Re: Short answer: yes
I believe you're wrong about this. While it's true that the US, at both the Federal and state levels, uses a common-law system adapted from the English, I'm not aware of any US jurisdiction which has laws regarding public rights-of-way that are even close to equivalent to the public-footpath laws in the various UK and Crown dependency (e.g. Isle of Man) jurisdictions.
Public-footpath governance in the UK is a specific area of the law, with a number of aspects (official footpath registration and mapping, etc) which have no direct equivalent in US law. In the US, public outdoor spaces include public parks and lands reserved to the public, such as the coastal area below the high-tide mark which many of the states1 make public.
Other public rights-of-way in the US are generally created as easements, so AIUI (IANAL) they fall under contract law.
1Besides California, mentioned in the article, I know Florida, Michigan, and Indiana all do this, for example. And in all these states their coastline exceptions have been tested in the state courts, and SCOTUS has either upheld or declined to review.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
