How to Recognize Trail Blazes

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm going to talk to you now different trail blazes and what they can look like. We'll start with the most common type, usually it's a small piece of plastic. I've seen pie plates, pieces of yarn, often they'll be put on a tree, just like this one, a real obvious, on the side of the trail, put it about head high, like a triangle or a square. Also, on mountains, where there are no trees above the tree line they use something called a cairn. Now this is your typical cairn. Of course it would be a lot larger, probably about two feet. I've seen some even taller than me, almost twelve feet high. All it is is just a small pile of rocks to let you know where the trail goes. So, if you see one of these, you still know you're on trail. Now, the reason trail blazes are so important is because you need to know what trail you're on, pay attention when you start walking. If you look up and you're not seeing trail blazes, you might have gone off trail. You can get into a bad situation. Now, trail blazes are also important because they tell you what trail you're on. If you're on the wrong trail, trail blazes are gonna change. So, make sure you know what trail blazes you're going to be starting out with at the beginning of your day."