<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 15, 2015, at 6:35 AM, Bryce Nesbitt <<a href="mailto:bryce2@obviously.com" class="">bryce2@obviously.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">But there are cases where the trail-head has a given and well known NAME.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">So far I generally tag that on the parking area, but parking is not necessarily a requirement for having a trailhead.</div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""><div class="">The easy definition is: A place where you you officially enter or exit a wilderness area on a maintained trail or track *and* there is some kind of allowance for switching modes of transportation.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">even easier: If the purpose is to park your car there and then leave the area, it is a trailhead. If the purpose is to park your car and stay there and have a BBQ and play in the creek, it is a park. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There are named and unnamed trailheads, but any place you transition from driving, street biking, or walking on a street/sidewalk to hiking in a wilderness area - that place where the transition takes place is a entrance=trailhead. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">To me, the easiest way to define a trailhead is a sign of some sort signed and maintained trail junction to the normal transportation network, along with some kind of parking area - a turnout, a small spot to get your car off the road, a place to saddle a horse, a place to leave a car and unload a bicycle etc. Up from that is na information sign, nameboard (Wilderness park), paved parking with driveways, water, bathrooms, staging area, and after that it turns into a park - grass, picnic areas, playgrounds, etc. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This is why separating the actual entrance from the area is useful - </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The trailhead might be “outside” the wilderness area - a large park, with parking and amenities shared by the park; roadside parking; a paved parking lot with bathrooms and gate that separates the parking lot from the path leading into the wilderness area. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">That gate / trail start point - the entrance where the highway=service meets highway=path (or track) is the entrance=trailhead, and the parking lot, driveway, bathrooms, etc is leisure=trailhead on the area. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">With some places, the “trailhead” is inside the park - it has a trashcan and a signboard as you enter, and a gate from the path/track to the street. </div><div class="">The gate is entrance=trailhead, but there is no area - as there is no *special* area for staging, BUT normal roadside parking is available. mapping the amenities (Sign, trash can) are mapped normally. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Understanding the last bit - at least normal parking is available - is a great definition for a trailhead. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">One of the places I hiked in Japan had a large parking lot, but the trail entrance was 200m down the road. there was absolutely no place to park at the entrance=trailhead, though the leisure=trailhead had a lot of amenities nearby. You had to walk down the sidewalk, cross the street, and then start hiking. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.gunmajet.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo_06-584x441.jpg" class="">http://www.gunmajet.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/photo_06-584x441.jpg</a> The “P” is the leisure=trailhead in the lower left. the green line meeting the road at the bottom is the entrance=trailhead.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Javbw</div></body></html>