I've been visiting various sites in the Czech Republic and have been seeing these markers on trees. At first I thought they were pointing the site I was visit, but then I realized they didn't always lead where I was trying to go. So I googled "czech marks painted trees" and came across this blog post. Enjoy :)
The Czech map service Mapy.cz is also really good for hiking. For example, this is the same location compared with Google Maps (if you have a high density screen, I recommend setting zoom to 75% on mapy.cz):
It's the very best hiking service in Germany also. Google maps is only usable for cars or bus/train. But for hiking or bycycling Mapy.cz with OSM are the best.
Wow. To my surprise, I was thinking they are something like "standard" in western world. Here in Slovakia, you go to every forest and see it guiding your roads
What i consider a good thing is that distances are shown in kilometers, rather then hours. Mountain trails might sometimes be marked in hours, as the hilly terrain adds it's time toll significantly, but for the most part, it is kilometers, which means that can very easily estimate how long it will take you to your destination while walking/running/biking...
But not all signage is great that in CZ. For example driving roads are mostly marked by "destination cities" at intersections rather then by road numbers (except of highway exits), so when planning a road trip, you must create an itinerary of towns to pass through, rather then simply following a map of roads.
In my experience, distance is the norm. I'm not sure I've ever seen a hiking/walking trail marked for difficulty/time rather than distance. (Of course a trail map/book/description may include more information including a range of time to complete.)
Ski trails of course are usually just marked for difficulty level. (Which is mostly relative to other trails on the same mountain.)
Interesting. "Book time" is a useful idea. The issue is that you need to have a good baseline for how you personally compare to the book time. It works well on an individual basis with a regional guidebook. I'm less sure what to make of it in a sign in an unfamiliar area. (I have seen it in Japan as well. I usually take it as something of an upper limit.)
IIRC almost all the signs in the swiss alps are time, not distance. Which makes sense given how steep many of them are -- even if it's not your pace, it's a quick summary of distance + elevation. Perhaps this is less needed in Czech terrain.
They are also coloured by difficulty, not length -- yellow will be a big wide road, red a mountain path, blue may expect you to have brought crampons.
The way they're on sign-posts and everything is great. Although, the notion of the colors painted on trees and what they mean (Red/Blue/Green/Yellow) is something that I've definitely come across in the US. Specifically, in areas near Boy Scout Reservations.
This makes hiking in Czechia pretty painless and low tech. And it's all made by volunteers. I never thought there was any meaning to the colors though.
Nitpick: 1889 can't be the very first hiking trail, because two years earlier a polish artist and hiker named Walery Eljasz marked a trail from Zakopane to Morskie Oko using Mercury Sulfide (red).
I believe there could have been similar attempts earlier elsewhere as well.
It sounds like they have a way of marking trails by difficulty only. That's a nice feature, but what happens when two trails of the same color cross? Are they still named? How does this get you from A to B without a map?
I think red is generally used for long distance trails and other colours are used for auxiliary routes. Because of that, colour clashes are rare. Because all major intersections have arrows you just really need to remember your destination.
Often you even have the information about public transport at the destination.
I guess I don't see how this is such a remarkable system. Everywhere I've hiked there has been some sort of blaze system to keep you on the trail you want. This looks pretty much identical, only with the added bonus of ambiguity throughout the country.
I just don't see the utility that makes this such a great idea.
Ambiguity is the key here. The system is set in a way that no matter where you are there are lines going just anywhere and once you are into it you will never miss any interesting spot. Also all the lines connect to each other, so I can start walking in one place and circle whole country.
Bonus point: whole system depends on volunteers who keep markings on all lines.
Fine. Distance/type then, though those terms aren't very helpful it seems. Looking at the map provided in a different comment, I just don't get it. I guess what I'm saying is that the colors don't line up with anything obviously useful. I still have to know which links I need unless I'm just doing a single segment. And If I need to know which links I need, the colors don't add any useful information.
When two trails cross, there usually is a signpost listing some popular destinations in the region, which is enough to get you to B unless you don't know any popular destination close to B. At least that's the way it works in Germany.
It's not perfect, though. Sometimes you'll see a sign pointing diagonally past an electric fence and think that maybe the sign is slightly off and you're supposed to walk along the fence. But actually the path goes across the meadow and the farmer who uses it later decided to erect a fence. Other times the sign is really just slightly off.
