Balarat Creek Ranch

P.O. Box 76
Jamestown, Colorado 80455

Balarat Creek Ranch is a family owned and operated ranch. 
It is the site of the historic Boulder County town of Balarat, privately owned since 1878.
Our mission is environmental and historical preservation.

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How the Mile-Hi Jeep Club uses RS 2477 as an excuse to trespass and vandalize.    More RS 2477 vigilantism.

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BALARAT CREEK RANCH HOME:  RS 2477 AND PRIVATE PROPERTY

OFF-ROAD CLUBS RESORT TO ANTI-LANDOWNER  HARASSMENT AND RS 2477 VIGILANTE ACTION

PHOTOGRAPHIC TOUR OF BOGUS RS2477 CLAIM ON BALARAT CREEK RANCH

COHVCO STAY THE TRAIL SHARED ACCESS ALLIANCE TREAD LIGHTLY TRAILRIDGE RUNNERS MILE-HI JEEP CLUB

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General warranty deed challenge

Members of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club and other off-road organizations continue to proclaim that Barking Dog Trail is a public right-of-way.  However, not one of them has ever requested copies of the warranty deeds for Balarat Creek Ranch.  This is a challenge to members of these groups to produce a copy of the warranty deed (available from Boulder County) and show where the Barking Dog right-of-way is recorded as an exception to the property rights granted by the deed.  They won't, because they can't.  There is no right-of-way.

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Mile-Hi Threat O' the Day

The threats from Mile-Hi Jeep Club member Vernon Brandt are coming almost too fast to keep up with.   As of October 1, 2003, he is still listed on their web site as an official representative of the club.  Will the Mile-Hi Jeep Club remove Vernon from his offical post to avoid being billed for damages?  Keep watching.

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Boulder Daily Camera

Clint Talbott of the Daily Camara wrote a column about our family's problem with the Mile-Hi Jeep Club.

Vernon Brandt's quest for new mud bogging sites

With the loss of Barking Dog Trail to the Mile-Hi Jeep Club mud boggers, Vernon Brandt (a representative of the club) is seeking new locations for this illegal activity.  His unfulfilled wishes can be viewed here.

   Vernon Brandt, Mile-Hi Jeep Club Representative, mud bogger, and R.S. 2477 vigilante.


Vernon Brandt and the Mile-Hi Jeep Club are anti-access for ordinary people

The Mile-Hi Jeep Club is working hard to limit access on many roads.  They want to keep many roads open only to their own members and to other elite recreationists who afford specially modified  rigs (often costing $60,000 or more) .   When ordinary families try to explore mountain roads in their unmodified SUVs, obstacles can prevent access.  Landowners and other pro-access people try to make roads easier by "stacking rocks" to smooth out the drive.  This helps traditional users such as ranchers access their own property, and helps ordinary people (including the elderly and handicapped) to get to out-of-the-way places. 

The exclusive off-road clubs have a policy of preventing access for traditional users by "unstacking" rocks.  This makes the roads rougher and more difficult for people who drive ordinary vehicles, and keeps out elderly and handicapped to cannot physically tolerate such rough terrain.   Off-road clubs have even started bringing in new obstacles to keep out regular drivers, who they call "the lightweights".  Vernon Brandt, (Mile-Hi Jeep Club's Representative to COHVCO) has been a leader in such anti-access activities on public lands such as BLM's Penrose area.   His attitude is, "if you can not make it without stackin then go home and build a better rig...".  But Penrose is on public land, and turning these roads into extreme rock-crawling courses results in shutting out the public.

"No limits" four-wheeling like that promoted by Vernon Brandt is gaining in popularity, and has been the topic of recent forum discussions. 


Vernon Brandt denies being Mile-Hi Jeep Club representative

It has been brought to our attention that Vernon Brandt is now denying his official position with the Mile-Hi Jeep Club and COHVCO.  A check with the Mile-Hi Jeep Club's  web site reveals that Vernon is still a formal representative of these off-road clubs.  This fact is further confirmed by the Mile-Hi Jeep Club's September, 2003 newsletter.  The following information can be downloaded from the web site. 

 The Mile-Hi Jeep Club has never disavowed the statements that Mr. Brandt has made (as club representative) on their behalf

Mile-Hi Jeep Club Officers Mile-Hi admits all types of 4 Wheel Drive vehicles and has members that comprise 12 Patrols. The Patrol Leaders form the Board of Directors, which govern the club. The club belongs to and fully supports the Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc., the United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA), COHVCO, Tread Lightly, and the Old Car Council. Between the club and it's Patrols, we maintain 23 Adopt-a-Road trails in Colorado and work closely with the U.S. Forest Service to help fund repairs and provide work parties to keep these trails open for public use. 2003 MHJC Officers Commander Jeff Fish Deputy Commander Gary Moul Secretary Dale Znamenacek Treasurer Chevette Lovisone   Committee Chairman All 4 Fun Kevin Carter Entertainment vacant Good of the Club Patrol Sponsored Historian vacant Land Use Don Clemens Legal Paula Provence Membership Dawn Stephen Newsletter Jill McCorrison Sales Zane Znamenacek Publicity Greg Mackey Trip Planner Richard Dillon Web Page Neil McCorrison   Representatives CA4WDCI vacant COHVCO Kevin Carter Vernon Brandt State Association Kevin Carter Vernon Brandt

Mile-Hi Jeep Club's position on private property

Vernon Brandt and Greg Mackey are officers and prominent members of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club. They call our creek "Barking Dog Road" and say it is an R.S. 2477 "public highway" . Vernon Brandt is currently raising money to rent heavy construction equipment so they can bulldoze our creek and create a motorized playground.

• Mile-Hi Jeep Club road-building plans
• Fund raising progress for turning our creek into a Jeep road
• More Mile-Hi Jeep Club road-building plans
• R.S. 2477 Congressional briefing, part 1 of 2 (large pdf file, please be patient)
• R.S. 2477 Congressional briefing, part 2 of 2 (large pdf file, please be patient)
• R.S. 2477 Letter to Congress

Barking Dog Trail is not an R.S. 2477 road

Barking Dog Trail was built with private money on private property.  Revised Statute 2477 states (in its entirety): "The right-of-way for the construction of highways over public land, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted."  The words "construction" and "highway" have been variously defined by the legal system, but no court has ever suggested that the law applies to a trail that was constructed on private property.  The Colorado Surveyor General's Office published the official map this area in 1884.  It shows the private land that is now Balarat Creek Ranch.  The private property, which was patented in 1878 and 1879, still had no road or trail  across it in 1884.  Barking Dog Trail was constructed much later by the private owner.  R.S. 2477 does not apply.

1884 map published by the Colorado Surveyor General.
This official record of this area is available from the BLM.

The Smuggler (299 A & B), Careless Boy (301 A & B), and  Eldorado (304) patents were all private property in 1884.  These are the oldest five of the 18 patents that are currently part of the Balarat Creek Ranch. 
Balarat Road approached from the southwest and ended at the property line.  Barking Dog Trail, to the northeast, did not yet exist (nor was there a road in S. St. Vrain Canyon). Balarat Creek is shown flowing thorugh the property.  The creek is the route of the "road" claimed by the Mile-Hi Jeep Club.

"The above Map of Township no. 2 North of Range No. 72 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian,
 in Colorado, is strictly conformable to the field notes of the survey thereof on file in this office, which have been examined and approved, SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Denver, Colo.  January 14th, 1884."


Tread Lightly!?

Tread Lightly! is an organization that tries improve the public image of the motorized recreation industry by convincing off-road clubs to adopt a responsible recreation policy.  Their recommendations are

Travel only where permitted. Respect private property. Educate yourself. Avoid streams and meadows. Drive responsibly

However, many clubs consider these rules to be too restrictive.  The leaders of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club have rufused to accept these principles, which limit their oportunities mud bogging and other fun.  They even display their blatant disregard for the Tread Lighltly code of behavior on the cover of their newsletter.

The Mile-Hi Jeep Club glorifies mud bogging and other
discrespectful, irresponsible off-road practices on their web site.

June 15, 2003:  Want access? Walk

RS 2477 has indeed created conflict between "rich weasel" out-of-state owners and locals who want access. But it has also created conflict between "Monster Jeep" clubs and landowners who want to protect their family's heritage.

Many owners simply want to preserve traditional, low-impact access (also known as "walking") across their property, and are sincerely motivated by a desire to save the environment, history and rural character of their birthright, while maintaining access for the community.

Activists from the Mile Hi Jeep Club and other extreme recreation groups have already played the class warfare card in an attempt to turn opinion against my family. We blocked their vehicles from our Boulder County property in 1999.

We no longer live in Colorado, but we still aren't rich. The giant vehicles that people drove through our meadows cost more money than we paid for our land. All we have there is an old cabin (which we finally electrified after 40 years), a used trailer, and some mining equipment that was vandalized when it was parked near the trail.

We encourage access along our stream by ordinary people.

But the elite who can afford super-modified vehicles and threaten RS 2477 lawsuits can go elsewhere.

June 22, 2003:  Access should be for all

Re: "Want access? Walk," The Open Forum, June 15.

Letter-writer Mark Boslough is mixing fact and fiction. He will make up whatever sounds good to cover his closure of a public road (County Road 87).

I represent Mile Hi Jeep Club. We have never driven through his meadows or messed with any equipment of his. We and other recreationists sought access to a road that has been traveled since 1900. (There is a court case from 1903 showing this fact.) Just because he has land alongside a road, he thinks that makes it his road.

Mile Hi isn't a bunch of "extreme recreationists." The majority of the people in the club (120-plus members) drive near-stock vehicles and like to get together and enjoy family activities. We spend hundreds of hours a year working with the Forest Service to clean and repair roads and trails. We help pay for Forest Service people to do projects.

Generally speaking, we practice "tread lightly" rules, help others both on and off the trails, and only push when we have been pushed into a corner. Very few of us drive "super-modified" rigs.

Just to set the record straight, we did not file a lawsuit against Mr. Boslough. We did give money to help the landowner above Boslough to regain access to his land. We're for equal access for all - not just hikers.

The Mile-Hi Jeep Club's web site shows Greg Mackey enjoying some "family activities"
in his "near-stock" CJ5 with with spring-over-axle conversion and 38" tires
(hope the kiddies are wearing their seat belts).

The sign says "CR 87 closed by Boulder County Commissioners".  The hearing was
on December 12, 2000, as is documented in the public record.