Uneasy Feeling

As has been promised for the eight years that I have lived in Highlands Ranch, the OSCA (big ass open space) has been finally opened to hiking a biking.  These 8,000 acres have been set aside from the original 22,000 that comprise Highlands Ranch.  The open space and trail system is paid for by a tax on our homes and our quarterly dues.  In a sense, I paid for the OSCA to be shared with my neighbors.

But I am not sure how I feel about this.  This guy is pissed off that the open space isn’t open for everyone.  He didn’t pay for it but feels, as many people (not just Coloradans) do, the open space is for all people. 

This battle has been long running in the mountaineering, rock climbing and fly fishing community.  Private land has a lot of cool mountains to climb and fish to catch.  Should we all be free to enter someone else’s land to use its recreational resources?  Should a person be allowed to have their land free from trespassers?  If a dude lives on a tiny plot of land but has a cool rock on it, should everyone be entitled to climb it or should the guy that owns the rock have the freedom to view his rock without people climbing on it?  It is the same issue when we ride our road bikes through a gated community to link up a road on the other side.

There is a ton of precedent on this issue.  In fact, go try and ride on Ken Caryl’s open space; I got stopped three times, while with a resident.

To the dude in running this site, I offer you this: In the short term, if you would like to use the trail give me a call and we will go for a ride.

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