Well, I learned a new one this week. And I didn’t have to go far to learn it.
Not too far from where I live is a place called Patch Hill, with a small network of trails. You used to be able to climb to its summit, but someone bought it a little while back and roped off the peak. Nevertheless, there are still some miles to explore.
The Blaze Key
The Amherst Conservation Commission appears to be getting involved with managing Patch Hill’s trails now, and when I reached the trailhead with Bullet the Wingdog, this was the first time I remember seeing a key regarding trail blazes. Not only did I not remember it, I also didn’t know that there was a system when it came to trail blazes in the first place. Did I? I don’t know, maybe I did, but this felt like a brand-new nugget of information. I wondered how I had never heard of this before.
For instance, did you know that two vertical stripes, stacked a little off-center from each other mean that a sharp turn is coming? And that if the top box is to the right, that’s a right turn? Same thing with the left one? Or that a trail ends with two blazes up top and one down below? Me neither. How did I not know this? Ah, there’s so much to learn!
Keeping the Eyes Open
It doesn’t matter. I acquired a new tool and that’s good enough. I still can’t say, however, that I’ve ever seen or been aware of the employment of this system. I looked all over during the hike up Patch Hill and didn’t see anything other than the traditional vertical blazes. The only other set of blazes I’ve seen out in the wild, as reflected in the chart above, is when two trails merge onto the same path. The rest of them, though? Maybe I did and just didn’t know what I was looking at.
But I’ll be on the lookout for them in the future, now. Especially for the sharp turns, of which there will be many, no doubt. Just gotta keep my eyes open.
Open for this system. Open for the ones that haven’t been developed yet.
