What It Is

Hiking trails are easy to decide on, if you know what you are looking for. Often, forest rangers provide free tours and useful tips. For northern locations, hikers will want to be in shape for the terrain, which is often a mixture of grass, prairie land and pine forest footpaths. Bison, elk, mule deer, coyotes and prairie dogs are frequent sites.

Hiking trails are pretty much a no-brainer public asset, a win-win for those who live among ever-increasing development, traffic and growth. Unfortunately, Forest Service and Park Service budgets are often strapped and have steadily declined over the past decade. With the help of groups like WTA, public lands agencies have gotten used to the tightening belt, using a combination of volunteer labor, user fees, grant funding and other magic tricks.

Hiking trails are available in the Forest’s wildernesses and are often marked with signs consisting of three horizontal stripes. The middle stripe indicates the trail color, which can be red, blue, green or yellow. Hikers have strong preferences when it comes to the appearance of the woods they’re walking through. All else equal, they usually prefer big trees, open forest, and little evidence of logging other than an occasional old stump or the remains of an ancient logging road.

Forest Service have created an mapping tool which identifies which maps to purchase for recreational activities across eleven of the U.S. National access to recreation permits and other useful information is also available. Occasionally some provincial park and forest service management features, including campgrounds, may be privatized or transferred to municipalities and regional districts, but these changes usually will not affect the trails and routes.

Hiking trails that lead to a rocky bluff are often rewarded with fantastic views of mature forests, sparkling spring-fed rivers and rolling countryside. Each season offers a changing landscape and new wonders to explore, whether it’s the chattering of birds and new growth in the spring, the rustle of leaves swirling to the ground in autumn or the crisp air of the quiet woods after a fresh snow.

Percy Priest provides a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities for millions of visitors each year. Volunteers are trained to assist Forest staff in patrolling Forest trails. Volunteers are needed April through October to ensure day use park entrance gates are opened in the morning and secured at night.