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Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook
Reassurance markers are used only where the trail is not obvious. If the tread is obvious during the regular use season, these markers aren’t needed. Reassurance markers may be useful if a trail is hard to follow because the tread is indistinct, regularly covered with snow during part of the normal use season, or if weather conditions (such as fog), make the trail hard to distinguish at times. Reassurance markers are also useful at junctions with nonsystem (informal) trails, or where multiple trails cause confusion.
Place markers carefully. They should be clearly visible from any point where the trail could be lost. This is a judgment call, and often controversial, based on the challenge level served by the trail and the conditions along it. Higher challenge trails need fewer markers; lower challenge trails may need more. If part of a trail has reassurance markers, all of it should be marked.
Each marker location should be flagged before installation and checked for visibility in the desired direction of travel. Each location should be marked in both directions (on both sides of the same tree) so there is no question whether or not the marker is official. This second marker might not be as usefully sited for those traveling the opposite direction. The marking decisions should be based on traffic traveling in both directions. Be conservative with markers. It’s better to improve tread visibility than to rely on markers except on high challenge trails where tread may frequently not be visible at all.
The classic reassurance marker is a blaze cut on a tree. The standard Forest Service blaze should always be used to differentiate it from the freeform blazes and antler rubbings that appear on nonsystem trails (Figure 70). Different types of blazes may be used on some specially designated trails, such as the Appalachian Trail. Cut blazes carefully as a mistake can’t be repaired. If a blaze is consistently buried by snow during part of the use season, the blaze can be cut higher on the tree, but not so high that it becomes difficult to locate from the tread. Blazes are no longer cut on trees in many parts of the country.
![[diagram] Blazes and marker tags](images/fig070.jpg)
Figure 70—Blaze trees on both sides. Cut no deeper than
necessary for clear visibility.
Next up the scale of reassurance markers is a routed or branded wooden trail marker, which is routed or branded onto wood and mounted on the tree. Routing and scorching is much more durable than branding. A variation of these markers are routed or branded national trail markers. Check with your local trail manager and review your forest plan to learn what’s appropriate in designated wilderness—there is much variability nationwide.
Painted blazes are sometimes used for visibility. Be absolutely sure to use a template of a size specified in your trail management plan. Always use the specified color. Don’t let just anyone start painting blazes. They should not be painted on rocks.
Marker tags or “blazers” are used when higher visibility is desired and esthetic considerations are not as high. Most common are colored diamonds of either plastic or metal. Various colors are used. For trails used by mountain bikes or off-highway vehicles, the tags should be reflective. These tags should be mounted on trees with aluminum nails. Allow 12 mm (1/2 inch) or so behind the tag for additional tree growth. Directional arrows, where appropriate, should be placed in a similar fashion. Blazers can also be mounted on wooden or fiberglass posts.
Cairns are used in open areas where low visibility or snow cover makes following the tread difficult or where the tread is rocky and indistinct. Two or three stones piled one on top of the other, “rock ducks,” are no substitute for cairns and should be scattered at every opportunity. Cairns are similar in construction to rock crib and consist of circular tiers of stones (Figure 71).
![[diagram] Cairns](images/fig071.jpg)
Figure 71—Two- or three-stone "rock ducks"
are not a substitute for cairns and should
not be built.
Make the base wide enough to provide enough batter for stability. In really deep snow country, it might be necessary to add a long guide pole in the center as the cairn is built. An anchored pipe can be built into the center of the cairn so a pole can be replaced or removed each summer.
Cairns should be spaced closely enough that during typical episodes of poor visibility (such as dense fog) the next cairn is visible in either direction from any given cairn. Cairns should be placed on small rises (not in swales). If cairns are used in areas of large talus, use a 2-m (6.5-ft) guide pole in the center to differentiate the cairn from adjacent piles of rock. The best time to decide where to place cairns is during a day with poor visibility.
Guide poles are used in settings similar to cairns. They are most useful in snowfield crossings to keep traffic in the vicinity of the buried tread. Guide poles should be long enough to extend about 2 m (6.5 ft) above the top of the snowpack during the typical use season. Guide poles should be at least 100 mm (4 in) in diameter. They should be sturdy enough to withstand early season storms before the snow can support them and to withstand pressures from snow creep later in the season. Avoid placing guide poles in avalanche paths. Don’t mark trails for winter travel if they cross known avalanche paths.
Guide poles are also used in large meadows where tall grasses make cairns hard to spot, or where there is too little stone for cairns.
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