[at-l] Enhancing the AT Blaze

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

t 12:30 PM 3/18/2004 -0500, Bob C. wrote:
> >"...They ain't that hard to figure out for anyone who has two brain cells to
> >rub together."
>
>Those of us who have worked on trails and who are regular hikers have figured
>out the off set code, to be sure.
>
>  But for the person who sees one for the first time, it is not always 
> intuitive
>that it's the top offset, not the bottom that signifies the new direction. The
>ATC vote to allow offset blazes passed by a very narrow margin for this reason
>-- and because some of us are stick in the mud traditionalists. FWIW. The ATC
>"rule" requires maintaining clubs to choose one blaze method or the other, to
>minimize hiker confusion.

What other system of direction finding  is there that points toward you to 
indicate where you are going? Maps are held so that the direction of travel 
is away from you or up. Road signs uniformly indicate direction upwards, 
not downwards.  I can't imagine why anyone would think the lower blaze 
indicated the direction of the turn. I can recall coming upon a section of 
the AT that crossed a road in NH once while driving through. I took the 
opportunity to take a brief walk on the section that was labelled with a 
road sign indicating the AT. I also discovered when I returned to my car 
that I couldn't see/find the trail on the other side nor any indication of 
where it went. I suppose if I'd had the Maps, the Companion or such I'd 
have known from them but I couldn't tell from the trail marking where it went.


>Also. Those of us who seek to keep the trail as wild as possible tend to 
>prefer
>the simple, one atop the other blaze. The simpler the blazing is, the 
>better it
>blends into the background. Finally. As Rick pointed out, there is nothing 
>wrong
>with forcing hikers from time to time to pause and think about the trail 
>and the
>trail environs.

I also can't see how two 2x6 white blazes lined up vertically "blend into 
the background" any less than two 2x6 white blazes offset. That's 4x6 
inches of white paint no matter how you arrange it and when I am not sure 
if I have gotten off a trail I'm not "thinking about the trail". I'm 
thinking 'somebody did a poor job of marking it'.

If you want people to find their own way then do away with marking and 
force them to use maps. Incidentally, that was tried in the Adirondack High 
Peaks where there are traditionally several 'trailless' peaks with no 
maintained trails. In recent years Rangers have been cutting semi-official 
trails because they got sick of the web of herd paths and rescuing people 
who got into trouble while trying to find summits that had no officially 
marked trail.

If it's a marked path, it should be marked consistently from one end to the 
other (both ways). What confuses peopple is inconsistency. I remember the 
first time I drove in Canada and came upon a traffic light with a sign that 
said "Advanced Green When Flashing". Huh? I still don't know what those 
zig-zag lines mean on the streets in England. I've never driven there so I 
didn't have to figure it out. Consistency is the key to being understood. 
Use one system and the closer it is to other familiar systems the fewer 
people you will confuse. As for those who are confused anyway, well, some 
people are just easily confused and nothing will change that.