a public trail and stay off private property. Being accommodating to your fellow man goes both ways.
Agreed, the public trail lends itself to a lot more potential for the trail users trespassing on adjoining property. This is the main issue here. Case in point, the Natchez Trace Parkway is 450 miles long MOTORWAY with bicycle touring encouraged. The NTP people realized and understood the challenges of cycling vs. driving and erected some "secret" and free stealth camps usually in the proximity of a public toilet (rest stop). All at least have running water, none are fancy. These campsites only show up on the NTP cycling map and a few other publications. The stealth sites are spaced at reasonable distances so a bike tourist could cycle the entire route for free. This approach makes sense and other trails have done the same. The Steamboat Trace on the Missouri River north of the Katy Trail has at least one such public camping spot at the edge of a small town.
I believe the KATY is remiss in accommodating long distance cyclists. That said, I have ridden a large section of it - 5 nights and stayed in hotels 2 of those. I camped legally the other nights and I didn't find the KATY all that accommodating to camping legally in general. That was 2005. Perhaps things have changed.
Originally Posted by
spinnaker
And if you indeed are breaking the law then you belong in jail. There you get to stay for free.
Let's start with the speeding motorists first. The people who are killing tens of thousands of people every year. Then i might get on board for putting some dude in jail for catching a break for one night in a remote woodlot.
Originally Posted by
alan s
I’m certainly not into stealth camping and don’t advocate anyone doing it, but property owners take it too far when they use the mere possibility that someone may stealth camp on private property adjacent to a rail trail as an argument against rail trails in general. As I said earlier, those that make such arguments are greedy, selfish or both. The abandoned ROW is a unique and very valuable resource for everyone, including the landowner, and only in rare circumstances should the property revert back to the original owner.
I am not religious but on occasion I do ask myself "What would Jesus do?" Also, if you asked just about any Native American they would tell you that the land is being occupied by a hostile force who has no business owning any of it. It's stolen property when it got fenced. Everything is "point of view". That said, the current enforceable law forbids trespassing. We shouldn't do it. We should all treat stealth camping the same way the vast majority of us treat the posted speed limit. If you have law breaking sensibilities, and you think you can get away with it, the consequences are on you. From what I see on Interstate highways (and other institutions), this is the American way.