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Yvelines: how volunteers ensure the marking of French hiking trails
Yvelines: how volunteers ensure the marking of French hiking trails
(France 2)
In France, 240,000 kilometers of hiking trails are regularly checked by volunteers. Meeting with a group of three trail keepers in Yvelines.
In Yvelines, hikers are tasked with checking the marking of forest paths. They carry paint, intended to indicate the right directions to walkers. Red is used for long hikes. This time, they will need yellow. “Yellow is for walks, day hikes”explains Hervé Malcorpi, from the Yvelines Departmental Hiking Committee.
The path that hikers take leads them through the Yvelines Regional Natural Park. The markers are faced with deterioration, which they are quick to correct. “We must respect a graphic charter and remove graffiti”comments Pierre Magnard, one of the volunteer markers.
These three trail keepers are among the 10,000 volunteers of the French Hiking Federation. Each of them manages 20 kilometers of trail, which they must check regularly. In France, 240,000 kilometers of short and long hiking trails are marked by volunteers.