Why not remove these disgusting blazes?!!!

[forestgnome]

Today, I was exploring the area south and west of Black Pond, in the Pemigawasset Wilderness, when I saw this disgusting mess...

My first thought was yahoo campers marking a trail to a campsite. As I followed the nasty trail I realized it was intended to mark a trail from Black Pond to Lincoln Brook. I've read here that people bushwack to avoid getting their feet wet on their way to peakbagging Owl Head. Now this is truely abhorant. Indeed, it did lead all the way to Lincoln Brook.

I'm disgusted with the idiot who did it. But guess what? I spoke to a ranger on the way out and he said they were aware of it!!! So, they are busy with blaze removal on the official trails, but not bothering with orange blazing in the forest? Please help me...

 

[Paradox]

Rope?........Check
Rifles?.......Check
Whiskey?...Check
Saddle up boys, we're goin' after them rascals!

 

[NewHampshire]

Wow, the person who did that must be a total idiot. The Black Pond bushwack is supposed to be as easy as easy gets.....head due north and boom, there you are. Why on earth would someone need to mark THAT!?

Brian

 

[--M.]

Silly forestgnome! Did you forget to bring your Audubon guides? That's the musk of the not-so-rare Spotted Chucklehead! Only comes out on Wilderness trails and marks his territory with arrogant abandon!

Now, I heard of this guy once, however, who could go out real early in the morning and bushwack a little off the trail, and he could photograph all manner of woodland creatures. I bet he could tell you how to snap a pic of one of these elusive creatures!

All in good fun....

 

[Artex]

Kind of reminds me of the Ripley fungus in Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher" for some reason.

 

[psmart]

Speaking of excess paint, has anyone noticed all the paint near the UNH, Downes Brook, and Pine Bend Brook trails? This is related to the upcoming "Kanc-7" timber project, which is due to be released for public comment in August. The details should be available on the WMNF Projects page next month. This will be your chance to comment and make a difference.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Speaking of excess paint, has anyone noticed all the paint near the UNH, Downes Brook, and Pine Bend Brook trails? This is related to the upcoming "Kanc-7" timber project, which is due to be released for public comment in August. The details should be available on the WMNF Projects page next month. This will be your chance to comment and make a difference.

I've noticed that timber projects and boundary's marked either by or on behalf of the USFS use a huge amount of red paint sprayed from a distance. The color is usually a bit darker than forestnome's picture above.

 

[forestgnome]

Speaking of excess paint, has anyone noticed all the paint near the UNH, Downes Brook, and Pine Bend Brook trails? This is related to the upcoming "Kanc-7" timber project, which is due to be released for public comment in August. The details should be available on the WMNF Projects page next month. This will be your chance to comment and make a difference.

Yes, I was wondering about that last time I was exploring around Pine Bend Brook, but I remember lots of flagging. Thanks for the heads-up on that.

Happy Trails

 

[John H Swanson]

There's strength in numbers

There many be a few yahoos or chuckleheads out there but the shear number of hikers supporting a cause can (usually) clean up some of their messes quickly.

Granted paint is harder than litter. Also if you erode off the paint with say "chore girl" scrubbing pad then one could say your damaging the trees. Not my decision but if the WMNF requested help with a precribed method of correction it could be quickly corrected if each bagger did 4 or 5 blazes. I say easily, but I mean in one year it would be history compared to the 10 or 20 we're now faced with.

I've cleaned up a few old party spots locally down here in Harriman. Places that were covered in broken beer bottles. No one else worked on this little project of mine. I just picked up a handful or glass during each visit over several years. They are still litter free and it is really nice to re-visit, sit down, and enjoy the "wilderness". Over years, every now and then a small piece raises from the duff, but I'm looking for them.

To this point, we recently climbed up Chain of Pond snow and were repulsed by the litter on the summit. Our small group of 5 made a significant dent with only a little work during our summit break. I think we removed 5 pounds of broken glass, loose wire, some plastic sheeting, an empty propane cylinder, etc. Okay the lead acid batteries and the large wind power propane tanks may be there for some time but if each visitor brought out a little litter it would be essentially clean in one season. If you are going up there, please carry something out. Let's clean up this summit for the future.

Granted I don't pick-up a single piece of trash from popular active litter attraction sites like leantos and trailheads. My pleasure is knowing that removing a single piece of litter will allow me and many others to pass that spot without having the wilderness experience ruined. And when I walk through the woods and it's a litter free day, I smile.

 

[Fisher Cat]

In doing our trailwork on the Osseo Trail we too have come across great amounts of trash. We found two black bags worth of trash, one we have to get on our next trip because with all the tools in the Adirondack pack we just couldn't fit anymore. Judging by the Bud cans inside it was from within the last 5 years, Near the top of Flume was another cache of trash. Mostly papers. We are prepared to start finding a lot of plastic water bottles as the amount of unprepared hikers with a Poland Spring bottle in each hand is increasing.
For removing blazes, mostly old ones, we have used a wire brush with long bristles. If you use short ones it can damage the tree because the tendency is to use too much pressure. Longer bristles do it gently but effectively. The outer bark is pretty resillent to that type of work.

 

[peakbagger]

The paint on the bootleg trail looks like a paint gun shot. Not sure what the Forest Service uses for paint blazing timber cuts, but some foresters use paint guns very similiar to the recreational ones. The key difference is that the forestry paint is permanent versus the recreational paint which is washable. On rare occasions some paint baller gets a good deal on ammo or some of the forestry ammo is stolen which leads to a bit of a surprise during after a paint ball game!

On some selective cuts, the trees to be cut have a blotch up high and one at the base of the tree. During the cut is pretty obvious if the logger is grabbing trees that werent selected.

 

[forestgnome]

The picture I posted does look as if it could have been a paintball stain, but not the case. Many of the blazes wrap all the way around the trees. Anyway, the purpose was undoubtedly to mark a trail from Black Pond to Lincoln Brook. The last blaze is on a large tree on the river bank, and there is an old faded blaze right above it. All blazes are at eye-level. This was done by a peakbagger to make a trail to avoid the brook crossings.

 

[dvbl]

...This was done by a peakbagger to make a trail to avoid the brook crossings.

Ummmmm...how do you know it was a "peakbagger"? Yes, it very well could've been done by those attempting to climb Owl's Head. But couldn't it also have been done by someone (or some group) who likes to camp off trail along the Lincoln Brook Trail, and just want to mark a shortcut? I'm not defending whoever did it; it's a lazy, sloppy, pathetic mess.

(Sniff, sniff) Based on two of your posts in this thread, I'm picking up a scent that you don't care for "peakbaggers", especially those who don't like to get their feet wet.

 

[Fisher Cat]

I was wondering if you noticed spilled paint on the ground as if there was too much paint on the brush when they slapped it on. (if that's what they used to apply it)I noticed some on the leaf in the background.

 

[psmart]

It looks like a spray can was used - I've seen this before, including the runs and overspray.

 

[RoySwkr]

A camp group decided the Long Trail was not well blazed enough and redid about 30 miles with blazes of all sizes a few trees apart, they thought they were doing the world a favor. Fortunately they didn't bother with surface preparation and the blazes are pretty well gone, actually those the GMC painted over in gray/green are more obvious as they had 2 coats of paint.

Between the ignorant and vigilantes, I expect you'll see a lot more of this as the FS scales back.

 

[forestgnome]

Ummmmm...how do you know it was a "peakbagger"? Yes, it very well could've been done by those attempting to climb Owl's Head. But couldn't it also have been done by someone (or some group) who likes to camp off trail along the Lincoln Brook Trail, and just want to mark a shortcut? I'm not defending whoever did it; it's a lazy, sloppy, pathetic mess.

(Sniff, sniff) Based on two of your posts in this thread, I'm picking up a scent that you don't care for "peakbaggers", especially those who don't like to get their feet wet.

Not at all. I believe strongly in the "hike your own hike" motto. However, I am irritated with people who disrespect the forest, such as those who hike in a short way to party and leave a mess. There are some who trudge the trails for one reason only: to "bag" a list peak. By their own words, it is clear that they have no reverence for the forest. They are a small minority, but they exist, and I think the perp was one of them. ICBW, but I think it was intended to aid fellow peakbaggers who want to get to Owl Head but have a distaste for brook crossings and too stupid to use a compass.

Fisher Cat, thanks for the work on Osseo Trail. We need more like you in the forest. I also haul out lots of junk wherever I roam. Agreed about the water bottles; I took three off Lion Head and Alpine Garden yesterday.

Happy Trails

 

[Fisher Cat]

Thanks for your thoughts forestgnome! Its a shame these things are out there needing to be picked up. The worst that day was I found 3 pairs of abandoned kids flip-flops because they stepped in dog doo on the Lincoln Woods Trail ( I have nothing against dogs hiking by the way). I didn't realize why they were left there until I picked them up. I just put them in my Adirondack pack and hauled 'em out. Those old fashioned open top packs come in handy.
Happy hiking!

 

[timmus]

to "bag" a list peak. By their own words, it is clear that they have no reverence for the forest. They are a small minority, but they exist, and I think the perp was one of them. ICBW, but I think it was intended to aid fellow peakbaggers who want to get to Owl Head but have a distaste for brook crossings and too stupid to use a compass.

I don't think peakbaggers would do blazes, because they prefer doing one more peak during the day instead of wasting time spraying paint on their way, even if it's for a friend.


And the type of peakbaggers you are describing are using GPS's, they pick a route on Google Earth and you know what ? They care more about the forest than most of the population, because don't forget that they're out there because this is what they like to do (just like you).

Happy Trails

Do you really mean that

 

[David Metsky]

<mod hat>
Let's stop picking on individuals and trying to second guess people's motivations. Please limit the discussion to addressing the damage, preventing future occurrences, and how this relates to the current Wilderness discussions.

Thank you,

-dave-
</mod hat>