Colorado Access Question

[bklaas]

Hi everyone,

While scouting online, I found a nice piece of BLM. There are a few access roads marked by OnX that cross through a small piece of private land. Even though its marked as access, is it right to assume that you cannot cross through the private?

Thank you!

 

[Dsnow9]

All depends on the road classification, if you can get out and scout it out, that would be your best bet. You could also get a county maintained roads map from the county. But it is always best to assume you can’t cross the private unless you find out for sure. You could also contact the local warden.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

also if you can close in enough on onx,,sometimes itll show a small red outline on a road with easement i have found before,,some have ,,some dont.if its colorado and private,consider it closed otherwise.

 

[SO7mm]

I've found Colorado wardens to be helpful answering access questions as well. Give the warden in the area a call and he'd probably have an answer.

 

[WyoDoug]

Hi everyone,

While scouting online, I found a nice piece of BLM. There are a few access roads marked by OnX that cross through a small piece of private land. Even though its marked as access, is it right to assume that you cannot cross through the private?

Thank you!

I can tell you from experience. I had to go to court on this. If over a period of time (I think 7 years, not sure) the county or owning entity such as BLM fails to maintain a road that they own that goes through private the road is considered abandoned and the landowner can claim it if he does it properly. Usually, you can go to the regional BLM office and ask and they will tell you if the road is public accessible or not. In my case, the sheriff finally had enough and arrested the landowner when he blocked off a road in violation of a court order and because he blocked access without following the legal steps to prove it was abandoned by the county. The county graded that road on an annual basis so it was not abandoned.