So what is a blaze? It was easy enough to look up on dictionary.com. The most sensible definition is as follows:
“A spot or mark made on a tree, as by painting or notching or by chipping away a piece of the bark, to indicate a trail or boundary.”
If you’re out in the wilderness, this one makes perfect sense. You could take it another step and look for marks on a rock as well. I say this after noting the huge number of fallen trees in the Yellowstone area. If Forrest Fenn placed a blaze on a tree, there is a good chance it may have fallen in a storm or due to another reason.
If you’re in a national or state park with trails, you will see lots of signs marking the trail. Those signs are also known as blazes. If you’re in a forest, you might start looking at trees for some kind of engraving or paint.
As of now, something like this make the most sense to me. Of course, that may be a bad sign.
I suppose it could be something like an orange, red, or yellow object – possibly shaped like a flame. The mountains often have such colors on them. I haven’t researched, but I assume it has something to do with the minerals and metals in them.
It could have something to do with the sun, but I doubt it since the sun moves and may only create a phenomena at certain points in a day or at certain times of year
It turns out that FF has sent some photos of trees with blazes such as the letter F or a person, so maybe that is the meaning of blaze.
Again, only FF knows…
We’ll talk more about it in part 2 or part II or part two