Hiking & Camping in the Oglala National Grasslands, NE. Navigating public & private land.

This place is what you might imagine when you think of "grasslands."  Miles of grass in every direction.  It is beautiful.

As it is in all of the National Grasslands, some (sometimes many) areas are privately owned.  And it is frequently unclear what land is public and what land is private.

While hiking in the Oglala, we found a section where the boundary between private and public lands was actually marked-------backwards.  The signs indicating private land were on the wrong side of the boundary. 

Here is an example.  Vicky (illegally) leaned over the fence into private property to read this sign (so her head was violating the law---let's pray for mercy).  However, the area "beyond this sign" (where I am standing) is actually public land.  The private land is on the side where you can read the sign.

All of these signs need to be on the opposite side of the fence.

This is going to mess up the thousands upon thousands of people who come here to hike......or maybe it will confuse the two (us) who came here this year.  One or the other.

But it once again shows the difficulty in using these lands for recreational purposes.  Public lands interspersed with private lands, usually with no signs or, in this case, incorrect signs.

But it sure is beautiful.  Our site is quiet, with virtually no other people using the road that is 1/4 mile from us.  Isolated.  Just miles of grass and wind.