Waymarks
As road signs , even path marker , hiking characters or walking mark , an applied in the landscape (colored) is symbol denotes that the course of a trail features in nature. It should show tourists and hikers that the route used is looked after by an association or a community and leads to a clearly defined destination.
Path signs can also mean ranger signs .
purpose
Signposts have a pilot function and are also intended to show hikers from outside the area the further course of a hiking trail. For this purpose, the signs are often applied to trees with paint or in the form of adhesive signs on lampposts or other smooth surfaces. These symbols can also be found on hiking maps . The waymarks are often explained by information and overview boards at starting or entry points. The signposts at junctions are often supplemented with directional arrows and numeric digits to distinguish between similar routes.
The marking and signposting of paths and climbs in the mountains is usually carried out by wayfinders from regional homeland , tourism or alpine associations . Paths of supraregional importance (e.g. pilgrimage or long-distance hiking trails ) are looked after in cooperation with several institutions. The signposts should be refreshed regularly, as forest management, environmental influences and vandalism will make them fade or fade over the years.
Signposts from municipalities or local history or local history associations are less common . These usually mark cultural-historical, industrial-historical or other themed hiking trails and are subject to their own symbolism and design.
The markings are often combined with signposts at certain intervals - naturally especially at crossroads. One problem is the disappearance of markings when trees are felled or forest roads are built . On unmarked paths, cairns and footsteps sometimes make orientation easier .
symbolism
The type of symbol and also the color is in the hands of the respective hiking club , which has drawn up and marked the hiking trails. In many regions, a proper system for these signs has been developed so that even non-local visitors can use the signs to infer the type and length of the hiking trail.
- A white St. Andrew's cross is often used throughout Germany for main national hiking routes . These routes can be several hundred kilometers long.
- So-called motorist circular hiking trails starting from hiking parking lots are often marked with an A followed by a digit, the counting symbol, e.g. A1 . These are mostly short, usually three to seven kilometers, rarely over 20 kilometers long, local circular hiking trails that lead back to the starting point.
- In individual regions such as the Black Forest , the entire network of trails is provided with a uniform route sign. Signposts at crossroads provide information about the next stage destination. Here, however, you cannot identify an individual route by means of the sign.
- In Sweden , especially in the northern regions and in the fells , a horizontal St. Andrew's cross in red is used as a general signpost.
Quality features
Since the signposts are primarily intended to guide non-residents, certain qualitative requirements must be met for the attachment of the signposts:
- Environmentally friendly and uniform application with paint in the natural landscape and using adhesive signs in the settlement area.
- Regular refreshment.
- The next character should be in the direction and distance of your sight; especially in the case of a kinked route as a confirmation sign.
- Inconspicuous branches should be made known in advance by means of an advance notice (for example, a kinked arrow , exclamation mark ).
- Depending on the terrain and type of route, sufficient distance between the markings must be ensured; more often on paths within dense vegetation, less often on long overland stretches.
- Directional arrows must leave no room for interpretation.
- The change in vegetation should be taken into account. Signposts placed in winter can be obscured by leaves in summer.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, according to the guidelines of the Swiss hiking trails (SAW) , the markings are basically yellow (normal hiking trails), brown ( themed hiking trails ), white-red-white ( mountain trails ), white-blue-white ( Alpine route ) or yellow-red ( Jurahöhenweg ).
The mountain paths are kept in red and white so that they can be seen from afar and at dusk.
In the hill country and forest, the path markings are painted on larger trees, in the mountains also on stones or specially driven posts, ski markings, etc.
Austria
The signposts in Austria look very similar to those in Switzerland. The identification of the "difficulty" of hiking trails in Austria is only partially compatible with the way things are done in Switzerland. Historically, the Austrian system is derived from the classification of ski slopes: blue stands for easy, red for moderately difficult, black for difficult. Blue can be omitted on signposts. Since the basic color of the boards is yellow, this avoids a contradiction with the Swiss system. The system is not enforced by any government agency, but compliance with it forms the basis for state-supported quality seals to be awarded.
In principle, the markings on the signposts can be mapped quite easily in the SAC scale:
- T1 / hiking: with blue or missing point
- T2 / mountain hiking: if there is a red dot
- T3 / challenging mountain hiking: at black point
- T4… T6 / alpine: with the "Alpine ROUTE!"
Legal basis in Germany
According to German law, the approval issued by the higher landscape authorities for the attachment of signposts is only owned by large hiking clubs with a limited area of activity that operate regionally or supra-regionally. This regulation goes back to a Reich law from 1934, with which the wild marking should be curbed. This law is still in force today in the form of the state landscape and forest laws .
But even with this general permit, new hiking trails must be approved in detail by the lower landscape authorities before they are marked. For North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, an ordinance for the implementation of the Landscape Act (DVO-LG) was issued, which, among other things, regulates in Section 20 how the marking signs to be used to mark hiking trails must look.
Web links
- Marking of hiking trails German Hiking Institute (PDF; 54 kB)
- Guidelines for route marking SalzburgerLand Netoffice (PDF; 30 kB)
- Signpost guide for beginners: How to find the hiking trail on your own! on gelatin- shoes.de
- Page no longer available , search in web archives: Signposting hiking trails Swiss Confederation (PDF; 9,735 kB)