The Strange Heterogeneity of Hiking Signs Part II

In 2022, I wrote about our encounter with the strange heterogeneity of hiking signs during A Short Hike (that’s also a video game but not the thing we were doing). The photo shared then depicted a signpost with arrows on top of specific shapes (i.e. a blue diamond, a yellow cross, …) identifying different—and in most cases, much longer—routes. It turns out that these symbols never represent the same distance. When I meet my friend from another province, we usually go hiking somewhere near his home. There, the weirdly shaped signs are nowhere to be seen. Instead, the remarkably clear numbered “knooppunten” (nodes) let you plan your own route. It’s in fact exactly like the bigger blue node signs we’re accustomed to when biking (https://www.fietsknooppunt.be/ becomes https://www.wandelknooppunt.be/). Last year, I noticed our province finally adapting the same system: wandeleninlimburg.be also features a virtual map where you can select which numbered nodes to follow. Finally some…