By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
A series of new signage has been placed along the trail network for Camp 70. The effort was spearheaded by the Mountaineer Trail Network. Executive Director for Mountaineer Trail Network Andrew Walker was on hand at an event held August 21st at the National Youth Science Foundation to commemorate the occasion. “Camp 70 is an amazing piece of land,” Walker said.
According to Walker, his group worked with several different groups to create the different signs and posts along the trail system. Walker said that each section of the trail was designed to blend with the existing motif established by the landowner or manager so that users would easily know on which section of the Camp 70 trail system trail they were on. “There are a lot of different property owners and management groups that make up that space,” Walker said. “There are a lot of passionate people that work for a lot of really awesome organizations that exist here.”
Walker said the project was a year in the making with work on the project beginning around August of 2023. According to Walker, the trail system was cataloged from August to October of that year. During the cataloging process, Walker said, the trails were also reevaluated and regraded for difficulty levels to coincide with national levels. “The first plan was to basically make sure where intersections were, they actually were and things were named accurately,” Walker said.
Following the grading and cataloging phase, the project moved into a design phase, according to Walker, from October of 2023 to March of 2024. This was followed by a presentation phase, according to Walker.
There are three styles of signs in place along the trail network, according to Walker. The largest is the Trailhead Kiosk at 11 feet wide and seven feet tall, Walker said. The Trailhead Kiosks have the largest amount of information and are placed at key locations, Walker said. According to Walker, there are seven Trailhead kiosks stationed along the trail system. The kiosks include detailed descriptions of the trail for newcomer understanding, as well as difficulty ratings and other useful information such as updated intersections and amenities, Walker said. The second kind of sign is the hub kiosk which is a little smaller than the trailhead kiosk, Walker said. The hub kiosks are located at intersections, according to Walker and do not provide as much information. Lastly, trailposts were placed along the trail, as well, Walker said. The trailposts are fiberglass, according to Walker and provide clearly defined arrows and the name of the trail to users along the path.
The project cost $30,000 in design work, according to Walker. Over 20 kiosks were purchased with the average cost of $4,000 each, Walker said. Walker also said labor for each was estimated at $7,000 to $8,000. Walker estimated the Camp 70 Project at a cost of $35,000 to $40,000 funded through a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
