[Talk-us] confusing state of USFS trail names in Oregon

[Tod Fitch]

In my area there are variations on the Forest Service signs as well (“Ice House Canyon Trail” vs “Icehouse Canyon Trail” and “Chiquito Trail” vs “Chiquita Trail” are two examples that come to mind). I suspect some of the variations are due to changes in spelling, etc. over time so the older signs don’t match the newer signs.

The Forest Service is supposed to maintain an official inventory of trails and roads. A copy should be at each District Ranger Station and also at the Forest Supervisor’s office and at the Region Offices. However at least in Region 5 where I am it seems that every Forest is woefully understaffed on the recreation side because most of the money nowadays is going into fire. Because of that there may not even be a recreation officer you can get in contact with. I guess you should go up the line trying first at the district ranger station where the trail(s) are located.

In the meantime, I’ve dealt with multiple name variations on my mapping by putting the most common name (one with most signs in agreement) as the value for the OSM name tag and the less common version under the alt_name tag. Fortunately I haven’t run into trails that have more than two variations on their names. I guess that if/when I do I’ll also have to figure out how to parse semicolon separated options in a value using either Postgresql or Mapnik XML when I make my personal maps.

Cheers,
Tod


> On Dec 19, 2019, at 9:47 PM, Dion Dock <dion_dock at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> I did some mountain biking around Bend, Oregon this summer.  Apparently the Deschutes Ranger District of the US Forest Service can’t decide what to call their trails.  For example, at the Skyliners trailhead, there’s a sign that says
> 	SKYLINER TRAIL NO. 28
> 	JCT. WOOPS TRAIL NO 50 2 1/2
> 
> One of the USFS maps calls it the Woops trail, https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd639418.pdf <https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd639418.pdf>.  And there’s another map that I can’t find that seems to back this one up.
> Their web site calls it the Whoops Trail with no number, https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/deschutes/recreation/bicycling/recarea/?recid=38294&actid=24 <https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/deschutes/recreation/bicycling/recarea/?recid=38294&actid=24>.
> 
> There’s similar disagreement about Skyliner Trail vs Skyliners.
> 
> So…is this worth trying to straighten out?  Supposedly the trails all have numbers but I can’t find a reliable source (e.g. nothing else gives Whoops #50).
> 
> thanks,
> -Dion
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