"unmaintained" trails vs "maintained" trails

[Adk_dib]

Iv'e seen cairns right in the middle of a slide?

Like I don't already know where to go?

Iv'e also followed the brook up marshall. There were ciarns marking the way, then some spots I could not find the trail. I went back and forth and finally saw were the trail headed back in the woods. Why cairns in the middle of the brook in some places and some were you need it none. I am sorry to say I piled a couple of rocks to start a new cairn.

 

[Grumpy]

... Iv'e also followed the brook up marshall. There were ciarns marking the way, then some spots I could not find the trail. I went back and forth and finally saw were the trail headed back in the woods. Why cairns in the middle of the brook in some places and some were you need it none. I am sorry to say I piled a couple of rocks to start a new cairn.

This brings up a point ...

Leaving these (minimally) maintained trails without "official" markings invites the kind of nonsense referred to above. It invites chaotic "freelancing," either in the creation of markings (cairns or others) or dismantling and removal of them.

On another matter: It is good to see the Adirondack Mountain Club's guidebook and mapping policy embraces inclusion of these officially sanctioned but minimally maintained trails.

G.

 

[Mike P.]

I didn't add any Cairns when I did Marshall in July but I found a couple of those small brook cairns to be where the trail either cossed the brook & left the brook to enter the woods for a little bit.

With the exception of a few extra trails which are blocked well, I thought it would be hard to have gotten really lost. Now Cairns in winter might be helpful but these little ones will be buried. In winter, the unmarked trails might be a bit harder to follow. (Well you can follow the foot path & hope they knew where they were going.)

 

[Neil]

In winter, the unmarked trails might be a bit harder to follow. (Well you can follow the foot path & hope they knew where they were going.)

They can be just about impossible to follow in some cases. With no previously broken trail on several mountains I can remember gazing upon 90 degrees of arc and seeing half a dozen potential routes through the openings.

In these cases I prefer to cheat by carrying a GPS with the herd path uploaded into it.