Gates, Fences and the future of adventure.

Agreed. Dude man I’m sorry that keeps happening. 

Is this just up in your area do you think? I never had that problem in AZ. In fact, any place there was a gate, even crossing private land, it said, close gate behind you and pass through the private property...and another gate would be on the other side. Is this National Forest land?

I haven't come across this issue in New Mexico yet, either.

I suppose I could answer that question with just a few photos I've taken in the past, when these places were open.    They are now closed with locks, signs or fences but were all legal and open at the time I photographed them. 

This one's from around 2002 I think, the old pumphouse road behind Humphrey's Peak when that was still open.    Now the highest you can get is Lockett Meadow and only in summer because they close that too in winter.     It's a beautiful hike regardless and if this was the only closed road on Earth I'd be fine with it but this is a ratchet which only turns one direction and has a fixed trajectory.   Two lovely people no longer part of my life depicted, sorry it's not a bare landscape.

This one's from Northern California, Bald Mountain lookout tower when that was still open.   Later the tower was closed (and Chris's hairline relocated just a little) and as of right now the whole OHV area there is "temporarily" closed with talk of not reopening.

Here's the old Martinez Spring trail, formerly an approach to the Cochran Coke Ovens.   This is on private property and now closed as of 2015.   I am OK with private property owners closing their land of course,  only adding this because the topic is finding closed gates where there used to be open areas to visit.   Specifically the coke ovens are a really sad example of why closure happens, when I first visited the house was still up nearby to the ovens - up as in all the doors were closed and glass was intact and it was conceivable the property owner could weekend comfortably in it during the cooler months.    Really a shame people had to destroy it.

This is the upper pass of Sleeping Princess trail,  which at the time was a through trail that went from West to East.   The former West entrance is no longer possible to get to because the highway has no (formal or informal) exit anywhere near it and the former road bed has returned to nature.   As of last time I visited the connection from Wayfarer's to the Princess was closed off with a line of boulders so it is now a much shorter out-and-back trail instead of a through trail.    Lloyd can be seen boasting his signature style. 

This used to be a free campground,  now it is day use only with no overnight parking.

This little side loop off Gemini Bridges road near Moab has been closed and trenched permanently.   Tim demonstrates his mastery of sign language. 

The old Star Lakes trail in the Sierra Nevada range.   Closed some time around 2003 I think.   Yes Chris is on the actual road there, not obvious by the angle.

The cabins at Pahreah, UT on the North side of the river, which used to have a great little (graded) road going to them!  All closed now.

This is the old Paria River route which was a formal, named road connecting Paria townsite with Cottonwood Canyon Road by following the shallow Paria river as it zig zagged up the canyon.  The full width of the canyon was washed so at the time the land management agencies didn't consider wheeled traffic an environmental concern as there was no vegetation or anything in the wash that could be trampled and the route was a significantly shorter distance vs. going back down to 89.    Closed to motorized traffic now.

This is the clearing around the ice cave near Flagstaff - I don't mean the parking area that's a few hundred feet away now.    Sure, it's only a few hundred feet more to walk... oh, and closed every winter with gates at either end of 171 anyway.   Used to just drive straight to the cave and camp adjacent to it.. 

Here's the full Martinez Canyon loop in AZ, that was an absolutely amazing trail back in the day - a full loop trail inside a canyon.   Absolutely unreal.   All closed now well before the cabins let alone the mill and the mine of course.  I attended several of the USFS meetings before it was closed off but decisions were made before public comment was heard,  and public comment was only a formality. 

There used to be some good 4 wheeling just behind Oak Flat Campground! 

Cherry Creek Road used to go all the way through to Young,  past the Devil's Chasm trailhead.  Several of the crooks past there had awesome camping in them.

Copper Creek used to connect to Arvaipa Canyon if you had rock sliders and hated your tires!    I think this is still informally passable but formally closed and as I understand it Copper Creek, and the old townsite past it are closed.    I'm not sure what my eventually-to-be wife was up to there but she's pretty rad so I'll give her a pass 😍 

Grand Falls is temporarily closed and the route to get there from Leupp has been in contention for off-Res visitors for a long time.   Here's an oldie from a clean up mission we did around 2005.

I haven't been out here for years but it's my understanding the road to Tatahatso Point is now closed to motor traffic.   We were actually hailed while visiting 15 years ago and given a "you can go today but please don't return" by the folks who live out there.   Its their land and this is not really the right place to talk about the broad topic of relationships with the Native American communities, way too much nuance there.   Only mentioning it because this was a beautiful drive that apparently nobody can do anymore.

 
Haha this has been fun and depressing... you DEFINITELY can't drive to where I took this picture, anymore.    Such an amazing place to camp, too.   🙁

This route used to connect Elephant Butte road (Queen Valley) with Hewitt Canyon road way up near Mesquite Spring.    As I understand it the whole West end of it near Hardt Tank is now closed off.   Haven't been out there in a few years. 

  - here's a video from that before it was closed. 

I guess that's all the photos I could find in short order... but considering these are just places I've personally taken photos before they were closed,  not knowing they would become closed in the future - it just keeps happening and it never un-happens. 

Adventure's a finite resource I'm afraid. 

Oh also I believe Nutter Twist Canyon (in this video) has since been permanently closed to motor traffic. 

You can still drive the entire Cherry Creek route. Sometimes it is washed out, but it is still passable at times. Last time I was up there camping below Devil's Chasm, a BMW moto rider came through and said it was passable.

I do understand your concern. Many of the places you are talking about are more remote than most people go but I get your concern. I spoke about that in a video not long ago...about maintaining public access. There is an initiative to privatize public lands for commercial "management" rather than the USFS. That is a blatant theft of our public property.

I imagine this is why there are nonprofit organizations that lobby in favor of public access. Every nature and public land lover should be funding an organization in that effor.t

@shovel thank you for sharing the pictures and write-ups - very cool you took the time to do that.

I would be very frustrated if these were places I had visited and no longer could access to enjoy again or take others. A concern of mine is that with removing access to these places it limits the arteries of adventure travel and congests the remaining open roads, sites, and areas to camp. I don't know the reasons for all this closure because I don't see it much in my area and the places I like to visit but I wonder if much of this closure is because of visitors abusing the land, vandalism, etc. Whatever the case may be, it is a bummer, especially if you have to drive a distance just to get to an area to explore and find a locked gate and the only open areas are swarming with people. Another issue is when/if people become so frustrated they make new trails and roads because they will not let a gate or sign stop them.