The Blue Bark Trail
October 11th, 2006:
Two weeks ago I did a 50 mile, two and a half day backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, from Caribou River Wayside to Beaver Bay. The Superior Hiking Trail is a 205 mile trail in Minnesota following the ridgeline of Lake Superior. I have now completed the entire trail in sections. It is arguably the most scenic and popular trail in the state of Minnesota. On this trip I immediately noticed that there is a new way of marking the trail. Previously, at least on the sections I had hiked, the trail was marked with an occasional small sign with the Superior Hiking Trail logo nailed to a tree. Now a blue splotch of paint is applied to trees and rocks. My immediate thought was that they chose a good color. That weekend was the peak of the fall colors and if they had chosen orange, red, or yellow then I wouldn't have seen most of the markings. Until this moment I had never seen a trail marked by paint. The majority of trails either have signs or more commonly ribbons and stone piles. Most of the paint I saw appeared very fresh and I assume was applied this summer. I am curious on how the paint will survive the winter.
A sign and a blue paint splotch within ten feet of each other.
As I continued down the trail I started to see a large number of blue paint markings on trees. During the first few miles of this trip I took about a dozen photos along the trail. I first became annoyed by the blue paint markings when I setup to take a photograph, but decided to skip it due to a blue paint marking ruining the perfect shot. This happened three more times in the span of an hour. The trail is a very well traveled path by both day hikers and backpackers and none of these markings were needed, at least in the summer. Distinguishing the trail from the woods is always obvious. The only possible confusion is when the trail intersects other trails or roads. This happens with other hiking trails in the state parks or with ATV trails or roads. From a hiker's perspective, the only time a sign is needed is at an intersection with other trails.
The catch is that snowshoers frequent the Superior Hiking Trail in the winter. When snow hits the ground the trail is covered and it is no longer obvious where the trail might be. With this in mind I was only a bit annoyed by the overly frequent blue paint markings; at least until I hit the final 4.5 miles of my trip between Silver Bay and Beaver Bay. The blue paint markings became even more frequent, possibly every 100 feet. Additionally, the 3x2 inch tree markings were replaced by 2-to-3 foot long double-sided arrows on the rock telling the hiker which way to go, even though the trail was as blatantly obvious as a yellow-brick road. There are a few places on the trail where trees are not nearby and the alternative, if one is using paint, is to color the rock. However, on this section the preference was to paint the rock if it is available and only use the trees where necessary. I found it rather insulting to have a big blue arrow every 100 hundred feet point me in the direction I should travel. While not only marring the beautiful natural landscape during spring, fall, and summer, these blue rock markings will do nothing to help snowshoers in the winter as they will be covered by several feet of snow. The last 1/4 mile on this section before the County Road 4 parking lot is on a small road. Ironically, there are no markings along this portion of the trail where they are needed. When a trail follows a road a hiker has to be on constant alert to not miss the trail when it leaves the road.
Oh well. The Superior Hiking Trail is not much of a wilderness trail anyway. It is almost always within a few miles of a road. I think I saw over 100 people on Saturday (granted I covered 23 miles that day), many of which were day hikers or within Tettegouche State Park. In contrast, the Border Route Trail and the Kekekabic Trail are wilderness trails. Both in Minnesota, they lie mostly within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In May I backpacked from Grand Marais along the Superior Hiking Trail north to its end and kept going on the Border Route Trail nearly to its end for a total of 110 miles in 6 days. These trails are difficult to follow at times, and the few blue ribbons marking the trail are greatly appreciated. "Not lost yet!" was a common saying of mine along the Border Route Trail each time I saw a blue ribbon. I consider the Border Route Trail to be the most scenic and rugged trail in the state of Minnesota and I highly recommend it to any hiker seeking a true wilderness experience.
I would like to urge the Superior Hiking Trail Association to switch back to the sign method of marking the trail. I have never participated in marking a trail. However I can guess that when a volunteer marks a trail with signs they are forced to carefully consider each marking due to their limited supply of signs and the one minute it takes to post the sign to a tree. When marking trails with paint the volunteer essentially has a limitless supply of paint and can make a marking in a single brush stroke. This encourages an overabundance of trail markings. With luck and time, maybe the winter will wipe the blue paint off the rocks and trees, giving a small amount of wilderness feel back to the Superior Hiking Trail.
