Trail mismarked going north after greylock

[upandover]

Hi,

So after Greylock in MA while going north you are going down the mountain. There is a short time while the AT overlaps with Thunderbolt Trail. Then you come to a fork where you are supposed to go left - if you continue on straight you end up going down a very steep ski trail.

If I remember correctly though the trail is mismarked - there are two offset whiteblazes which indicate you should go right (which is wrong).

Can anyone confirm or deny if this is indeed the case.

Thanks, only time I ended up way off course was here.

[Namaste]

I don't remember having that issue when I hiked from Greylock northbound a couple of years ago, in the pouring rain. I remember hiking on the AT in NY about 25 years ago when the trail was mismarked and we realized something was wrong before we got too far along. After running into the Ranger we found out someone was out there intentionally mis-blazing the trees. It's no fun to end up off course.

[peakbagger]

Years ago, me a friend was in NJ going south bound. We got to an intersection in the woods and there was no signage or blazes. We saw recent work (clipping) and followed it to a newly built trail with a new white blazes heading into the woods. We followed it and came out at a brand new suspension bridge that had been featured on an ATC cover. We crossed the bridge and promptly ended up in the Pochuck wetlands before the trail had been elevated up on stanchions. We did follow some limited flagging across the march staying sort of dry until we came out behind a housing development almost directly across the street from where the AT roadwalk that existed prior to that relocation existed. We carried maps and looked at them on occasion to make sure we were going the right direction so we were not that stressed as we knew we woudl come out of the wetlands where we needed to. Those expecting the AT to be blazed in such a manner as to require not thinking is in for several surprises especially the Whites and Maine.

[LittleRock]

I had a similar experience south of Pearisburg several years ago. The trail had obviously been rerouted very recently, and when I got to a highway crossing that wasn't in my guide book, I had to stop and spend 10 minutes figuring out where I was. At the end of a long day, I was really pissed to learn that I had an extra 1/2 mile of uphill road walking on the shoulder of a busy highway to get into town.

[Daybreak]

You can bring this to the AMC Berkshire chapter's attention but pictures would help tremendously. It is 0.6 to 0.7 north of the summit and a steep drop.

On my '99 hike, the GA people had browned over many white blazes with a note to hikers that they now only blazed every x feet and at critical junctions. The trail itself is obvious. I had seen the same thing previously hiking north in the Whites from Zealand hut on a combined hiking and ski trail. Nobo in VT, I came to a dirt road with a post and left arrow. I turned left and headed up the road. After a ways, I checked for white blazes but only saw brown. Okay so it's a road and they took some out. No problem. I saw several of these, thought to turn around but lo and behold a white blaze shows up. Several white blazes of up the road they turned off the road and appeared to stop at an old house. No sign of any blazes anywhere. 99% of us would say the trail went straight across that road. It actually jogged about 6 ft to the left. My guess is the trail used to go up the road.

Later in VT, the trail actually followed a dirt road for a few miles. I was annoyed because there were no or few blazes and I kept wondering if I had missed the trail leaving the road. I do carry maps and a data book/elevation profile and can use them but they are a last resort. The occasional annoyance is part of the fun.

The AT is by far the best marked and best maintained long distance trail in North America.

[peakbagger]

I did a 73 miles piece of the PCT a month ago on Washington, for the majority of that hike it is not blazed. It is mostly wilderness area so intersections are signed and that is about it. The majority of the hike is on a very well built trail so no need for blazes but in some areas near popular features, like lakes there is lot of people and horse traffic with lots of local paths and it can get confusing. There were a couple of these well used areas that had box privies that were located well out in the woods with nothing but a sign and faint path. Finding them during the daytime was a challenge, finding them in the dark was almost impossible.

I would agree that the AT may be the best marked but on the two sections of the PCT it was hard to beat the maintenance. I think I needed to step over a total of two blowdowns on the entire trip.