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A painted rectangle on a tree or rock, marking a route and its turns.
Also known as: Blaze mark, Paint blaze, Trail marker
A trail blaze is a painted rectangle on a tree, rock or post marking a walking route. Its grammar is nearly universal even though its colours are not: a single blaze means the route continues, two blazes stacked mean a turn, and the offset of the upper one gives the direction of the turn. Three blazes in a triangle conventionally mark a start or an end. Colours identify which route rather than what kind, which is the opposite of the British waymark convention.
Marks that a route continues when drawn singly, and marks a turn when two are stacked — with the upper blaze offset to the side the route turns towards, which is the part that makes the system readable without a key.
Contexts: Navigation, Maps
Uses colour to identify which route rather than what class of traffic, which is the opposite of the British waymark convention and the commonest cross-border misreading.
Contexts: Navigation, Maps
Conventionally marks a trailhead or a terminus with three blazes in a triangular arrangement, though this is a widespread habit rather than a rule and varies between trail associations.
Contexts: Navigation, Maps
A small painted rectangle taller than it is wide, applied directly to bark, stone or a post, sometimes with a second rectangle above and to one side.
Both mark a walking route on the ground.