Following rules

[searching for nowhere]

I like to follow rules, but... today I was out exploring and went to an old, abandoned mine. When I got there, there was an old rusty sign that said: "No Trespassing Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out." The sign looked like it had been installed when the mine was operating. I've looked it up now and the last year the mine operated was in 1943. I thought about what to do and I decided to walk onto the property. But I felt uncomfortable being on the site so I didn't stay long and left.

Comments or thoughts about walking pass the No Trespassing sign?

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

IMO in this day and age you never know who lurks around said property.
Would hate to encounter someone with a gun "defending" his property.
Frank

 

[fish more]

I agree with Frank, you are better off staying out of a posted area. You never know what to expect they days!!

 

[ski3pin]

If, when out exploring, we start feeling uncomfortable, we leave. Stick to the safe side.

You were probably correct about the old sign.................but I think you did the right thing by leaving when you were uncomfortable. At times, in "iffy" situations like this, we will make noise to be sure, if someone's around, we don't surprise someone. Like making noise when in grizzly country.

 

[PJorgen]

I'll jump in with a different perspective, with the caveat that I've gotten myself in trouble a few times.

If the no trespassing sign looks old and there are no signs of current activity or habitation, I'd enter the property. I'll look for fresh tire tracks or footprints, seeing none is a reassuring sign. If the property is not fenced or if the fence has fallen down or is otherwise in poor condition that is more reason to feel comfortable entering.

A trick I've used if there is only one no trespassing sign at the entrance is to circle around and enter from the other side, where there is no sign. That gives me plausible deniability that I didn't see a sign.

To be clear, I would never take anything or damage any property, just look around.

 

[AWG_Pics]

As others have said - trust your instinct to leave when you feel it. I look for people 'sign' just as we do for animal 'sign' -- and then act accordingly.

 

[Wallowa]

Ha! Tell me where is this mine property? Would like to explore it....notwithstanding that, I don't disturb where I explore, nor do I "collect" anything....but as the song says "Signs, signs, everywhere signs..." ...I am just an old fart who respects property rights but isn't fearful of 'taking a look' if appropriate... Need to pull the tail of dragon occasionally ...

 

[craig333]

Its one thing to wander around a mining site. Stay out the mine itself. Its probably been abandoned but you never know for sure.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I like to follow rules, but... today I was out exploring and went to an old, abandoned mine. When I got there, there was an old rusty sign that said: "No Trespassing Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out." The sign looked like it had been installed when the mine was operating. I've looked it up now and the last year the mine operated was in 1943. I thought about what to do and I decided to walk onto the property. But I felt uncomfortable being on the site so I didn't stay long and left.

Comments or thoughts about walking pass the No Trespassing sign?

A close friend who spent his entire career as a fisheries biologist in Alaska said the only thing he feared more than a cow moose with a calf, was walking into a mining camp.

Discretion is the better part of valor… you made the correct choice.

 

[searching for nowhere]

Thanks for all your comments. Here is a bit more info. The site is in Nevada, SW of Silver Peak. As I drove up to it, I could view most of the site - no trees. I never thought that someone might be there, but maybe I should have. My fear was that the owner/manager would drive up and yell at me for not following the sign. While on the site I saw recent warning signs regarding safety around the headframe and adits but these warning signs were not at the road entrance. To me it was clear that the intent of the sign to keep people away was when it was an operating mine. The mine operations had stopped but the sign wasn't removed. Hum.

On a somewhat more positive note, for those that like to investigate old mines, I went to a mine west of Pioche. There weren't any signs except to let everyone know that it was an active claim. That mine had equipment and old timber that could be stolen, but no one was keeping the general public out.

And one more positive note. The BLM office in Caliente was a wonderful source of information and extremely helpful suggesting places to visit.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

W Sagebrush is wise.

 

[Smokecreek1]

I spent several years early in my BLM career working in the Mother Lode areas of the Sierra Nevada foothills-mining country. Yep-one of the first things you learn in doing field work on Public Lands (or any lands for that matter) is to pay attention to all signs and learn to say yes and agree and don't argue with any miners or people working on the property. People who hold claims tend to overtime forget that they are only using the land and that it is not theirs (yet) and it is not worth a bullet to prove your point because folks are very protective and always on the lookout for any claim jumpers or any others including unarmed government types wandering around. We had one rec planner that told a placer miner the area he was mining on was a protected area and could not be mined or claimed---so the miner threw him in the Merced River ---- he was later indited for assaulting a government employee.

Danger signs on abandoned mines that may have reverted to federal ownership again poise another problem because of some hitch in federal law that makes the government liable if you fall in a mine pit if they sign it, but not if they don't sign it-never could understand the reasoning behind that rule ! So my best advise is pay attention to all signs you see out there-even if you know they are wrong-there are enough other things out there to worry about anyway than some irate miner or land owner with a gun who believes he is right!

Smoke

 

[Taku]

Private land is private land, if public then illegally posted which is very common.

 

[geologyjohn]

I’d counsel being very careful around mining operations in the western U.S.

My first work related encounter with a armed crazy dude was in the Coso Mtns just east of Little Lake along Highway 395. It was 1977 and I was a young U.S. Geological Survey employee doing some seismic research in the area. I was working alone (required at that time) and driving my U.S. Gov marked Jeep well off the grid (rough grade dirt road) towards a remote entrance to the north end of China Lake Naval Weapons Center. Dropping down into some low ground near the base of a cinder cone, I encounters a weather beaten dude with an old lever action Winchester 94. He was standing in the road. He walked up to the Jeep and told me to “get”. And he was pissed off. I tried to tell him that I was a geologist going to work over the next Mtn and this was my route. He told me “not this way”. I turned the Jeep around and left. But during that brief encounter I was able to see that he had a front end loader and a dump truck. What he was doing was illegally mining the cinders from the old volcano to sell as road base, or similar use. He was on BLM land.
Over the years I had a number of other off the grid firearms related experiences, most commonly during the 1980’s while working in remote parts of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, California. These were either small time pot growers or on occasion bigger grows, and the dudes who thought our government 4WD vehicles (and our helicopter) were part of Operation “Camp”. Campaign Against Marajuana Planting.
Bottom line, if I encounter a “No Trespassing” sign in those remote places, I pretty much pull out my map and find another route. The further off the grid you are, the less tolerant the individual on the other side of that sign seems to be.
Two other personal lessons. These might earn me some negative feedback, but here it is.
When traveling off grid in the western U.S. (especially Alaska, and the SW), I travel with firearms. Always have-always will. Secondly, I don’t go to these places with just one vehicle. “S- happens”, and having a second person and a spare vehicle might save your life.
Sorry for the long post. John