The New Jersey Trail Riders Association (NJTRA) rides use a fairly unique
system of stakes that have orange painted on one side of the stake. Turns
are marked with an orange arrow. There are always on the right side of the
trail. The stakes are easy to place in the Jersey sand, easy to remove
after the ride. And they tend to be at the level where I am looking ahead.
This has been the easiest system to follow I have come across. However, i
realize this is not practical for many rides: (a) it would be difficult to
carry hundreds of stakes around on horseback, (b) where it is rocky or the
soil is hard, the stakes may be difficult to get into the ground, and (c) if
the ground vegetation is chest level, the stake may blend in.
Another method is that used by the Bucks County Horse Park (between
Philadelphia and Allentown). This permanently marked trail is marked by
painted wood blocks 4" x 4" in size. The various trails through the park
are marked in blue, white, red, yellow, etc. This system has been in place
for many years and used successfully for many competitive trail rides,
hunter paces, horse trials, and paper chases. Our ride this weekend
followed the blue trail, but was supplemented with blue ribbon where the
trail had to be rerouted, blue and orange to indicate turns, chalk on roads,
and pie plates with arrows or "W" for wrong way. I notice that many riders
accustomed to following ribbon tend to want to follow ribbon, even if it is
the wrong color, rather than follow an alternate system.
Maps: I agree a detailed map would be nice. But have you ever tried to
photocopy a U.S.G.S. topo map? Especially if you reduce it? The topo lines
become so blurred that it is nearly impossible to read. Few of us have
facilities or access to facilities to be able to cleanly reproduce these
maps in a manageable size. I personally would find it inconvenient to try
to carry the full quad (or quads) that cover the trail.
I have seen some nice hand-drawn maps, but these are rare. Most
hand-drawn maps are not to scale and tend to be "artist's rendition
(impressionist?)" and sometimes more confusing than not having a map. We
send people to school to be cartographers - it's no wonder that the hand
drawn maps are lacking. I applaud anyone who takes the time to draw these
maps as it is very time consuming, but I find there usefullness limited.
The neatest map I was ever given was at the Canaan 50 ride in West
Virginia (I swear this ride was on another planet, the terrain was so much
different than anything I'd ever seen) -- the ride managers included in the
riders' packets a handkerchief inscribed with a topo map of the area showing
the trail. Easy to carry, relatively easy to read, and practical in an
emergency. Apparently some wilderness outfitter in the area produced these
unique maps. I still have mine hanging on a wall five years after doing
that ride.
Just some more food for thought.
Kevin Pfoertsch
safehaven@fast.net