# Fence across the Kokopelli Trail 4 mi east of Cisco



## cataraftbetty (Sep 27, 2010)

Beware dirt bikers, ATVers and people riding mtn bike shuttles for Westwater: 

Some douche bag cattle grazer has strung a fence across the Kokopelli east of Cisco. Its on a downhill section heading east, before you turn off the dirt road onto double track. If you're going fast it could kill you. If you're lucky you'll get off with a broken arm and a few broken ribs. BLM has been notified.


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## climbdenali (Apr 2, 2006)

You didn't have any wire cutters with you, I gather? Lots of little 12" sections are harder to repair than a single cut, fyi. The shit we let ranchers get away with in the west. . .If I blockaded my street "so my cattle (er, child) couldn't get out" the cops would come write me a ticket, then a bill for removing such a barrier. Ranchers can shoot your dog (who weighs 40lb to the cow's 1000lb), but god forbid I slow down the guy speeding through my neighborhood at 50mph by chunking a 2x4 out in the road when I hear him coming. . .

Grazing on public lands, "Fence out" rules, and all notions that the general public should be somehow responsible for free roaming livestock have outlived their usefulness in the modern world, if you ask me.

Cut fences that illegally restrict access to public lands, always pull survey stakes- as George says, and what is it Doc says we're supposed to do with billboards again??


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## mattman (Jan 30, 2015)

The 3 B's, Civil Duty of every American.


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## doughboy (Mar 23, 2009)

climbdenali said:


> You didn't have any wire cutters with you, I gather? Lots of little 12" sections are harder to repair than a single cut, fyi. The shit we let ranchers get away with in the west. . .If I blockaded my street "so my cattle (er, child) couldn't get out" the cops would come write me a ticket, then a bill for removing such a barrier. Ranchers can shoot your dog (who weighs 40lb to the cow's 1000lb), but god forbid I slow down the guy speeding through my neighborhood at 50mph by chunking a 2x4 out in the road when I hear him coming. . .
> 
> Grazing on public lands, "Fence out" rules, and all notions that the general public should be somehow responsible for free roaming livestock have outlived their usefulness in the modern world, if you ask me.
> 
> Cut fences that illegally restrict access to public lands, always pull survey stakes- as George says, and what is it Doc says we're supposed to do with billboards again??


If you had state or federal permit to graze cattle in "your" neighborhood you would prob be fine with fence. Not sure about the 2x4 but if it is "your" neighbor hood it is probably "your" road too. Just sounds like typical douche bag trap set by rancher for good times. Prob only about 10 feet long. Just go around. Rancher prob sitting on hill drinking beer watching you douche bag liberals try to figure it out.


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## mattman (Jan 30, 2015)

Well, the local road that you live on, would actually be considered "your" road, in the exact same sense that a public mtn. bike trail is considered your trail. It IS your road, along with belonging to all of your fellow citizens. 
When one of the citizens starts trying to take posesion of public property, solely for them self, 
( like stringing a fence across a public trail) it might piss you off a bit, (especially if it could maim someone) in the same way a landowner would be pissed off with his fellow citizens trespassing on land that only belongs to him.


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## yak1 (Jan 28, 2006)

Sure are a lot of western grazing lawyers checking in on this.


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## swimteam101 (Jul 1, 2008)

doughboy said:


> If you had state or federal permit to graze cattle in "your" neighborhood you would prob be fine with fence. Not sure about the 2x4 but if it is "your" neighbor hood it is probably "your" road too. Just sounds like typical douche bag trap set by rancher for good times. Prob only about 10 feet long. Just go around. Rancher prob sitting on hill drinking beer watching you douche bag liberals try to figure it out.


Is the right wing asshole rancher opening his farming/ranching government subsidy check while he watches? Shocker the guy from Lake City is pro fence.


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## Tim Kennedy (May 28, 2004)

*Fence on Kokopelli*

If I am thinking about the same fence that is mentioned here, I don't think it's a permanent fence. It's a section of removable fencing across the road between existing fencing on the north and south side of the road. We came across it a couple of weeks ago, while biking the Westwater shuttle. We stopped, opened the gate/fence, walked our bikes through/across it, closed the gate/fence behind us, and carried on down the road. This section of the Kokopelli trial is actually on a dirt road. It is frequently travelled by ranchers' and river runners' vehicles. I don't think that the intent of this is to keep people out. I think it is there to keep cattle in, because there is no cattle guard there. You can open/close it on the north side, with the wire loops at the top and bottom of the post. There is a new/improved cattle guard further east on the "double track" section, at the top of a small hill, after a wet ditch/stream crossing. nbd


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## okieboater (Oct 19, 2004)

Tim Kennedy has the right way to handle this and keep every one happy.

way to go tim!


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## doughboy (Mar 23, 2009)

swimteam101 said:


> Is the right wing asshole rancher opening his farming/ranching government subsidy check while he watches? Shocker the guy from Lake City is pro fence.


Your an idiot. Have you ever even been on the Lake Fork. If so did you see a fence. More bridges that have to portaged during high water than anything. Even one put in by BLM about 6 years ago. Maybe search some post from years ago when I was trying to get people to float the Lake Fork most were scared because they thought there were fences. I was the one clearing trees and improving eddies at takeouts while you were prob working on your sick moves in some play park with your bros. Dumbass


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## swimteam101 (Jul 1, 2008)

doughboy said:


> swimteam101 said:
> 
> 
> > Is the right wing asshole rancher opening his farming/ranching government subsidy check while he watches? Shocker the guy from Lake City is pro fence.
> ...


I do enjoy paddling with the bros from time to time. After you get your next check in the mail bring your wife and my kids up to boat and let's have dinner.


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## Colgador con Rojo (Dec 21, 2014)

doughboy said:


> Your an idiot. Have you ever even been on the Lake Fork. If so did you see a fence. More bridges that have to portaged during high water than anything. Even one put in by BLM about 6 years ago. Maybe search some post from years ago when I was trying to get people to float the Lake Fork most were scared because they thought there were fences. I was the one clearing trees and improving eddies at takeouts while you were prob working on your sick moves in some play park with your bros. Dumbass


*you're

When calling someone an idiot you may want to get that right.


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## cataraftbetty (Sep 27, 2010)

Thanks for hijacking this thread to fight. I started it as a simple warning to fellow Kokopelli Trail users. 

Tim Kennedy is correct. It is a gate. One that was difficult to see as I came barreling down the hill on a public thoroughfare, not expecting to be clotheslined, and never having seen the trail blocked in that manner. I should add I ride my shuttles 5-10 times per year, some on mtn bike, some on Suzuki DR350.

I'd have been quite happy to stop and open the gate, walk thru and close it behind me, if I'd had some warning that it was there. Thanks for posting a safety warning for others when you saw it a few weeks ago, Tim Kennedy.




Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


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## buckmanriver (Apr 2, 2008)

So the title should be changed to gate across trial..


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## cataraftbetty (Sep 27, 2010)

If you hit it at 15 mph or above, you're not going to care about the semantics of whether it is a gate or fence


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


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## Tim Kennedy (May 28, 2004)

Cataraftbetty, sorry about not warning everyone. (You were being sarcastic, right?) Sorry to hear that you may have collided with this enclosure, and possibly been injured. Now, I'm not sure that you encountered the same gate that I am referencing. The one that I came across was very visible from a good distance away and on a relatively flat and straight section of the Kokopelli trail/BLM road 179. I definitely wouldn't call that stretch a "hill" that one would be "barreling down". Admittedly, I am not a very fast mountain biker, but the fencing/gate wasn't in such a place that I was caught by surprise. I had no prior warning via the internet or the ranger at the put-in of the presence of this particular gate, but we managed to negotiate the hazard safely. I attached some Google map images of where i recall the fence/gate was.


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