Blue Paint / Damaged Trees

[Guinness]

This may be a revisit to a previous topic, but I have not been able to find it.

It looks like the Ampersand Club, in their infinite wisdom, hacked the hell out of trees coming out of their club property and following trail #129 for a couple of miles then painting the trees in spray paint blue. If you are not familiar with trail #129, it is the trail leading from the summer parking lot off Coreys Road and in the direction of Seymour Mountain.

All I can say if hacking trees and spraying blue paint is definitely the mind of careless individuals that have no concept of proper stewardship within the park. Some hacks were seen just 20 feet apart and running for hundreds of feet following a well maintained trail. Imagine a tree with the proper red DEC marker mixed between crudely spray painted and damages trees. Dah!

Has there been a response to all this? Has the DEC responded?

 

[ColdRiverRun]

It's private land. The DEC has no say to how you mark a tree on your property with non toxic paint. It's not within the park just because the lands outside the Ampersand club are.

That being said I agree with your view of how ridiculously over board they went next to a well beaten mark trail as a boundary. It might not of been done the way the club wanted it to be but may just be how the people doing the survey/boundary line decided to do it. Then again it may be exactly how they wanted it to say stay the hell off.

 

[imarchant]

Agreed it is ugly, but it's private property. It looked like the hatchet blazes were old but the paint was fresh when I was the in mid August.

 

[Neil]

Then again it may be exactly how they wanted it to say stay the hell off.

That was how I interpreted it.

If "they" felt like it they could put up signs with skull and cross bones that say, "step over this line and meet your maker."

 

[Guinness]

I do not know if the trail passes through their private land or just borders it as all of the "Post Private Property" signs are left of the trail while heading in, but some of the slashing and paint can be found on the right side of the trail and beyond the "Entering Wilderness" signs that have been recently posted. It should be assumed there have been trespassing issues that brought this about. I would hope us hikers demonstrate a respect for property lines, especially when dealing with a club that has been known to be aggressive toward protecting their border.

 

[skiguy]

Agreed it is ugly, but it's private property. It looked like the hatchet blazes were old but the paint was fresh when I was the in mid August.

If your going to blaze a line at least hit the tree..This looks like a drive by shooting out of some old Capone movie

 

[MichaelJ]

Is there a color standard for boundary lines? In the Whites it seems to be red, and in Maine I saw a county line marked with yellow, but I've never seen blue used for a property line and wouldn't necessarily think "boundary" when seeing these, especially if they follow alongside a trail.

 

[imarchant]

Is there a color standard for boundary lines? In the Whites it seems to be red, and in Maine I saw a county line marked with yellow, but I've never seen blue used for a property line and wouldn't necessarily think "boundary" when seeing these, especially if they follow alongside a trail.

The state typically uses yellow along the DEC borders. There was obviously no "standard" followed on these markings. I doubt this was done by any professional surveyor.

 

[adkleaddog]

Blue is commonly used by foresters when crusing and marking trees for cutting....possibly they just had a bunch of blue, and was told use it when marking the line.

 

[Viewseeker]

guess it would easy just to ask them, eh??

 

[dug]

Is there a color standard for boundary lines? In the Whites it seems to be red, and in Maine I saw a county line marked with yellow, but I've never seen blue used for a property line and wouldn't necessarily think "boundary" when seeing these, especially if they follow alongside a trail.

When I surveyed (in NH mind you), private property lines were blue; traverse lines were orange, and spots where we took elevation were yellow. Red I have only seen to mark the WMNF borders. I don't know if it was industry standard or not.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

What in the...

The blue blazes were there when I hiked the Sewards in January. If they are meant to mark the trail, they are not only too numerous and too closely spaced, but also absurdly unnecessary on a trail that has been well established for many years.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

...especially when dealing with a club that has been known to be aggressive toward protecting their border.

Then I better not tell them about my first hike there, when I passed the Blueberry lean-to and hung a "louie" onto the Ward Brook truck trail (instead of a "ralph"), and walked all the way down to the road junction that leads to Ampersand Pond before figuring out my major error.... (Hey now, the sun was in my eyes, I didn't even see the BIG SIGN, and it was my first time in there many years ago)

 

[Jay H]

In the catskills, I have seen yellow being the property borders and blue for trees in logging lands (at least at the professional level) and hunting stands for the summits p)

Jay

 

[skiguy]

Blue is commonly used by foresters when crusing and marking trees for cutting....possibly they just had a bunch of blue, and was told use it when marking the line.

This brings up an interesting subject. Doing some googling brings up some interesting but contrasting info. There does not seem to be any real widely accepted standards. In New Hampshire Blue is used to mark side trails off of the AT usually leading to shelters and campsites. Here's some info from Wikipedia .

 

[David Metsky]

In New Hampshire Blue is used to mark side trails off of the AT usually leading to shelters and campsites. Here's some info from Wikipedia .

That's true for the entire AT. Beyond that there are many local conventions, but nothing that rises to the level of a standard.

 

[rdl]

The hatchet blazes were there last August, but no blue paint at that time. I've got a picture, but not enough time to figure out how to get in on here, maybe tomorrow.