Conclusions: the road is gated off at Cow Canyon Saddle. The property at the saddle only crosses about 1/4 mile of the road. Down in Cattle Canyon (7 miles later) is the Thompson Ranch, which is also private. There are gates at each public/private boundary, each in roughly the right spot. The road between the inholdings is public, but access is discouraged. I updated OpenStreetMap with the gate locations and the public/private boundaries, based on where the county assessor says they are. I haven't actually been to all of them, and don't know where the gates actually are, or if they even exist. If anybody knows specifically, please edit OSM, or feed me info and I'll do it. Specifically want to know about the West, North sides of Thompson Ranch, South side of Widman Ranch.
I looked up the property lines at the county assessor's site. As expected, most of the road is public. The Thompson Ranch is down in Cattle Canyon; that property is small; doesn't come up anywhere near Cow Canyon Saddle. The property at Cow Canyon Saddle is big-ish, but for the most part it isn't at the saddle. There're actually two parcels, and much of the property is actually South of Glendora Ridge Road. Technically, the road to Sunset Peak starts on their private property.
So what are the legalities of blocking off access to a big chunk of public road because a sliver of your private property covers the road? The owners don't have to provide an easement? Is this a situation where they're just waiting for somebody to sue them to provide this easement? In this case that simply means removing the gates on the road. The not-on-the-road area already has an extra gate.
Trip report: I biked up to Cow Canyon Saddle. The dirt road to the North is now gated off, with a fairly serious gate. For years and years this was open, so I hopped the gate to travel the road. If I get yelled at, at least I would know who's doing the yelling.
Past the gate the road travels North for 1/4 mile. Then you get to a saddle. Straight (N) is a firebreak to (eventually) Lookout mountain. Right is a turn to the private property. This used to be the RV park; I don't know what it is now, so I'm going to call it the RV park. This also has a beefy gate. The road goes left, and very soon you hit another gate. At this point were two dudes in two big trucks. They were travelling West, and were in the process of closing the gate after them. When I got to the dude in the second truck, I asked him if I could pass. He said yes. When I got to the dude in the first truck, he had a very different opinion. Eventually he asked the guy in the back, was surprised to find out that it was fine with him, so they let me pass. These were the Thompson Ranch folks. Before they let me go, they made it very clear that their property is a no-go area, and that I was to return the way I came. Plenty good-enough for me.
These people were cleaning up the road. The first truck towed a very large tire to smooth out the surface, and would periodically stop to throw the larger boulders off the roadway.
The road runs ~ 7 miles and drops ~1500ft to get to the Thompson Ranch gate.
Road is in good shape down to Cattle Canyon. The Cattle Canyon crossing and the section that runs along the canyon is rough, but doable on a bike.
Everything is pretty.
On the return I biked a bit into Cattle Canyon. The road exists initially, but becomes permanently washed out quickly. I didn't go in very far, but I still found an abandoned bulldozer, some sort of abandoned Caterpillar vehicle with treads, and a pickup truck (I think) buried almost completely in the river. Can be seen nicely here (may need to click to zoom in):
Near the first bulldozer is a pile of metal. A closer look revealed that it's some sort of old gate:
Welcome Mt Baldy
RV park
Entrance
------->
This place feels like the East Fork, but without the people. There are critters:
Large scats unpictured. And there were critters:
On the return, I crossed paths with the Thompson Ranch people again. They were now quite friendly. Maybe because I was now riding away from their property. Shortly thereafter, gunfire sounds filled the canyon. I guess if the next intruder is more persistent, they'll be ready. Found some paper shooting targets too.
I ran into jeko1034 at Cow Canyon Saddle. He reports that Cattle Canyon from the East Fork side is flooded and unpassable. As we chatted, the sun started to set, setting Ontario Ridge on fire (figuratively)
