St. Paul, Minn. ? Two weeks ago in the Nemadji State Forest near Moose Lake, Minn., an all-terrain-vehicle rider confronted some horseback riders.

“Get off our trail,” he told them, even though the trail is open to both uses.

Last summer in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a teen-ager sat near his gear on a narrow landing, blocking the way for arriving canoeists who needed to use the portage trail. He stared at them blankly, while eating a candy bar, until he was asked to move.

On Twin Cities-area trail systems, all sorts of conflicts are reported: pedestrians are frightened by passing bikers; bikers complain that pedestrians block the trail; irresponsible dog owners let their pets leave messes or run free in trail traffic.

People aren’t always minding their trail manners. As Minnesota’s trail systems expand and interconnect, and as humans keep finding new ways to move around on paved and unpaved trails, it’s becoming more important for trail users to respect and make room for one another, says Linda Escher of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

As visitor services coordinator for the DNR’s Trails and Waterways Division, Escher has worked for a couple of years to spread the word on trail etiquette through publications, signs and other channels. She is the Miss Manners of the trails.

“To me it’s kind of parallel with other types of etiquette,” she says. “To anyone who has learned manners in their life, (trail etiquette) would be no news to them.”

She points out that even courteous people need to learn a few pointers specific to trail situations. Every trail is different, and managers report varying user conflicts. The 18-mile Gateway Trail from St. Paul to Pine Point Park near Stillwater is among the busiest multi-use trails in the state, says Suzann Willhite, the DNR area supervisor who oversees the trail.

Bikers, walkers, in-line skaters, pet owners, even skateboarders and scooter riders can be found whizzing along the Gateway on a busy day.

“If we get conflicts, it’s between fast bikers and either slower bikers or walkers,” she says. “And sometimes bladers and walkers, because bladers tend to kick out a ways, and that alarms people.”

According to a 1997 survey, 30 percent of Gateway users reported having user-conflict problems on the trail. The two most common complaints were about other trail users blocking traffic or passing without warning.

Willhite has worked with Escher and local trail clubs to spread a “Share the trail with others” message.

Bookmark-size cards remind trail users, among other things, to keep right so others can pass, keep pets on leash and warn other trail users when passing by giving an audible signal.

She thinks the campaign has made a difference.

“With trail-user conflicts, so much of it, I think, depends on education,” she says. “It’s like the helmet issue. Now everybody just wears a helmet it’s standard. So we’ve decided to do more to educate people about what’s expected.”

On the western edge of the Twin Cities, the Luce Line has a messier trail etiquette problem: dog doo.

The 30-mile crushed limestone trail from Plymouth to Winsted shares some of the Gateway’s biker-pedestrian strife, but DNR area supervisor Martha Reger, who oversees the trail, lately has faced a preponderance of dog-waste issues.

“That one issue has just wreaked havoc for us,” Reger says. “To this day I’ll never understand and I’m a dog owner why you’d let your dog go to the bathroom in the middle of the trail that you yourself have to walk on.”

Unleashed dogs bring one set of problems, Reger says, and long-leashed dogs present another, such as the “clothesline” scenario involving an oncoming biker, a leash stretched taut across a trail and the tragic fate of a family poodle.

Dogs should be kept on a 6-foot leash, Reger says.

Some bikers don’t much enjoy their ride when they have to repeatedly shout at others from behind, and the “On your left” mantra can become monotonous. Some prefer a bell with a sharp, clear tone.