The status of blazing?

[Ken MacGray]

7 years ago on Oct 22 a friend and I hiked the Tripyramids, going up Pine Bend and down Sabbaday Brook. Half the descent was done in the dark, and the blazing was just horrible. Once we rounded The Fool Killer it got so bad, with no blazes or cairns visible at any of the brook crossings, that we just bushwhacked back to the Kanc, going in a generally northerly direction and keeping close enough to the brook to hear it. When trails in more open hardwood forests get covered ankle deep with newly-fallen leaves, following the trail itself is a lot harder. Blazes should be visible from each other in both directions, at a consistent height if on trees, and in colors and shapes not seen in nature. An irregular splash of white paint on a tree can be hard to distinguish from lichen by headlamp.

Trails in designated wilderness areas don't have blazes. This is intentional.

 

[NH2112]

Most of that route is in designated Wilderness.

Pine Bend was blazed just fine and I know that’s designated wilderness, because we had a group size limit of 10 in a later hike.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Pine Bend was blazed just fine and I know that’s designated wilderness, because we had a group size limit of 10 in a later hike.

All the way to the summit of N Tri? The first 2 miles of PB are outside Wilderness.

 

[DayTrip]

Trails in designated wilderness areas don't have blazes. This is intentional.

I can think of several wilderness area trails with blazes. Not sure if they are just old and pre date the standards or were unauthorized. The exception to be sure but they're out there. I'm sure that has confused more than a few inexperienced hikers wondering where the blazes went and why they're not consistent.

 

[DayTrip]

All the way to the summit of N Tri? The first 2 miles of PB are outside Wilderness.

It's been quite awhile but isn't there a giant wilderness sign at the border right before the steep climb along the river? I'm pretty sure I recall blazes in that part of the climb, which is after the sign and definitely in the wilderness area.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I can think of several wilderness area trails with blazes. Not sure if they are just old and pre date the standards or were unauthorized. The exception to be sure but they're out there. I'm sure that has confused more than a few inexperienced hikers wondering where the blazes went and why they're not consistent.

The Wild River was declared and Sandwich Range expanded in 2006, so more defined blazes in some of those areas can still be found. They last a long time. I still find blazes on trails that were abandoned in the 70s.

 

[DayTrip]

The Wild River was declared and Sandwich Range expanded in 2006, so more defined blazes in some of those areas can still be found. They last a long time. I still find blazes on trails that were abandoned in the 70s.

I figured. I remember last year being in a wilderness area and seeing fresh yellow blazes ("fresh" being a relative term - maybe 1 or 2 years old). I'm thinking it was the Great Gulf but I forget. Took me by surprise.

 

[Ken MacGray]

I can think of several wilderness area trails with blazes. Not sure if they are just old and pre date the standards or were unauthorized. The exception to be sure but they're out there. I'm sure that has confused more than a few inexperienced hikers wondering where the blazes went and why they're not consistent.

As far as I know, any blazes seen in wilderness areas pre-date those areas' designation.

 

[TEO]

All I know is that the Adams Slide Trail needs to be re-blazed. There's one section where it seems just about everbody loses the trail.

 

[TEO]

[snip] So, you'll hear hikers refer to the Shorey Shortcut or the Orebed Brook Trail, but never the Van Hoevenberg Trail, which is the most popular trail up Marcy. [/snip]

In my circles, including the Adk. 46er Trail Crew, people definitely use "Van Hoevenberg Trail" or an abbreviation.

 

[sierra]

7 years ago on Oct 22 a friend and I hiked the Tripyramids, going up Pine Bend and down Sabbaday Brook. Half the descent was done in the dark, and the blazing was just horrible. Once we rounded The Fool Killer it got so bad, with no blazes or cairns visible at any of the brook crossings, that we just bushwhacked back to the Kanc, going in a generally northerly direction and keeping close enough to the brook to hear it. When trails in more open hardwood forests get covered ankle deep with newly-fallen leaves, following the trail itself is a lot harder. Blazes should be visible from each other in both directions, at a consistent height if on trees, and in colors and shapes not seen in nature. An irregular splash of white paint on a tree can be hard to distinguish from lichen by headlamp.

I love Sabbaday Brook trail and have done it in the Fall, it can make you stop and think, but it's a fairly easy route to follow. You should have got out by daylight, you cant blame the trail for poor planning. As much as I like and approve of good blazing, I support the Wilderness standard 100%.

 

[JoshandBaron]

All I know is that the Adams Slide Trail needs to be re-blazed. There's one section where it seems just about everbody loses the trail.

Haha. That was one of the trails I was talking about that I still see blazes on. And cairns above treeline.

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

Wee trick of the trade: our blaze paint is from the hardware store. It is Rustoleum latex gloss enamel.
Your brush is a 1.5" sash tool. Apply a thin layer of new paint. The blaze must look artificial, with straight
edges and right-angle corners. The "gloss" paint is excellent at reflecting light from a flashlight when the
light is dim. What, no flashlight? Silly tourist...

 

[maineguy]

Wee trick of the trade: our blaze paint is from the hardware store. It is Rustoleum latex gloss enamel.
Your brush is a 1.5" sash tool. Apply a thin layer of new paint.

When I was the trail maintainer for the Pine Bend Brook Trail, the blazes were to be painted with some special ink like substance that the Forest Service would provide. This was in the early 90s.

 

[Salty]

I used to maintain the Chippewa Trail up Black (Benton) maybe about 10 years ago. I don't remember a lot about the training concerning blazing other that it was considered the lowest priority. They supplied some sort of h/w store paint ("Viking Yellow" still sticks out in my mind). After a couple years I felt I had done enough to go ahead and fix the blaze situation. It was really bad in the red pine section of the trail, which is wide open forest. Even though there was a discernable footbed (crushed needles), I'd still get screwed up at times, especially at one turn. The blazing was sporadic and the usual "I blazed this tree whilst going uphill so I'll blaze the other side as well" which many times is not useful.

Fortunately, I knew ahead of time you blaze one side of the trees uphill, and should only be able to see the next blaze, and repeat going downhill. So I was able to see which tree was to be blazed next. Above that section was a brushy section where there was no mistaking the trail, so no blazing there. We had been told to not paint on rocks, and given the final section is slab for a bit, only a minimal of small cairns were already there.

I hate to say I still don't miss clearing waterbars... .

 

[helmethiker]

Thank you all who maintain the trails.

 

[sierra]

Going up Imp Face.

 

[Ken MacGray]

Somewhere in Henniker today. I could see eight red blazes from this spot.

 

[DayTrip]

Somewhere in Henniker today. I could see eight red blazes from this spot.

Those look like slalom gates, not blazes!

 

[Barkingcat]

Les Sentiers de l’Estrie, Quebec...