Ogden City has closed an unofficial trail that cuts through the Mount Ogden Golf Course. The decision has upset residents like Chloe Reynolds, who’s used the trail from 36th Street to 29th Street for over 20 years. As a runner for Ogden High School and Weber State University, it was a regular part of her training.
“When my kids were learning to ride mountain bikes, Lower Gib’s was still too technical for them,” she said, referring to the official loop that overlaps the now-closed route. “The social trail — if we'll agree to call it that — through the golf course was not, and they learned to ride gravel on that road.”
The trail is flat, wide and relatively smooth, which makes it unique among the area’s rugged paths. Reynolds said that’s good for people with mobility issues, cross country runners training in groups and people out around sunset when leafy trees block the sun from other trails.
The city, however, sees it as a liability.
With support from the Ogden Trails Network and Trails Foundation of Northern Utah, Ogden announced it would close the trail on April 30. New signage and fencing were installed the next day to keep people off the unofficial “social” trail.
Reynolds and roughly 1,800 people have signed a petition to reopen it.
“I will put a lot of effort into having this reversed,” she said.
The city took action after its insurance agency sent a letter that said the trail poses “significant legal and financial liabilities.” The agency recommended that “the City take appropriate steps using signage, fencing and other deterrents to prohibit pedestrians, off-leash dogs and cyclists from unauthorized access to the golf course.” Furthermore, the letter noted, an incident of serious injury or death could increase premiums for all cities that work with the agency.
The resident who launched the petition, Hite Stromberg, thinks advocates have legal recourse to defend the trail. He pointed to Utah’s law about prescriptive easements. If the public uses another’s property without permission for at least 20 years, it becomes an easement, offering them limited rights to access the property.
But Brig Daniels, a law professor at the University of Utah, said that standard is for private property.
“Generally speaking, the rule is, including in the State of Utah, that you can’t assert a prescriptive right against the government.”
There have been some close calls between trail users and flying golf balls, said Mike McBride, Ogden’s marketing and communications director. As the city sees it, there’s no reason to wait for an accident or a tragedy. Signs telling hikers and bikers to look both ways would also be insufficient, McBride noted, as they would imply that trail users are allowed to cross.
“You're gonna cross fairways, you're gonna be on tee boxes, you'll be in cart paths,” McBride said. “And there's no way through the golf course without having those points of contact.”
Weber State track runner Tanner Rogers said the trail is key for warming up because it’s flat and easier on the body than pavement. His parents used to run it in their college days, and he doesn’t know of anyone getting hit with a golf ball.
“We try to be courteous to the golfers, like, make sure they see us,” he said. “And there have been times when we've stopped to wait for them to putt or whatever, just so that we don't get in the way.”
McBride said the city is working to educate trail users.
“Our ordinance allows for trespassing enforcement, but we don't want to get to the point where we have to do that,” he said.
Still, Stromberg and others plan to speak up during public comment at the May 6 city council meeting.
“This is our backyard. We don't want to be told where we can and can't go. This is our playground,” he said.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
