# Good trail signage/markers: Any great examples?



## cyclopaedic (Oct 10, 2008)

I'm doing a study on some local trails and how to improve wayfinding, and was wondering if anyone has photos of really good examples of trail signage, especially for a network of trails that has loops and spurs. A lot of people are having a hard time finding their way through the woods here, as landmarks are sometimes hard to come by. Any discussion on what makes for good trail organization is welcome!


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## pinkrobe (Jan 30, 2004)

The Whistler standards are some of the best. If you go to the WORCA site, you should be able to find the PDF of the manual.


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## jeffw-13 (Apr 30, 2008)

Greenbriar State Park in Maryland has a color coded trail map at nearly every intersection. The trees are painted with a colored paint marking. Can't imagine it gets any better than that unless they provide you with a personal guide.


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## redriderbb (Aug 30, 2005)

*Check this post...*

PIC

This is the signage on some town trails in H'burg. Props to Edwardo for the work.


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

At our local trails (Pine Hill Park in Rutland, VT) each intersection has a number, so you can quickly find your location on the map. _If_ you're carrying a map. Also signs at some intersections pointing the way back to the trailhead.

JZ


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## fishbum (Aug 8, 2007)

At Bradbury Mountain State Park in Maine we did a similar thing... after many hours of discussion with park management. We wanted to minimize signage and keep the cost low.
First we numbered each intersection, that works great to know exactly where you are (for navigation and safety).
At each intersection we placed posts with the numbers, and at key intersections we designed map holders and put a map of the trails with 'you are here' highlighted, and the map was oriented to the trails. This avoided adding more signage at each intersection, such as labeling the trail names as you departed the intersection. And no blazes. Tried to also make it easy to replace the maps.

Problem we ran into is the park never finished placing the posts and map holders...

For the most part people have left the signage alone and not damaged them. But there are always a few morons in every crowd.


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## cyclopaedic (Oct 10, 2008)

Thanks for the input so far. One of the thoughts I am mulling is whether using a waypoint system (point-to-point navigation) is better than route numbering or naming as a primary method of orientation. This would mean all the intersections and some midpoints of loops are numbered.

I came across such a system in the bike paths in Belgium which stretch over a large area:









The presentation of information becomes nice and simple, and I think with the addition of difficulty level indicators, a similar thing could work for rougher trails:









any opinions on this?


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## fishbum (Aug 8, 2007)

This makes great sense, especially if someone is hurt and they call in "I'm at intersection #10". Land managers love the ability to pinpoint accident/victim locations.


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## redriderbb (Aug 30, 2005)

*Seems a bit impersonal*

I agree that the intersection marking is key, not important, KEY. However, I think you should still give a bit of personality to your trail system by perhaps color coding, or way marking loops. Keep the numeric navigation, but have loops that are navigable without a map. You will have a tremendous number of your users that don't have a map with them, then the number to number system is useless. Does that make sense?

From a more touchy-feely perspective too, the bike paths in Europe are transportation, you are creating an experience in someones recreation. You should elicit an emotional response in their trail experience. You can have a hybrid of the two systems. You get to intersection 10 on Gumby Trail and in the direction of 23 Gumby Trail Continues, in the direction of 67 you are on Boom Trail. It seems like a lot, but does make sense. Navigability is a hard battle in nearly every trail system I have seen.

Good luck.


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## cyclopaedic (Oct 10, 2008)

I think trail naming could still co-exist with point-to-point navigation (ie, "Dirty-Under-Where? Loop" = 01-03-12-16-02-01) as suggested/published routes but the beauty is that users can make their own customized personal route (ie, "Bob's Workout" = 02-06-11-25). It also allows trail sections to be easily shared by several routes and loops, and difficulty levels to be assigned to specific segments instead entire routes. I was thinking with some masking tape and a marker, a user could even write down the points for their desired route and stick it on their handlebar instead of a cumbersome map.


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

These signs have worked well for us, not the cheapest but very durable and long lasting.

There is one at every intersection and other points of confusion or interest.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I am a big fan of labeling intersections. The sign from Belgium pointing to the next intersections is a good way for people to find where they are, but I think that there need to be some trail maps posted in various places indicating where those intersections are. Colored loops help, and blazing trees is really not as expensive as signs. Colored blazes with numbered intersections would be helpful by helping folks on DIRECTION OF TRAVEL. If they're on the Orange Loop, they know they'll eventually end where they started if they keep following that loop. But the numbers make a big difference with helping emergency response personnel. If a system is a fairly simple system of loops, there's probably no need to number intersections. Numbering intersections becomes really useful when there are a lot of trails that intersect each other and don't create significant loops, but can be used as shortcuts, alternates, or bypasses.

One trail system I know put down a series of markers SPECIFICALLY for emergency response personnel (and they built quick access routes to different spots on the trails for emergency personnel to use). These don't help with navigation much, but they do help with locating yourself on the trail.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

Here is the system the local County Parks Department uses. It's simple, unobtrusive and relatively inexpensive.

At every intersection, there are three or more 6x6 posts sunk in the ground. One post for each possible direction you can travel from the intersection. Each intersection is numbered, and those numbers correspond with the overall map of the park. Each post also has the trail name, basic wayfinding information and allowable use posted on it.

Here is an example. Sorry I could not hold my cellphone camera a little more still when I snapped the pic., but you get the idea:










Here is a link to the corresponding map:

https://evergreenmtb.org/wiki/uploads/0/0a/PVCA_Trail_Map_042009.jpg


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