The Land Stewardship Committee has nearly completed marking the trail systems throughout Acton’s Conservation Lands. The marking system employed has been applied as consistently as possible to all consareas so that persons of all ages and interests may enjoy these natural areas without concern for becoming disoriented or ‘lost.’ The trail system in most consareas consists of a main loop trail, with one or more accesses from separate entrances, and one or more secondary trails. A secondary trail leaves the main loop trail and rejoins it, either by bisecting the loop or by providing a side excursion to some area of interest not on the main trail itself. A couple of properties have only a straight-through main trail because either the size or the topography of the property does not lend itself to a loop. In these cases, however, the same definitions apply to accesses and secondary trails. In general, there are two kinds of markers used for these trail systems: blazes, and wooden arrow signs. Blazes, the primary markers, are rectangular swatches of paint applied six or seven feet above ground to the bark of prominent trees. Blaze trees are chosen so that a traveler can see the next blaze from where s/he is. The trail is blazed for both directions. In order to differentiate among the three classes of trail, three colors are used consistently throughout all consareas. Main loop trails and main straight-through trails are blazed yellow. All access trails, whether from entrances outside the main consarea or from contiguous properties with their own trail system, are blazed red. Most access trails are quite short; a few are fairly long, two being close to a mile in length. Secondary trails are blazed blue. Hence, by observing the color of the blazes on the trail one is on, any walker or hiker should be able to find his/her way back to an entrance. Blues will always lead back to a yellow trail. All yellow trails will eventually intersect with one or more red accesses by which one can return to an entrance. At most major entrances, near or in the parking area, there is a kiosk (a notice board with a small peaked roof). Informational notices, including a map of the consarea, are posted on these kiosks. All kiosks now also have map boxes with a supply of recyclable maps of the property. At present all maps are in black and white, but soon new maps will be distributed that will either be in color, or if in black and white, will have symbol-coded trails differentiating the three classes of trail. Occasionally, it seems necessary to place wooden arrow signs at significant intersections, or other places where there could be some ambiguity about the trail. In general, we have avoided using worded signs, both because of their intrusive effect on the naturalness of the woodlands, and because of the arbitrariness of selecting appropriate names. Most map boxes were constructed by schoolchildren—either scouts or 5th and 6th graders in community service programs. Maps for all Acton consareas are currently in the process of being upgraded, for accuracy, for uniformity of format, and for color and symbol coding of trail classification. These new maps, based on a property by property digital GPS survey done by one of our volunteers, will be featured in the new Guide to Acton Conservation Lands, to be published in the late fall or winter. As these maps are completed, they will be added to this website and may be downloaded by those with suitable print capabilities. As mentioned above, they should be equally useful either in color or in black and white.
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