Yes, yes...I strongly suspected at least some of these No Trespassing signs were not legitimate or at least deliberately misleading, but what're you gonna do? I can't just make that assumption on the fly out in the field...if I'm wrong, I could end up actually trespassing after deliberately ignoring No Trespassing signs. I'm not interested in finding myself face to face with an angry landowner. In fact, even if the signs are not legit, I _still_ don't want to find myself face to face with whoever put them up in the first place. 😏 As one commenter below stated: "The middle of nowhere is not the place you want to engage in a heated discussion of land law." 😄

I know that many times landowners will put up no trespassing signs and gates even though access is available. Years ago a friend and I were trying to access national forest land in North Park, Colorado when we came to an open gate with multiple keep out and no trespassing signs. However, down low on a post and practically hidden by brush was a very small forest access sign. We continued on and found that the road went literally through the place where the house and out buildings were with structures on both sides. Several people at the ranch saw us and stared. We just waved, they waved back and we continued on.

All public land should have public access. Landlocked public land shouldn’t be allowed.

Always enjoy exploring with you, Donald. Great stuff. Love the cinder cone. I forget how much volcanic activity happened in Oregon's history. Looking forward to the next episode.

Nice episode. The cinder cone was a nice find. Jason

I love how you stitch together all your scenes. It makes me feel like I have traveled with you the whole way.

Open Range! Get the cowboy spirit! 🤠 Out in California, along the Malibu beach area, there are walkways from a highway to the beaches (all are public). These walkways are often between properties or established easements along property lines. Property owners often post no trespassing signs or in some way encumber the walkways. Those property owners get sued and lose. Even the city of Malibu took down beach access signs, then ran afoul of the all-powerful Coastal Commission. I suspect such a similar effort would start with both the state and counties involved.

Man. We totally felt this video. There have been so many times that we tried to access public land that wasn’t accessible. We have seen this many times, public lands that are no longer public lands due to being sold to loggers or closed off because people haven’t respected it, or like in your video private land has blocked it off. It’s super frustrating. I wish public land was respected more and more accessible to people like you and us who truly love it and respect it. But we’re also pretty determined and adventurous to where we’ll eventually figure out a way in.

Family friend in Idaho had a Jeep with a winch that could pull gates off hinges and wasn't afraid of using it.

People pull that crap here in central WA. They put up no trespassing signs on public roads. The private property is the land on the sides of the road, not the road. Some people were actually busted for making fake forest service signs, making it look like the forest service closed the road.

Great video! As frustrating as it can be when routes don’t go as planned, it’s all part of the adventure! Looking forward to the rest of this trip.

It's great to see you back on the trail Donald. I can't wait for the next installment! Mark in Kstan

Great views from your drone. It is beautiful out there. Keep them coming. I enjoy being along with you on your adventures.

Beautifully done as always Don! Thank you!

Loved this. I know that frustration all too well. Can’t wait for part two

Thanks Donald! Always look forward to your videos!!

Loved the cinder code. Hope you can back and camp/explore the cone. I was wanting to see more!

Nice! 😊👍 Truck build looks good.

You should follow up on this with BLM and local law enforcement and figure out what's going on. Do a series on it. This type of stuff happens so often all over the country with little recourse.

I love your 📹 ! I visit Oregon with you, thanks to you Don

It's not always the destination that's important. sometimes the Journey is the more interesting part!

I use OnX Hunt and it'll show you exactly who owns the land and where I'm at(PA) and I've definitely come across illegally gated/Private Property signs and people get away with it in the middle of nowhere and it doesn't get enforced if nobody ever questions it etc. I agree tho, not worth confrontation but can always investigate later. Happy Trails!

Saw this B.S. in one place on the WY BDR last year. I knew it was a public road and landowner that owned either side tried to intimidate travelers from going forth. The public paid for establishment of the road and private individuals are more & more trying to claim illegitimate ownership--not right--needs to be challenged!!

Good stuff buddy, yeah road closes/no trespassing signs must drive u insane

Always enjoy your videos. It would be nice if property against blm land were required to provide access.

Great video and glad your day ended well. Looking forward to the next installment

These ranchers have no problem grazing their cattle on public land. They basically consider it theirs.

Kinda makes the thousands of dollars we spend on overlanding a real pain. I love to travel the back roads but I get tired of not knowing if a sign is real or fake. Many a trip is ruined because of a sign posted on a public road. No one seems to care except those who’s time is limited and just want to explore.

Great video, looking forward to part 2

I bet they can't block a public road. I bet there property goes up against the road but doesn't include the road. I would get in contact with someone in the area about the roads etc.

Morning Donald, another great video and one that has a very good point. We’ve run into the same issue but like you, we avoid the property if it’s posted. It can be frustrating for sure but we’re out there for enjoying our lands so we don’t let it get to us to much. All part of the adventure. Question… do you have a video about your antenna? Is it for gmr and how’s it working for you?

Nicely done video. Thanks for posting it.

Nice video and interesting music Donald, have safe travels.

My girlfriend has a cabin just past that big green tractor in CV. Have not been able to explore yet. Chomping at the bit to do so. Keep up the amazing videos.

I don't have a lot of time to do this kind of trips, so enjoy watching yours to remind me how fun they are. I only have done a few trips to east Oregon and share the frustration of not able to get to public land. I also wonder who owns the road. If the land owners built the road, I can understand more the restriction. But many roads just look like continuation from whichever road it came from. The On X Hunt app helps, but it is expensive. If you can justify the cost, I think it can save you a lot of gas.

That one road looked like the end of Soto Rd as it enters private property. We were looking for a way out Geocache to the Northeast of that spot. Finally found a way to it..... hadn't been found in about three years.

This is all to common in the West yet no one does a thing about it. I've called various agencies in the past, whose land was blocked, and they basically said they don't have time or resources to fight it. What happens is, if a property owner claims land and it's uncontested for a while, it essentially becomes theirs. The greed of property ownership in America is disgusting. In Sweden you can access land, private or not, and guess what? They are all respectful about it. America can do better, but we won't. We're too far gone in a I got mine! Culture.

Blocking legal access to public land should be a federal crime. Maybe technically it is, but the practical application of law is extremely confusing. I do carry lock cutting tools incase I end up trapped somewhere in an emergency, or without sufficient fuel to turn around. I do sympathize with the people who live out there and the damage done by vandalism. Outdoorsmen used to be a respectable group in general, but the people out there now are a different breed.

I live and work on a ranch in Central Oregon. For every person like Donald that respects private land, there are 10 that don't. Many times every "outdoorsy" season we have to repair gates and fences taken down by trespassers. Antler shed hunters are the worst, they even tear down and destroy Private Property and No Trespassing signs so they can pretend they never saw them. It's easy to tell when they are lying about that, too, because they aren't bad people accustomed to lying, so we always pretend to believe them to de-escalate things and then we have to buy and put up new signs. People steal parts off remotely-parked equipment, for souvenirs, I guess? We get lots of ATVs speeding up and down the Forest Service roads around us, which are not open to ATVs. I had a couple of boujee fully-spandexed gravel-bikers ride by while I was fixing fence and in full ear-shot they commented on how much it must suck to live like that. In general, most people seem to think all laws, rules and etiquette are suspended once they get off pavement. I suspect most viewers of this channel, like Donald, are also the type to be respectful, so please don't take it personally (unless you are driving a ridiculous chromed-out lifted 1-ton Brodozer with low-profile tires on a washboard road, then you should definitely take it personally when we laugh at you) and try to understand that the vast majority of the "adventurers" we are dealing with are extremely disrespectful, aggressive and too often actively drinking while handling firearms and "hunting" from the road.

I’m lucky where I live. Using gps I can skirt around private land by a few feet. That or stay in the trees

I live and adventure in Arizona. It can be frustrating when private owners block access to public land from multiple directions. I make extensive use of OnX maps as the premium version shows all property lines and gives info on each parcel. It gives me the confidence to determine which no trespassing signs aren't ligit. I consider myself lucky as Arizona is over 50% public land. My mountain town also has ordinances that creates easements for trail access when development happens along the national forest borders.

GIS mapping for the state or federal would probably be best bet to determine if some of those gates are illegitimate and if the access roads really are public. People have been known to put up gates where they’re not legally allowed to.

Wow! Can't wait for the next video! 🎉🎉

I have reached out to land owners in Arizona for permission, sometimes I get the permission I need.

How frustrating 😮

Wondering if you've ever posted, or contemplated posting, a long term review of the Frontier ? I was looking at prices recently for Frontiers and Tacomas, and the 2024 Tacoma is just getting stupid expensive. I just know a lot less about the Frontier and was looking around for reviews from folks that have owned them awhile and, like you, used them the same way I thinking of...

I might sound old school but one should appreciate new up to date technology GPS etc. BUT one should also know how to read, use and understand an old school map weather on land or sea Thank you

You could work for Oregon Field Guide.

Go to the county records department and look up the plats of where you want to go to find out if it has road easements and who own all adjacent property. I'm a retired land surveyor, it's not hard to do the research. Many counties have the records online, search from your living room.

Private lands are definitely a hinderance and there are lawsuits in the system because of land owners denying access to those lands. I know where that cinder cone is at as I had seen it on sat view before and relocated it and noticed you used google maps for the screen shot lol. With the A-6 site they have closed vehicular access to the site now sadly so I won't be able to get out there to the location the way it sits right now. I was planning to go there this year and pay tribute but there is another 2 crash sites I want to go to, I have yet to find the B-52 site but the info I have gleamed so far is it is in or near the Ochoco National Forest about 33ish miles outside of Burns. I am looking at sat map to scour the area when I can. The other is a B-24 site down in the very southeast part of the state. I am looking online for others to check out for military aircraft crash sites. But also I want to go pay tribute to Jessie Combs this year as well and go to her memorial at the Alvord.

Montana is by far the worst state for blocking federal lands by private land. Along the Continental Divide Montana has several areas that they allow private ownership of land a few hundred feet to block hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands. YOu end up having to access much it from the Idaho side. You can have a few hundred acres in Montana and virtually control thousands of acres of public land.

It is a huge issue in CA where the BLM Land is all Land Locked, so inaccessible to the public, which defeats the purpose. I think there are some groups lobbying for changes to this.

I can believe the mapping software like Gaia and onx have not allowed users to mark road closures. I know that Gaia allows some sort of reporting but it seems like a person at the company has to actually add that info to the map? And Onx only allows reports on a few popular routes? The popular boating SW allows users comment on and anchorage or other feature even off line and other users benefit from that information.

There should be an easement. User reports on onX offroad might help 😉

Just go through!

Easements should be in place. Sad folks cutting off public access.

Easy to give advice on YT: “Just cut the lock.” No- what’s for sure is that people making the comments won’t pay the price if it IS trespassing.

Ranchers or anyone else cannot “assimilate” public land. Mutually agreed upon public/private land swaps do occur but only after public review and usually for the purpose of facilitating access to public land.

It sucks if private landowners are posting, when they don’t have a legal right to deny access. Curious about your set up, and is your spare the same size and same wheel as your other 4, and is it in the factory location? Thanks.

If you had OnX offroad maps it not only shows you private property but also who owns it. I agree with others, most those signs are most likely illegal.

If there is an easement for a public right-of-way across private land to access public land then perhaps the signage (albeit somewhat misleading) only refers to trespassing on the private land that the easement cuts across…assuming it is an official easement.

I had some private property issues when running my WEIOR route. I just rerouted instead of dealing with iffy signage. When in doubt don't push you luck for sure. Looking forward to what you find on the next adventure. George.

I use 'onX hunt' to identify private land. Edit to add, you won't receive it in area with no cell reception.

You need the old universal key to cut locks when you see jackasses putting locks on state land.

As a fellow Frontier owner, I would love to hear how many miles you are covering on this trip, your MPG< and how much extra fuel you are carrying (10gallons?).

There gate would come down, oops

Another great adventure. There are apps out there that will show private, BLM, and National Forestry land and their boundaries. Might be time to take a look at these and let us know which one you like and why.

How did you do that shot around the 5:20 mark

Similar to Quebec province 🙄 here in 🇨🇦

A lot of detectorists use OnX Hunt to determine who owns what property when they want to obtain permission to metal detect in specific areas. I wonder if you could do the same thing when you're out exploring and come up on a no trespassing sign that is blocking your route? The app tells who the property owner is and you could give them a call and see if you can use 'their' road to get to the BLM land. The app will also show if it's actually BLM land.

#defendpubliclands

speed limits are for public roads. and that was your access to that BLM. that private property sign, i believe, is for that property to the right (right side) of that public road. if you were entering private property, signs should be posted on both sides of the road. 😉

We have these nonsense problems going on with cattle ranchers and BLM land in California. I am super diligent and do my homework and make sure that I know exactly where I am. When I run into these situations I have super good quality bolt cutters and electric tools with me I cut the lock, remove the chain, and I physically saw the gate off of its hinges. Then I take the gate and I put it on top of my truck and I haul it for a few miles and then I walk it off into the woods where it cannot be found. Then I return to these areas over and over and over again and I do it again and again. There are many areas where the cattle ranchers have given up. I wear a chest mount 357 just in case I run into trouble. Every place I have done that, I have met with BLM in advance to make sure that these gates and locks are illegal.

It is absolutely true that some public state trust lands are land locked by private land. However, it is also 100% true that private land owners illegally place private property, no trespassing, no BLM access. In fact I live in a place like this in the video. And have a neighbor only a few miles from my property who did exactly that. In fact on two sides of my property is bordered by state trust land. One of them in fact is landlocked. The other is not but the road that goes by state land which some neighbors use only has is a legal easement going back years and years allowing only for cattle to be transported through it. Although, I could put up gates denying to passage to all with exception of cattle ranchers near by. No way I would do such do, even though there is another way not far at that people can access the State land or BLM land. So yes, people darn well know when they buy a property next to state or Federal public lands that are used for camping, hunting and so on the public will use them. And in most of the cases, legal easements are part of deeds. Sometimes on there property, sometimes right along side of it. Heck I have seen where a property deed go back a 100 years or more granting all kinds of crazy stuff, for example, the right of a railroad company to put rail road tracks through ones property. So yes, as one person put it. They are playing games. Absolutely for sure it is more common then not that people buy these properties and then don't want people passing through legal rights of way. Or even using the "public lands" They come to believe they own it. Heck, I have even seen places where lots of properties off grid are for sale and squatters living in the area in make shift shanty shacks place signs up so people can't even get through with out fear of trespassing (when they are not) to see the property. Lastly, it is a certainty that people who live this rural or far off grid carry fire arms. So best, not to get in a confrontation. Because even when you are in the legal right, if your dead what good is it that someone can say he or she was had the legal right of way. Better to call or contact the local BLM or State and ask if it is a right away. It's your land, one of the many reasons you pay taxes.

Ran into a (Karen)several years ago trying to find an old four wheel drive trail I use to go on she was questioning what I was doing in a small mountain community no trespassing signs weren’t posted.As she continued on I finally told her you can’t close the road and then was polite enough to give me directions. We have a lot of private roads but your instructed to stay on the road and not trespass.

The protagonist patiently patrols the perimeter probing for a possible path. [Wife's humorous addition] If only he drove a Pathfinder and not a Frontier.

You'll have to get yourself a helicopter so you can access all that locked in public land.

want to verses can go are two differant things, it's called land locked, asking permission can sometimes get you a pass thru

I would bet most of those “no trespassing “ signs are put up illegally. Farmers tired of “Overlanders” and with the sign out there (little to no phone reception) it keeps people out. I see it more and more as well.

I live in eastern Oregon, I use On-X, and I see this problem all over the place. I've often wondered how BLM personnel handle this themselves and of course: why the hell is there no dedicated access to the public sectors? As many have already stated here, it just ends up being 'free land' for property owners, and they become far too vehement about 'their' property 'rights' despite knowing full well what they bought into. Eventually I'll speak with someone at BLM, but really it's going to take some sort of legal measure to create and maintain access routes to these areas.

I wonder if BLM turns a blind eye to ranchers illegally gating public land because it reduces the number of people camping and potentially trashing the public land.

Rain. Cold. Gates. Backtracking. Less than ideal campsites. It's almost like you are travelling on the eastern half of the country!!

Did you try calling the BLM office to see how to access that land?

More food for thought, paranoid thought... There are a number of videos on KZfaq where people hunting on public lands run afoul of nearby big landowners. Basically, some guy rolls up on them in a truck and shouts "U on MYYYY land, Boiii", even tho a GPS map shows them to be on public land. People just playing games, to get more control than the law allows. Further, I wouldn't be that surprised about the existence of fake signs. We need to keep a positive attitude, in any case.

Not to justify the practice, but, a lot of ranchers in the area will put up No Trespassing signs, mainly because they are tired of people coming out on BLM land, where there is little to no law enforcement, and do things like dump trash, shoot up and vandalize farm equipment, harass and even kill livestock. There have been situations where meth cookers will set up temporary cook operations and then dump their waste chemicals into streams and ponds and other areas used by livestock. There are ways to get access to these areas, your best bet is to stop at an area BLM office and ask for directions and find out if, and where, you can get permission to travel into those areas.

C'mon dude, they don't own the road. Stay on the road and you're legit.

Why is there a gate to move when you enter? If it's for cattle that would be an irony that private cattle can roam freely on BLM, but BLM has no reciprocal understanding for the public.

You hit dirt and didn't go right into 4wd....amateur....lol .....jk....lol....not really.

Knowing what land is private isuon you. Sometimes (rarely ime) private land IS NOT marked. "There was no Private Property signage or fencing." won't hold up if you get busted. It's on YOU to know what is private. onX Hunt will tell you what's what about private property.