Blue tags on trees?

[DSettahr]

While climbing Sugarloaf today (trip report here) I noticed a blue tag nailed to a tree. It was most definately not a trail marker, and on closer inspection I determined that it was similar to a plastic dog tag (the kinds that dogs wear, not soldiers). Engraved in the plastic was the number "1607." It was located just uphill from the old beaver meadow on the Pecoy Notch trail, on the western side of the trail. It would only be visible as you were descending the trail (headed north). It looked like it had been there for a while as the wood was just barely starting to grow around it.

I thought it might be a marker for a geocache but found nothing when I dug through the leaves piled around the base of the tree. Anyone have any clue what it might be for?

 

[BrentD22]

My Educated Guess...

My educated guess is surveying markers. I'm not sure if there is private property or the seperation for state and federal. Not really sure though.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I have never noticed the marker before, but I was never looking for it either. It is unlikely that it is a property/survey marker. That location is well within the confines of state land, and the state land boundaries have not changed in several decades. I checked the geocache site, and the closest listed geocache is over on Kaaterskill High Peak.

The Pecoy Notch trail was rerouted about 10 years ago. Very near that spot the trail formerly descended to a trailhead on Wase Road. The old trail is still visible covered by some brush. Perhaps the marker is related to that trail relocation. Another possibility is that it was someone's marker for a path to Dibble's Quarry which was off the marked trail prior to the relocation. The constructions at Dibble's Quarry began prior to the trail relocation.

 

[DSettahr]

It's facing the wrong direction for a marker to reach the quarry... it would be facing downhill, to the north I think if that were the case.

There was a camping site just off the the trail, in fact I didnt notice the fire ring until I left the trail to check out the blue marker. Perhaps the marker has some relation to the site.

In any case, its probably a mystery that will forever remain unsolved. Oh well.