Shelton Lakes Kiosks & Brochures

Brochures, addresses, and maps!

The Shelton Lakes trail network can get a little confusing, so this spring we've been working on making things easier with new maps, trail colors, updated kiosks, trail signs, and assigned addresses.

Trail Map & Brochures: We've got a new map on an 11x17" trails brochure. It's on durable, water-resistant paper with a large map on one side and information about the trail system on the other. Look for the new brochure in our map boxes. The brochure is also posted online if you have the ability to print out 11x17 documents in color (see HERE).  The map has also been posted on most of the kiosks.

The Hope Lake picnic area & Oak Valley Trailhead is 226 Nells Rock Road

Parking Addresses: If you take a look at the new map on that brochure, you'll see that some of the major trailhead parking areas have addresses. These aren't official postal addresses, but are close enough to use for GPS driving directions. These addresses can be used for meet-ups and also for emergencies.

Red and blue blazes

We've added these addresses to the sign kiosks. Each kiosk will have a piece of paper identifying the approximate street address, and there are 4" black metal address numbers nailed onto the kiosk as well.

But wait, there's more! The three hiker lots on Nells Rock Road also have highly visible address plaques on the trees out by the road. Those parking areas can get confusing, with people going to the wrong lot at times. Numbers were also added to the gate under the powerlines that cross Shelton Avenue.

Trail Colors: Because there were three white-blazed loop trails, and just a lot of white blazes in general, we switch the middle loop trail (Oak Valley Trail) to red. This will probably be even more confusing at first for people not expecting is, but over time should make things easier (see previous blog post).

Trail Signs: In general, hikers are expected to use trail maps and understand how the trail blazes are color-coded to correspond with the trail map. Trail signs are a LOT of work and tend to be stolen as trophies. That said, we're in the process of creating some trail signs to be placed along the Rec Path at each trail junction, so that people can see that the cross trail is, for example, Turkey Trot Trail. These trail junction signs can be used as landmarks for people on the Rec Path. If you were to report a fallen tree on trail, you could say it's on the Rec Path near the junction with Turkey Trot Trail. The signs can also help trail users learn the names of the trails.

Of course, none of these steps will help for hikers who don't look at the kiosks, don't bring a map, and don't pay attention to trail blaze colors or signs. For those people: Good luck!