No lack of blazings on this trail!

I was hiking up Tripyramids from the Kanc a month or so back and saw so few blazes that if the leaves had been falling, I'm not certain someone who had never been up the trail before could have found his or her way.

Not so in Connecticut! This photo is from Pachaug state park. Seven blazes in the span of about thirty yards.







Brian

Some of us would say that this disparity epitomizes the essential difference between CT and NH. But it would be unkind to point that out, so I won't.

B the Hiker said:

I was hiking up Tripyramids from the Kanc a month or so back and saw so few blazes that if the leaves had been falling, I'm not certain someone who had never been up the trail before could have found his or her way.

Not so in Connecticut! This photo is from Pachaug state park. Seven blazes in the span of about thirty yards.

View attachment 5395





Brian

Click to expand...

I do a fair amount of hiking in NE CT and the trails are generally well marked. There are quite a few spots however where the trail blazes are very ambiguous. I did a section in the middle of that park (forget which trail name) that wandered off into a blow down area and was very confusing. I followed what I thought was a trail only to have it disappear and wound up bushwhacking out to a road to reorient myself. There are a lot of unmarked roads (some very old) that intersect the trails in Pachaug (and other local parks) and are not on the PDF map and make things interesting in spots.

I find the route finding can be much more interesting down here because the vast majority of the forests are not conifers and the tread is not nearly as obvious, especially during leave season. I like to hit these areas in the Spring and practice use of compass, etc and do a little bushwhacking across the woods to other trails just to practice navigating. Most trails in NH are so heavily traveled and in the type of forest that it is almost impossible to lose the trail (with the obvious exception of some of the wilderness areas like my favorite - the Mt Clinton Trail).

P.S. Not sure if you normally get down in this area often but Bigelow Hollow State Park is another excellent local spot. Some very NH like trails with a good variety of terrain and views.

same issue at northwoods meadows state park in Northwood, NH. NH state parks unhelpful / unwilling to address / correct. Said it was done by a volunteer group.

B the Hiker said:

I was hiking up Tripyramids from the Kanc a month or so back and saw so few blazes that if the leaves had been falling, I'm not certain someone who had never been up the trail before could have found his or her way.

Not so in Connecticut! This photo is from Pachaug state park. Seven blazes in the span of about thirty yards.

View attachment 5395

Brian

Click to expand...

To be fair, most of the routes that way go through the Wilderness, so you should expect to see less/zero blazing. I've certainly seen some over blazing in the whites, but that shot is pretty special! My theory is that it was don't by a kid that was told they couldn't go home until they use all their paint.

What trail was this on? Is there any chance that it coincides with a park boundary, which would be heavily blazed?

kltilton said:

What trail was this on? Is there any chance that it coincides with a park boundary, which would be heavily blazed?

Click to expand...

It was on the Pachaug trail itself, just north of the central picnic area. By coincidence, we met the couple who are the trail maintainers, who were riding on a tandem dirt bike. The stretch in this photo is dead smack in the middle of the park, on a leg that was straight as an arrow. They told us they had been working to remove some of the excess blazes.

Brian

It was on the Pachaug trail itself, just north of the central picnic area. By coincidence, we met the couple who are the trail maintainers, who were riding on a tandem dirt bike.

Click to expand...

Curious -- what is a tandem dirt bike?

NHClimber said:

Curious -- what is a tandem dirt bike?

Click to expand...

A tandem bike is a bike for two riders. Usually one sees tandems as road bikes, but this one was a dirt bike. I hope that makes sense!


Brian

B the Hiker said:

A tandem bike is a bike for two riders. Usually one sees tandems as road bikes, but this one was a dirt bike. I hope that makes sense!

Click to expand...

Dirt bike is usually a term reserved for motorcycles. This would be a tandem mountain bike.