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Trail signs showing allowed and prohibited activities

How do you easily convey to trail visitors what activities are allowed and, more importantly, NOT allowed" The most common graphic devices are variations on the international symbols. Take standard pedestrian silhouette, add a walking stick, and you've got a hiker. Various manufacturers can provide the range of symbols, posts, and signage systems. The flexible fiberglass flat posts are typically used with stick-on user symbols on federal lands, but the vandal- and vehicle-resistant posts are also appropriate for some urban situations. Other signs provide the allowed or prohibited trail uses with some explanation or user etiquette in both urban and back-cpuntry settings.

See manufacturers of Signs, Interpretation & Markers in the American Trails Business Directory

Click on any photo to see it full size along with more information:

(photos by Stuart Macdonald except as noted)

Carsonite-type post with trail use information at Pioneer Mail Trailhead, San Diego County, CA; photo by Stuart Macdonald 18 Aug 2009

Logo sign showing only prohibited activities, Bluff Lake Trail, Denver, CO; photo by Stuart Macdonald 4 Dec 2009

Signpost on Lema Ranch trail, privately managed by the McConnell Foundation; photo by Stuart Macdonald, November 2007

Detail of logos on sign on Lema Ranch trail, privately managed by the McConnell Foundation; photo by Stuart Macdonald, November 2007

Sign showing trail logo and general park regulations on Trans Canada Trail; photo from Trans Canada Trail, December 18, 2007

Both motorized and nonmotorized trail activities are allowed on this trail on the outskirts of Ashland, WI, both winter and summer; managed by the Tri-County Recreation Corridor Commission; photo by Stuart Macdonald 8 Sept 2007

On this stretch of Baker River trail that crosses private property, users are warned that they are only allowed to walk or ride on the trail; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 12 Oct 2006

Detailed instruction on appropriate behavior with skateboarding hours on Mission Bay Trail; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 7 Sept 2009

User sign with map dispenser and boundary marker, Withlacoochee State Trail, Florida; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 12 July 2009

Sign indicates trail junction with allowed uses on Wissahickon Valley Trail, Philadelphia; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 6 Oct 2008

Trail identity sign includes symbols for permitted uses in Lakewood, CO, Bear Creek Greenbelt; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 10 Nov 2009

Trail use reminder on paved National Park Service path to scenic overlook; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 2 Apr 2007

Sign at road crossing on Cascade Trail in Skagit County, WA; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 12 Oct 2006

Trail access sign on Flume Trail near Reno, NV; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 17 Feb 2006

Silkscreened metal sign on Bureau of Land Management trail near Moab, Utah; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 2 Apr 2007

Sign on bridge providing access to Clear Creek Greenway, which is open to all uses in Wheat Ridge, CO; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 1 Oct 2008

Sign noting how far bikes are allowed on the Colorado Trail at Kenosha Pass on the Pike National Forest; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 1 Oct 2008

Dirt trail in San Diego's Balboa Park; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 5 Sept 2009

Blaze-style of plastic sign nailed to aspen tree, Superior Hiking Trail near Duluth, WI; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 11 Sept 2007

City Parks sign on Superior Hiking Trail in Duluth, WI; photo by Stuart Macdonald, 11 Sept 2007