[OSM-newbies] howto mark a usable, but not designated mountain trail

[Alexandros Papadopoulos]

Hi

Our recent mountain meanderings created an interesting mapping
situation. At one point we knew very well, from the paper map we had
with us and the GPS unit's breadcrumbs, that the designated trail was
sending us to a junction 1km due north, only to then track back
another 1km due south to a position roughly 300m to our east.

As we were already nearing the end of the day and were tired, the
prospect of saving ~2km of walking was too good to pass on, so we did
the naughty thing and took a shortcut through the forest.

I mapped it for two reasons:

1. If someone happens to be there and needs to get out of the mountain
quickly, this is the best way to do it.
2. Now the mapped way is circular, otherwise it would have abruptly
ended in the forest nothingness.

The right kink shown at http://osm.org/go/Zc93G@e0M- (if it's not live
yet, you should be able to see it by clicking the "+" on the map and
then the "data" overlay) captures my dilemma. Following the marked
trail we would have walked on due NW back to the guidepost, and
rejoined the "Long Path".

I currently chose to:
1. break the way in two
2. clearly mark the "shortcut" section as such (by name)
3. not using the "foot=designated" tag for the shortcut.

What's the right thing to do in a case like this? This is useful data
for the map in case of emergency, but I don't want this to turn into a
mainstream trail either!

Cheers

Alex