Oh, but that’s the thing! There are marks on the ground and it is a well-known route. Moreover, it is found both on the climbing sites (the one I posted) because it is UIAA (climbing) grade 2, as well as on hiking maps as a black / T6 route.
The marks are there but they are just enough to pass. The areas where, if-you-take-a-wrong-turn-you-end-up-in-big-trouble are sometimes marked with “NO!” or “STOP!”. When the route is not obvious, there is sometimes an arrow at an angle sprayed on the rock. Sometimes you follow the marks of the ground, left by the those who’ve been there before you. And sometimes you just follow the terrain. This is the situation in the photo. There simply aren’t too many choices there.
So, varying degrees of what one would expect as a “marking”. But it works and is enough for (experienced) people to follow the route.
After this, there was even harder section, with a steep fall into a deep end of the lake, path covered in grass and wet fallen leaves. That area is not used often and one has to search for the next pointer. Fortunately, there’s been a race recently and fresh spray dots were put at key points, just at the right places. If I’d have to estimate, I’d say every 70m or so. Although that means there were two markings in a 20m section and then nothing for 150m.
This really takes too many words to explain and still doesn’t even scratch the surface. Photos are better but they don’t even reach 20% of the real experience.
I’ve also been on some less frequented paths, which have proportionately less markings. These are not on the map and people have strongly objected to putting them there, even though there was plenty of cairns in the tricky sections. Honestly, I would not feel comfortable knowing that someone I know is walking alone there.
Which is how my involvement in this topic began:
And this illustrates one of the aspects of path problems that we’re trying to make less murky. Hopefully we come up with something, i.e. pathless, for this type of path and slice away that part of the problem.