GAINESVILLE - The U.S. Forest Service has completed completed blazing and signing designated trails in the Chattahoochee and Oconee National forests in an effort to provide the public with better information about the location of trails and what modes of travel are allowed.<br />
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Forest staff determined standardized signing and blazing is necessary to ensure consistency in signing for trails, trailheads and approaches to these trailheads from our road system. The standard is designed to provide the public uniform signage across the forest and between the districts.<br />
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The beginning of each trail is marked with official trail number and painted blazes or colored plastic blazers. The following color scheme is used for the blazes/blazers; OHV Trails--Orange, Horse Trails--Green, Bike Trails--Yellow, Hiking Trails--Lime green.<br />
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Trails Manager for the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, Jimmy Gaudry said, visitors should not use trails that are without markers. If you believe that a trail is designated, but missing markers then contact your local Forest Service district. <br />
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Finally, when a designated trail is multi-use (horse and bike for example) we have used both colors at the start of the trail and at intersections. The rest of the trail may only have the color for the primary use. There are some exceptions to the above standards that will continue to exist. For instance, the Appalachian, Pinhoti, Benton Mackeye, and Bartram trail each have their own sign plan and will continue to be marked according to those plans. In wilderness, synthetic materials are not used for trail marking and trail blazing is kept to a minimum.<br />
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For additional information on trails go to the recreation section of this website, http://www.fs.fed.us/conf/rec_head.htm<br />
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