[at-l] Trail Maintenance: Blazing

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Clark Wright wrote:
>Two points seem appropriate here:  First, like many political issues,
>the question of how often you want to see blazes can become a litmus
>test on whether you believe, as Jim does, that if more than .01% of AT
>hikers [i.e. more than a few out of the thousands of thrus, and tens of
>thousands of sectioners] get lost, then there are not enough blazes, or
>on the other end of the spectrum, that blazes should only occur where
>there is a clear decision point [i.e., intersections with other trails,
>crossing roads at funny angles, etc.]

Clark -
I'm gonna confuse you because you (and Weary) are both barkin' up the wrong 
tree.

Let's make it simple - the AT is supposed to be a "blazed" trail from 
Georgia to Maine for the use and enjoyment of the American public - meaning 
"people".  Any people, any experience level, anyplace on the Trail, anytime. 
  If anyone has a problem with that "definition" then let's hear it.

Now, given that definition, Weary's apparent cavalier attitude toward 
"people" getting "lost" or misplaced" or however else you want to express 
it, is inconsistent with his responsibility as a trail maintainer.  If it's 
a public trail and it's supposed to be for "anyone", then it needs to be 
blazed so "anyone" (including the dumbest, no-load, wet-behind-the-ears city 
boy) can follow it without getting lost.  That doesn't, by the way, include 
those who get lost in shopping malls - some people can't follow their own 
noses.

If any significant number of hikers - of any level of expertise - lose the 
trail in a particular section, then the maintainer for that section is NOT 
fulfilling his/her function. Likewise, if they don't know how to paint 
blazes and aren't willing to get educated, then they're incapable of 
fulfilling the function.   And I don't care who likes this or not - if 
someone's gonna do a job then they should either do it right or get out.

Now - if Weary wants a "wilderness" trail then he should try the CDT.  On 
second thought - they're screwing that up too.  In 1992 there were 600 mile 
sections of the CDT without any marking at all.  By 1999 we didn't go for 
more than 200 miles without seeing a CDT marker.  God knows what we'll find 
in '06. Fact is that I prefer the CDT, at least in large part, "because" 
it's not "blazed" every 30 feet.  But we KNEW it was like that when we 
started - AT hikers have entirely different expectations.

For the rest - I'll suggest that you go do trailwork on trails other than 
the AT - it's a different world and the blazing variations are nearly 
infinite.  If you think the AT is variable, come to Pennsylvania - or New 
York - or West Virginia - and chase some of the off-AT blazing.

Walk softly,
Jim



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