Signs and Marks

Signs and Marks:

Trail Marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with markings that follow each other at certain distances. It can guide you at the beginning and along a given path, such as changing the direction or at an intersection with another trail.

Mark colours:  colours have no purpose other than to represent an individual trail.

Marks Shapes: You can find 2 types of marks in the Palestinian nature reserves:

1.  Three colours mark – it has two white bars and yellow in the middle. Drawn by the Environmental Quality Authority in 10 reserves.

2. Two colours mark- it is white bar and below it a green bar. Drawn by Mahmiyat.ps with local councils and municipalities.

Marking systems used: The marking of 3 colours is the Central European Hiking Markers System which uses three bars - usually one colour in between two white bars. While the marking of two colours is the Belgium system.

Where do I find the marks?

Marks are located on rocks, trees or prominent walls that are easy to see on the path and are usually placed directly or slightly above eye level.

How do you read the marks?

You can find four forms of paintings; each has a different meaning and is meant to indicate which way the trail is going.

1- Continuity of the trail : Finding rectangular sign indicates that you are on the right path. You can continue walking in this direction. Remember to find the same colour of the sign from the beginning to the end of the trail.

2- Change of direction - turn to the right: The sign indicates that should turn to the right.

3- Change of direction – turn to the left: The sign indicates that should turn to the left.

Note: If you have a hard time remembering whether to turn left or right, remember the arrow direction.

4- Wrong direction- Closed path: The sign X indicates that the path is wrong/closed, so you must go back and look for another nearby sign of the same colour.