Yeah, that's a tough one. I've never put "No Trespassing" signs on our property. It didn't have them when we bought it and I saw no reason to put them up. Still haven't. I did put up "Hunting by Permission Only" signs, but that was really a compromise with my wife who did want "No Trespassing" signs up.

For me, it really boils down to rather the restrictions were put in place as a result of actual problems or to prevent imagined problems that never really existed.

I can imagine all kinds of problems that trespassers might cause on our property. My wife can imagine even more. But none have really occurred. Somebody stole my amazing as seen on TV stick it anywhere light bulb that I stuck in an outhouse down there. It was pretty easy to steal, it was probably kids, and they probably used it to light their way back home, but that's it. That's not worth putting up "No Trespassing" signs. I'd rather those local kids were hiking down there than have nothing better to do.

My guess is that no one would have bothered you, especially if you had your daypack on, were alone, and stayed on the trail. If I were the owner I'd be looking out for groups of teenage boys lugging boxes of beer, but I'd think nothing of seeing you out there alone, or small groups carrying packs.

So I probably would have went. I'm a stickler about not trespassing, but knowing my intentions were pure I think I'd have gone ahead and done my hike. And knowing what you know now I'd surely go back and do it.

I know you have a lot of maps and info on those trails, so I'm guessing that your maps didn't indicate that section was restricted. That's certainly an omission worth noting. A local "Trail Guide Book" author here, Tim Ernst, makes a point to mention private land borders near any of the routes he describes and I've always appreciated that.