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mountainman
07-25-2010, 21:14
I used to rely on blue blazes to find water, then I learned they can be for alternate or short cuts. I followed one in NY that I don't know what it was for, but the return trip made me every anger.
Am I mssing something about the meaning of blue blazes?

LIhikers
07-25-2010, 21:25
A different color just means it's a different trail. It's up to you to know where it goes. That's what trail maps and guide books are for.

bloodmountainman
07-25-2010, 21:31
Blue Blazes are paths off the beaten path. They are access points, water sources, campsites, shelters, and "must see" viewpoints. The more of them you can use gives one more options.

mountainman
07-25-2010, 21:31
I asked a reasonable Question. I don't need a smart a-- answer.

mountainman
07-25-2010, 21:35
Bloodmountain, My commend wasn't to you as it appears to be. I'm sorry it looks that way.

Cabin Fever
07-25-2010, 21:38
Bloodmountain, My commend wasn't to you as it appears to be. I'm sorry it looks that way.

No but the answer you are referring to is correct. A map or guidebook will tell you what it is.

emerald
07-25-2010, 21:41
You got several resonable answers. The last sentence of the 2nd post strikes me as best so far.

Tinker
07-25-2010, 22:49
Straight forward might be a better place to ask a question than General.

Honestly, from what I've seen from hiking nearly half of the AT and all of the LT, blue blazed trails are any trail which crosses the main trail for any number of reasons - access from road, to water source, shelter, etc.

Appalachian Tater
07-25-2010, 23:03
mountainman, you'll find smarta__'s all over the internet. Don't let them get under your skin. Just ignore everything they say. :cool:

weary
07-25-2010, 23:14
A few blue blazed trails are shortcuts, often being former AT sections that have been bypassed for any number of reasons. Most, however, in my experience have been trails to special attractions that a maintainer thinks hikers might like to see. They lead to scenic overlooks, waterfalls, historic sites, shelters, camping places, and towns. A few are alternate routes maintained to ease passage in inclement weather.

Maps and trail guides provide details.

Appalachian Tater
07-26-2010, 06:09
Et tu, Weary? Give the guy a break.

scooterdogma
07-26-2010, 06:20
It looks to me like Weary was just showing how to post a respectful answer without the attitude. Very concise and to the point. No belittling last sentences directed toward the original poster. Weary, please, answer my questions anytime :rolleyes:

Rocket Jones
07-26-2010, 06:22
Did you think blue blaze = water source? I can see where that could be misunderstood, but at the same time LIHikers was right. Maps and guidebooks give you that information and you'd see that it's not always true. In my local National Forest, there are white, blue, yellow and red blazed trails.

bloodmountainman
07-26-2010, 06:27
Maps and trail guides do provide details. Exploring a blue blazed trail will provide experience. I like to use them to access the trail. These routes are best when trailhead parking lots are full. I would prefer them to be obscure trails nobody follows. Thru hikers really don't need them.

Bucherm
07-26-2010, 06:29
I'm not sure that the first response was really that much of a smartarse answer....:confused:

bulldog49
07-26-2010, 07:50
I'm not sure that the first response was really that much of a smartarse answer....:confused:


Agree, the answer was appropriate to the question. Particularly for someone named mountainman. :p

Now this is a smart assed comment.

Pedaling Fool
07-26-2010, 07:55
Post #2 already answered the OP's question, can't really add to it...time for thread-drift.




:sun

Tennessee Viking
07-26-2010, 09:57
Wikipedia had this:
In modern times, most commonly, a painted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint) marking of a consistent shape or shapes (usually, but not always, rectangular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectangle)), dimension and color or combination of colors is used along the trail route. Commonly, in North America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America), to avoid confusion, it is one single color, often white or one of the primary colors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color) — red, blue or yellow, as green tends to predominate in woodland environments where most trails requiring blazing are found. Orange can also be used, but on the whole it is good to avoid earth tones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_tone) as they are not as easily distinguished from their surroundings.

Then, I cannot remember where I saw it, but a couple years ago I came across an article that defined the blaze colors. Years ago, the colors usually told what conditions of a trail had and were factored together; length/grade/camping/water/access/allow traffic. What I can remember:

White: long trail.
Blue: Access trail to a longer trail, alternate route, shelter/camping, and water
Yellow: Open to Horse Traffic/limited access.
Red: Cross or bordered private property, limited camping, rough conditions.
Green: Trail route along roads, open to bike traffic.

ki0eh
07-26-2010, 10:16
According to the current PA DCNR trail marking standards (http://www.hike-mst.org/trailmark.pdf) blue blazes mean a cross-country ski trail. Orange is a long trail (with several allowed exceptions noted therein, including the A.T.); yellow is a side hiking trail; red allows horses and bikes.

Pink is not noted. :) Backpacker magazine did note recently that the only pink blaze intersecting the A.T. was seen in PA, actually it's on DCNR land in the SATC section.

I just spent the greater part of a weekend converting old blue to repainted yellow on side trails to the PA Mid State Trail, with many more to go to achieve conformity to the afore-cited standards. Yellow does usually show up better than blue.

I don't believe these will be applied to the PA A.T. corridor, even the minority of same that's on PA DCNR land, though. I'm just throwing that out as an example of blazes not meaning anything by themselves, and back to the post #2 answer.

Ender
07-26-2010, 10:26
Blaze colors have little meaning other than to distinguish different trails from each other.

weary
07-26-2010, 11:38
Blaze colors have little meaning other than to distinguish different trails from each other.
That's certainly true for Phippsburg Land Trust trails.

But the Appalachian Trail is uniformly blazed white. Side trails are uniformly blue, at least if they are blazed according to the trail manuals provided by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

I also disagree with the claim that thru hikers need only be concerned with white blazes. I took most of the blue blazes that were purported to go to scenic and other interesting places. I figured that some maintaining club thought the side trail provided something special, and it would be impolite not to take a look if it was a good day and I had time.

Weary

emerald
07-26-2010, 11:59
I took most of the blue blazes that were purported to go to scenic and other interesting places. I figured that some maintaining club thought the side trail provided something special, and it would be impolite not to take a look if it was a good day and I had time.

Weary

My 10 characters appear in this post's title.

10-K
07-26-2010, 12:01
I also disagree with the claim that thru hikers need only be concerned with white blazes. I took most of the blue blazes that were purported to go to scenic and other interesting places. I figured that some maintaining club thought the side trail provided something special, and it would be impolite not to take a look if it was a good day and I had time.

Weary

Do you feel obligated to answer your phone just because someone is calling you? :)

slugger
07-26-2010, 12:26
I know they feeling of no knowing where they go. I felt pretty dumb this past Saturday night when I was at Allentown shelter Looking at the Blue blazes and the yellow blazes trying to figure them out. After wasting a good amount of time I finally read the registry.

emerald
07-26-2010, 13:45
I've long wondered when registers came to be known as registries. Can anyone provide a quick answer or should I start another thread?

slugger
07-26-2010, 13:50
I've long wondered when registers came to be known as registries. Can anyone provide a quick answer or should I start another thread?


Most likely due to poor grammar.

Citation and Example: Myself.

jmhouse
07-26-2010, 14:38
I know in SNP blue blazes are used for all trails that are not the AT. Then there are horse trails and fire roads that are blazed yellow.

Tin Man
07-26-2010, 14:51
Blaze colors have little meaning other than to distinguish different trails from each other.

I don't know about that. In many places, following blue blazes is better than following white. :cool:

Ender
07-26-2010, 14:51
That's certainly true for Phippsburg Land Trust trails.

But the Appalachian Trail is uniformly blazed white. Side trails are uniformly blue, at least if they are blazed according to the trail manuals provided by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Weary

Well, the AT is blazed all white because it is a single trail (and the fact that it's blazed only white is a fairly recent development... when I hiked in 1998 the section around Hanover, NH had a different color blaze).

But that's not quite correct about side trails being blazed only blue. It is true if they are a side trail only off the AT to a water source or something like that. But other trails that intersect the AT can be blazed any color, including blue. Heck, in a place like Harriman State Park in NY there are blue trails, and red trails, yellow trails, white with a red dot, white with two red dots... it's totally open game. In Connecticut, most of their trails are blazed blue throughout the state (granted most, maybe all, don't intersect w/ the AT).

Anyway, it's just something to be aware of... just because a trail is blue doesn't mean it's a side trail. It could be it's own trail entirely.

Ender
07-26-2010, 14:52
I don't know about that. In many places, following blue blazes is better than following white. :cool:

So true, so true. :sun

mountainman
07-26-2010, 19:32
My choice of words was out of character for me. If I could retract them I would but that isn't possible. I have learned to be careful of the battles i choose to fight. They may not be worth the cost of winning. I apologize to all who read it.
I have asked many questions on this site and always gotten respectful replys in the past.

Blissful
07-26-2010, 19:35
Blue blazes just mean an alternate trail. They can mean anything from trail to a town to water, to a privy or sheter to a waterfall, to a trail bypass (like on Moxie Bald in ME). It is up to you to check a guidebook to see what the trail is and where it leads.

GeneralLee10
07-26-2010, 21:55
The Pink Blaze on the AT, I have a pic of. If thinking correctly the name of it is White Tail Trail. I will look for the pic tommorrow.

Tinker
07-26-2010, 22:03
My choice of words was out of character for me. If I could retract them I would but that isn't possible. I have learned to be careful of the battles i choose to fight. They may not be worth the cost of winning. I apologize to all who read it.
I have asked many questions on this site and always gotten respectful replys in the past.

We will never forget, nor forgive your linguistic transgressions or emotional outbursts............................;)

Don't worry, we all come across as offal passages at times.

It's all good. No worries.:)

10-K
07-26-2010, 22:07
My choice of words was out of character for me. If I could retract them I would but that isn't possible. I have learned to be careful of the battles i choose to fight. They may not be worth the cost of winning. I apologize to all who read it.
I have asked many questions on this site and always gotten respectful replys in the past.

Most of the time (all of the time on internet forums?) it doesn't cost anything to let the other person be right... :)

ki0eh
07-26-2010, 22:17
The Pink Blaze on the AT, I have a pic of. If thinking correctly the name of it is White Tail Trail. I will look for the pic tommorrow.

Exactly, trail 7 on this map (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/josepheibberson/josepheibberson_mini.pdf)

Father Dragon
07-27-2010, 01:09
Exactly, trail 7 on this map (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/josepheibberson/josepheibberson_mini.pdf)

so, um ... is there like a guide book for pink blazing or anything cuz .... :o



:D:D:D

ki0eh
07-27-2010, 07:45
I'd recommend going to the right (assuming NOBO) - too much poison-ivy to the left...

le loupe
07-27-2010, 07:50
Exactly, trail 7 on this map (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/josepheibberson/josepheibberson_mini.pdf)

Why is it only white tail?

ki0eh
07-27-2010, 07:59
Historical reasons. Truly, tail knows no color.

Blue Jay
07-27-2010, 08:45
The Pink Blaze on the AT, I have a pic of. If thinking correctly the name of it is White Tail Trail.

The he(( with the picture just tell us where it is.:banana

GeneralLee10
07-27-2010, 08:56
Okay lets see if this works.

9072

GeneralLee10
07-27-2010, 08:57
The he(( with the picture just tell us where it is.:banana

Wish I could man! Hey thanks for the treats you left behind too.

mudhead
07-27-2010, 14:01
I don't recall where, but I went tearing down a blue "trail" somewhere.

It was a property line. That was amusing.

ki0eh
07-27-2010, 17:03
Folks in Maryland mark no trespassing with blue boundary blotches.

kayak karl
07-27-2010, 18:17
Okay lets see if this works.

9072

Batona Trail, NJ is pink blaze also

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2526193578_b9bda10e2a_z.jpg

Bucherm
07-28-2010, 01:27
I vaguely recall that the "old" AT through Sky Meadows State Park is marked pink.

Bronk
07-28-2010, 04:59
Anybody reading in Missouri should be cautioned not to walk purple blazed "trails"...in Missouri purple paint is the legal equivalent of a no trespassing sign and many farmers will paint a purple blaze on trees to post their land.

Blue Jay
07-28-2010, 08:33
Wish I could man! Hey thanks for the treats you left behind too.

The thanks is all to you. Because of you I got to see the Traveling Circus again.

GeneralLee10
07-28-2010, 09:12
Batona Trail, NJ is pink blaze also

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2526193578_b9bda10e2a_z.jpg

This picture looks like it was taken in FL. Is that correct?

Rocket Jones
07-28-2010, 11:11
This picture looks like it was taken in FL. Is that correct?

Just a guess, but I think the NJ stands for Joisey. ;)

Tilly
07-29-2010, 22:16
This picture looks like it was taken in FL. Is that correct?

That is exactily what south Jersey looks like. It's NJ, not Florida.

Bare Bear
07-30-2010, 16:41
There is a place on the Florida Trail where three trails converge and you get a set of blazes with red/white/blue and orange (Florida Trail is always orange) all on one tree.

kayak karl
07-30-2010, 16:50
That is exactily what south Jersey looks like. It's NJ, not Florida.
are we going to start another SOUTH jersey debate?? LOL

Mr. Clean
07-31-2010, 05:10
a blue blazed trail only means that it touches the AT, nothing else. Here in the Whites, a yellow blazed trail does not touch the AT (theres lots of them). So, if I'm on a blue-blazed trail, I know that it will end on the AT eventually. I believe most areas are using the same marking schemes for blue blazes now, but yellow can also be many different colors.

h. hastings
07-31-2010, 19:10
but yellow can also be many different colors.

Must be something in those Maine blueberries .......

:eek:

LIhikers
07-31-2010, 22:09
My choice of words was out of character for me. If I could retract them I would but that isn't possible. I have learned to be careful of the battles i choose to fight. They may not be worth the cost of winning. I apologize to all who read it.
I have asked many questions on this site and always gotten respectful replys in the past.

I'm the one who posted the original answer.
I didn't mean it with any attitude or disrespect, instead I was trying to give an answer that's short and concise. Like someone else said, there are many trails that intersect the AT in NY and they have many different color blazes. No specific color has any meaning except that the AT is always marked in white in NY. Know that there are places that the AT in NY also carries other blazes, in addition to plain white blazes, because it shares the treadway with another trail. But beware, because the AT isn't the only trail in NY that uses white as part of it's markings. So if you decide to take a trail, any trail, know before hand if it goes where you want to go or be willing to do some extra walking. You can gain that knowledge from the few signs found at trail intersection, or more reliably from trail maps and guide books. I hope that helps.

wnderer
08-01-2010, 09:29
Blue Blazes = Tar Nation

http://winterwoman.net/2008/01/20/where-in-the-blue-blazes-have-you-been/

BrianLe
08-02-2010, 07:36
I had hiked virtually none of the AT before thru-hiking this year and came to the trail knowing little about it. I don't know if that makes (made) me "objective" in any way, but FWIW the thing that bugged me in this general regard were several instances along the way of light blue blazes (or maybe "pale blue").

In a lot of cases, blue blazes were a bold blue color, but several times (in multiple states) I would have to get right up to the tree and stare, sometimes looking at more than one example to be sure, to be able to discern whether I was looking (inevitably in the shade) at a faded white blaze or a faded but looked like even originally very light blue blaze.

I would respectfully submit that it would be better for folks that are marking a trail with blue blazes to use only bold, primary blue colored paint, at least where it intersects the AT. I cannot believe that the original colors of the examples that I saw were anything but a very light blue.

Now, don't get me started about the Long Trail also being white blazed and about how really poorly the signage is done for a NOBO where the two split apart again after over a hundred friggin' miles (I walked some bonus L.T. miles that I really didn't want to ...).

Mags
08-02-2010, 09:39
Now, don't get me started about the Long Trail also being white blazed


The LT came first and they used white blazes. Up until fairly recently (saw them myself at least as of 1999) you could see very faint blue blazes on the AT section of where the LT/AT split.

The AT, being that 2000 mile long upstart trail, had blue blazes on the GMC section for the longest time!

Bare Bear
08-06-2010, 12:19
I recall following white blazes on the AT in 06 that began getting fainter and fainter.....then I followed a road following my compass and common sense to find I had gone about five miles too far along a section of 'old AT' that was now closed. I can not recall the name of the town the Trail went thru though. So much for trusting the blazes.