Appalachian Trail Sign Fix-Up
A Thru-Hiker's Perspective.
What needs fixing.
How to fix it.
Who is this guy anyway.
Proposed changes to AT Signs:
Crawford Notch to Pinkham Notch Photos
Other Signs noticed in 2004 Photos

Contact

A Thru-Hiker's Perspective.
A thru-hike of the Appalachian is a huge undertaking. The White Mountain National Forest poses many challenges new to the thru-hiker. The terrain is rockier and steeper. Miles pass more slowly due to the difficult terrain resulting in fewer miles per day. There are many more people on the trails and in the campsites. Frequently there are no blazes due to wilderness designation. There are far fewer shelter and camping opportunities. The rewards are stunning views, beautiful peaks and great trails.

For a thru-hiker, popular areas such as the Whites can be very confusing. The AT follows a myriad of local trail segments. These trails are well known to the local hikers and their maintainers. For many, the fact that this is a part of the AT is incidental. The local guide books and maps describe these local trails very well. Thru-hikes do not carry these guide books and maps. In fact, most thru-hikers do not carry any maps or guide books, only a data book. This is due to the logistics of juggling 2000 miles worth of maps and guides. The data book does not mention local trail name. The confusion arises anytime the thru-hiker encounters a trail junction with signs that do not indicate 2 directions for the AT or may not even acknowledge the existence of the AT..

The most common place for confusion is where the AT crosses a road or through any civilization. Those of us who maintain trails usually maintain sections that begin at a road, not that cross roads. As a result, no one really pays attention to what is across the road. A prime example is the AMC Pinkham Notch Visitors Center. The northbound thru-hiker arrives at Pinkham via the Old Jackson Road. Where does the trail go next? Up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail? Across the courtyard? Down the stairs? To the end of the parking lot? Across the highway? Oh yes, there it is. Cross the Highway, turn right and walk about 20 paces to the Lost Pond Trail. This may sound silly but thru-hikers often make wrong turns in civilized areas or where the trail does not continue directly across a road.

What needs fixing?
Every trail junction along the AT should indicate the AT in 2 directions. Most signs just need to indicate the AT as they already point in 1 or 2 directions. Arrows accompanied by the letter "N" or "S" would be most helpful but could confuse local hikers since the trail often actually goes east and west.

Where the AT crosses a road, if the trail is not directly across the road, there should be some indication of which way to walk the road. Sometimes this might be accomplished by an indication on the back of a sign or blazes along the road. Sometimes brush obscures existing blazes along the road.

How to fix it?
Replacing signs would be nice but expensive and will take a great deal of time. My proposal is to add signs to existing sign posts. The photo below was kludged togeter with a lot of cut and past operations on my computer:


Who is this guy anyway?
Hi, My name is Scott Piddington AKA Voyageur. I have been hiking and backpacking in the White Mountain National Forest for 47 years. For the last 9 years, since 7/2002, I have been a volunteer trail adopter of the Davis Path from the Mt. Isolation Spur to the Glen Boulder Trail. Yes, I have climbed the 4,000 footers several times but I no longer keep track. In the winter I tour the back country on skinny skis and the front country on a snowboard. I have a degree in electrical engineering. I wrote software and installed computer hardware for 17 years. I have been the technical director of a high school theatre program for 33 years. I have lived in NH for 34 years. For the last 19 years I have also been hiking throughout the states in places like Wyoming, Montana, Colorado & Alaska.  In 2004 I began thru-hiking.


When I got to the Whites on my 2004 AT thru-hike, I thought, finally home where things are done right. I immediately lost the trail climbing Mt. Moosilaukee in a field just up from the road on the Glencliff Trail (I know it's DOC land). Then I saw the signs on Lafayette were vague indicating the AT in only one direction as if the trail ended there. The Bondcliff trail had been labeled as the AT at it's junction with the Twinway (I had actually removed the AT at the top center of that sign with my knife in 2003 after a frustrated thru-hiker asked me which way to go). Then to find that the signs in front of Lakes of the Clouds Hut didn't mention the AT was stunning. Even as an experienced local hiker, I was confused in the Great Gulf.

I decided then that I had to fix this. It has taken a few years but I am determined. On Memorial Day weekend of 2009 I hiked the AT from Crawford Notch to Pinkham Notch and photographed every sign along the way. I noted the signs that needed attention and came up with a plan and a system to fix them. I intend to get to the rest of the trail in the Whites in the near future.
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Revised 2/6/2011