[at-l] Story about hiking poles

[wdlists at optonline.net (Walter Daniels)]

The "extra" white blazes in PA are Game Commission boundary markers. PA
maintainers have to be careful to paint extra neat blazes to distinguish
them from the GC boundary which tend more toward white blobs.

Similarly in NY, don't try to follow red (should be all gone) or yellow
boundary blazes. You can tell them from the legitimate yellow trails by
their non-maintenance and hopefully neater smaller blazes.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net 
> [mailto:at-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of 
> theWelshNomad, GA->ME '04
> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:26 AM
> To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: [at-l] Story about hiking poles
> 
> 
> Howdy, All,
>  
> I have a little story about the A.T. and hiking poles.  
>  
> In Sept, Hubby and I went for a 7 day hike from PA 16 to 
> Duncannon.  Between PA34 and PA94 I thought that I had lost 
> him (it happened once before, but it was he who was on the 
> wrong trail).  We had joined up at PA34 and he went up the 
> hill and I didn't see him again for at least 3 hrs. Why?  
> Because, I thought that I was on the wrong trail!  
>  
> My reason for thinking that was that since beginning this 
> section, my hubby had made a habit of stopping to wait for me 
> about every 25 min or so.  When I didn't see him after about 
> 45 min, I started to wonder where he was and if I was on the 
> right trail or not.  
> Further back, I had remembered seeing a trail that crossed 
> over the AT and had white blazes (later, found to be blotches). 
>  
> So, I started looking down at the trail.  What I saw was 
> horse manure and bike tracks.  Now I was worried.  Surely, I 
> was on the wrong trail.  So, I rechecked the white blazes.  
> Well, they looked a bit different from the blazes on the 
> section prior to PA 34.  They looked, well, old and stretched 
> out, not uniform and bright white.  So, now I was very 
> doubtful that I was on the right trial.
>  
> Then, I got the idea that I should look for his hiking pole 
> holes.  I looked and looked and never saw one.  Not in the 
> moss on the trail, not amongst the rocks, no where!  I 
> thought that was very odd.  I thought that I should have seen 
> not only his pole holes, but the pole holes of all of the 
> Thru-hikers, NOBO and SOBO.  I though "OMG, I'm on the WRONG 
> TRAIL!  And I can't tell where I am, ' cause he has the maps!"
>  
> What I did next was blow my whistle.  and I stayed put.  for 
> about 20 minutes.  Then, I turned around and walked back 
> about 1 1/4 miles to the trail crossings.  Well, they were, 
> in fact, white blotches on the trees, county borders, I 
> guessed.  So, back the 1 1/4 miles, still not believing I was 
> on the right trail.  Then, some day hikers appeared asking, 
> "are you Welsh Nomad?".  "Yes", I said.  So, they said, "Your 
> husband said to tell you that he will be waiting for you at 
> PA94.  It's not too far".  Well, so I was on the right trail.  
>  
> Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  <g>
>  
> :o) Mary
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