The TRAILS project was established as a partnership between Slovakia, Austria, and Serbia, focused on improving the marking and maintenance of hiking trails. Our goal is to inspire the younger generation to volunteer and to support their passion for discovering nature.
Trail marking is facing challenges due to a lack of new volunteers, meaning that existing groups in many European countries are struggling to fulfill their duties. These include maintaining current trails and markings, creating new hiking paths, ensuring the safety of hikers, and more.
To support these efforts, the TRAILS project was launched through a collaboration between Slovakia, Austria, and Serbia, backed by the Erasmus+ Sport programme. Over 18 months, all three countries will be visited to collect best practices from local trail markers and conduct a national youth survey on hiking habits and trail marking attitudes. The final output will be the TRAILS Report, summarizing all findings and made available online.
Specific project goals:
- Encourage young people to be more physically active by spending time outdoors and participating in hiking activities.
- Develop a set of best practices focused on promoting volunteerism in sports.
- Create a network of active hikers and trail markers dedicated to developing and maintaining hiking infrastructure.
- Contribute to the upkeep of hiking trails within the European Union.
Visit to Slovakia and Nitra Trail Markers
In April 2024, the TRAILS team met with project partners in Nitra to explore local hiking trails, meet with trail markers, and better understand Slovakia’s marking system and how it differs from other partner countries. The two-day event included hikes to Zobor and Drážovský kostolík, enriched by insights into Slovak trail signage and its history. Experienced members from the Slovak Tourist Club (KST) joined to help train young volunteers and shared their experience in organizing events and workshops for newcomers across the country.
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In the upcoming months, we plan to visit trail markers in Austria in the Reichenau/Rax mountain range, with an overnight stay at the mountain hut Naturfreundehaus Knofeleben, where we will learn more about the Austrian trail marking system.
