Blazing the North Country Trail

Blazing the Way on the North Country Trail
Presented as a service by the Spirit of the Woods Chapter

	Official Stuff
		NCTA's End-to-End Marking Policy
		From the NPS Trail Handbook
	Why the Blue Blazes?
		The Importance of a Thread by Bill Menke, NPS manager of the NCT copied from the April/May and June/July 1998 issues of the North Star with permission. This is an essay about the reasons for consistent blazing
	How to Do It?
		Tools
		Paint
		Techniques
	Help from Folks Who Know
		"Trail Blazing from the Renaissance through the Space Age" Get practical help from a veteran blazer, Irene Szabo of the Finger Lakes Trail Conference. Her comments are applicable to many situations.
		"Blazing is Worth the/ your Time!" by Bob Tait and Joe Smith of Pennsylvania.
		"Blazing Backward Ensures Quality, Not Quantity" by John Morgan, Appalachian Trail.
		Short Hints from real blazers.
	Local Progress Reports
		Spirit of the Woods- Lake, Mason, Manistee Counties, MI
	Related Topics
		"What in Blue Blazes is Going on in the Forests?" by Don Ingle, reporter for the Traverse City (MI) Record Eagle and Lake County Star writes about forest management boundary markings. Reprinted by permission.

A good blaze -paint tight on scraped bark, nice square corners	A marked abrupt right turn
At this point only painted blazes are discussed on this page. However, in the future the information will be expanded to include proper decals, connector segments, emblems and informational signs. If you would like to receive an e-mail notice of updates to this page OR, if you would like to have your chapter included in the progress report please send a note to Joan