🚀 go-pugleaf

A trail which I use ocassionally (a dozen times a year maybe) one day
last week had a fence across it.  The trail (now less used than it once
was) was on public park land.  

I called the park office and was told that the land which part of the 
trail ran across had been exchanged with the neigbouring farmer for some
other land (actually to build a highway right through the park but that
is another crime story).  I argued that the trail constituted
a public right-of-way.  Their opinion was that as the land was now
private and, combined with the fact that they had not been maintaining
the trail, there was no public right-of-way.

From what I know of the farmer he is a reasonable person.  The nature of
the trail means that there would be no motorized of even bicycle use of
it.  He has done nothing with the land yet (except fence it) but I
imagine he will start to put crops in it at some point.  While one could
skirt any area cultivation to get to the rest of the trail (still on
public land) one does need to go on his land to get to the rest of the
trail.

I want to keep using the trail. While I guess I'll just go over the 
fence for the time being but I'd like to know exactly what my rights
are. Should I inform the farmer of the existance of what I perceive as a
right of way or just use it?  Am I correct in assuming that a public
right-of-way exists?

Robert M. Lewis
Curiouser and curiouser!