Opinion ID: 891606
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Harris Testimony and the Heck Canyon Trail

Text: {28} As can be seen from the above map, near the Road's southern terminus it joins up with the jeep trail known as the Heck Canyon Trail, a narrow and switch-backing dirt road which branches off to the west into the White Peak recreational area. Historically, local residents have traveled the 2.6-mile section of the Road, then the Heck Canyon Trail, and arrived at the White Peak area. {29} There is no dispute at this late stage in the proceedings that the State holds title to the 2.6-mile section of the Road. It is not clear, however, who holds title to the Heck Canyon Trail, over which one travels to reach the White Peak area. The courts below did not decide this question, and neither do we. Before the advent of this litigation, the question would have been irrelevant to the issue of access to state trust lands. Of the many maps in the record, every map created before this lawsuit began shows the junction of the Road and the Heck Canyon Trail as located on state trust land. In other words, as long as the state held title to the 2.6-mile stretch of the Road, the public could travel the Road to its junction with the Heck Canyon Trail, and then turn into state land and proceed along the Heck Canyon Trail to the White Peak area. {30} But if the boundary between the Ranch and state trust lands were somehow placed in dispute and shifted by dint of judicial decision to the southwest from where it was long assumed to be (and from where it has long appeared on state maps), the junction with the Heck Canyon Trail would then be on Ranch land, not state land. In that case, the Road would no longer provide access to state trust land, even if the State held title to the Road. The Ranch could then erect a gate at or near the Road's junction with the Heck Canyon Trail and public access to state lands would terminate. The Ranch argues this very position to this Court, rooting its argument in the Court of Appeals II opinion. According to the Ranch's view, public access becomes a function of where the boundary line is situated between the State and the Ranch.