I’ve developed a keen sense of walking in the mountains. Right now, our main goal in family is to go on a mountain trip each month. Maybe this month we’ll have two, next month we won’t go. The middle ground should have 12 exits on a mountain each year.
I’m not new to this “walk in the woods”, but I’ve always struggled with the marks for the tracks. I mean, how do they help? What information can we get from them? Such questions wondered in my head that I started to imagine things, without a proper documentation.
Nowadays there is more information of this hike trails, but in my recent go to mountain (during the winter) I came across probably the best explanation of the trails. The picture below sumarizes it, it’s made by Digital Brain with help from the Bucegi Park team, but I prefer to leave all the notes right here.
We first start with the colour code for each trails:
- Red means a limit for a national or natural park.
- Blue goes for a limit with protection of those zones.
- Yellow limits the natural reservation in which the trail takes place.
- There is another mark, rarely seen on the trails because it’s usually forbidden to go on them. The yellow with a red line across it and it signifies a zone with a strict protection (usually there are military sites in these areas).
Next on our list are geometrical shapes in which these colours are drawn, four by number:
- A band marks the main trails and peak trails. I have a romanian version of such a trails on Ciucaș Peak which has this kind of mark.
- The dot (more like a circle to me) shows a circuit type. Bear in mind that the trails that we make ourselves at home are not marked as we desired. A romanian version of the trail from Bătrâna to Bucșa is an example, but the Stan Valley from Argeș is a circuit.
- The triangle takes us on a secondary trail, but to a peak. Vânătoarea lui Buteanu is a good example, which goes from Bâlea Lac. This one will take you away from the main trails to Negoiu Peak.
- The last one is the cross, the intersection trails and joint trails. The same trail to Ciucaș Peak could be made through Șaua Tigăilor. This one takes you on a alternative trail with intersecțion in both start and end of the main trail.
Starts to make sense? Same for me. However, there is another mark for forests, which shows us the limit of the people’s proprieties. They can be seen in the picture, but let’s speak about each one individually:
- There are the Forest Department’s milestones, like a main road milestone. In case you get lost in the woods and don’t have access to anything but a 112 help call, these marks can make a difference between life and death because the Mountain Rescuer knows exactly where you are.
- Circles are drawn across the tree which shows intersections of parcels in that forest.
- Horizontal lines are for under-parceling, and the vertical ones for the main parcels.
- The H is for Forest Department delimitations.
The last ones are useful especially if you exploit the forest. However, it’s important to know what they mean since they can make a difference in telling a good or a bad information. You may not take them as main marks. If the trail is marked with the first two categories, it’s agreed by all the owners of the forest and the Mountain Rescuers. I advise you to follow the main marks on the hike trail.
These advice from our Mountain Rescuers should be taken seriously. I have just put them here so that they are easy to find for anyone who needs them. As an ending, my personal advice would be to not listen to all the mountain guides. Right now we have a lot of guides that will want a fee and don’t know anything about the mountain.
One little story: we were on Cozia Peak and saw a group of tourists with two guides. Generally speaking, they should stay at the end and beginning of the group. One of them was one kilometer ahead of the group, the other one was the leader. Of course they had one novice which had trust in them and got lost. We saw them searching for him because they returned while we were going downhill.