<p>I didn't want to ignore your post Tom. Good information and perspective. I finally found the time to read and digest Chapter 14 of your New Mexico trespass link. It really boils down to common sense but I would like to shift the emphasis of trespass from the hiker to the land manager/property owner. This link is a prime example of the piles of money the government spends on reams of pulp to explain simple rules. Some of that pulp budget could be spent on a color coded web-based map that each agency was expected to continually update on a quarterly basis as land issues changed. Information sharing would solve the majority of trespass issues created by hikers, hunters, horse, ATV, rockhounds, birders and berrypickers. It would end any question of what was legal right-of-way and what was not.
</p>
<p>The simple hiker solution is to establish a trail. Maybe it should be explained to those who oppose a trail in different terminology. We should call it the National Scenic Cattle Chute. Tell them we need to herd all those hikers through the high desert and keep them all together where we can keep an eye on them. The class of 2007 is an example of how this trail is gaining in popularity with LDH's. Without a designated trail it is pretty easy to figure they will all be hiking a shotgun pattern across New Mexico. Ben (Franklin) said it best, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." A trail, no different that I-10 or Rt. 66, should gain right-of-way in the same manner. It will improve the economy of every outpost along the trail and end all trespass issues--basic crowd control.
</p>
<p>I did camp in White Sands, but legally. You can get a backcountry permit from the Monument. They lock the gate at night so you are in for the duration even if aliens try to experiment on you. We always go during the full moon. In the words of John Denver it's, "Far Out."
</p>
<p>--Keep Smilin', Dick E. Bird</p>