My parents used to have a lot at the Crooked River development near Redmond, OR. On the original plot layout, every lot had a 5' easement along the borders for horses, hikers, walkers, etc.

Mom & Dad were careful to set their fence back from the property line. Then at least one new neighbor came in and put his fence right up to their set back line, gobbling up the entire easement, as well as several feet into my parent's property. I don't know what happened to that as the property was sold (with the intrusion disclosed to the new buyers, I think).

The area won't ever be as high density as some of the California developments. However, I wonder what will happen 100 years in the future when those original easements are rediscovered.

It is quite possible that there will be owners that never signed contracts that mentioned the easement.

For the Diablo cut-through, were the property owners aware of the easement at the time they attempted to close access?