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