Oak Valley Trail to be Reblazed RED

Existing Trail Colors - Oak Valley Trail is WHITE

[UPDATE: Reblazing is now complete and Oak Valley Trail colored red. ] It's come to our attention that all the white trail blazes at Shelton Lakes are really confusing to most people and few people know the names of the trails. That becomes a problem for many reasons, like people getting lost and confused, trail reports with unhelpfully vague locations ("there's a fallen tree on the white trail off Nells Rock"), and the more serious prospect of confusion if an emergency response is needed.

We know this is going to add more confusion in the short time, but we've decided to change Oak Valley Trail from white to red to help with that problem. After people get used to it and everyone has the correct map, it should be a lot less confusing overall.

Future Trail Colors - Oak Valley Trail will be RED

Why were all the trails blazed white in the first place? To begin with, there were three disconnected loop trails, all blazed white because that color shows up best in low light. It only became confusing after the Paugussett and Rec Path were constructed. These linear trails cross all three loop trails multiple times, all of them blazed white. It's come to the point where many people don't even realize these are loop trails with names. So we're going to be working on that. 

By the way, Oak Valley Trail got its name because it follows an old roadbed for a spell that was once part of Oak Valley Road back in the 1800s, back when people with horses and wagons need to get from Nells Rock to Huntington Center.