I’ve had 2 trail markers for this trail rejected now. One was this for not permanent, and private property. It is definately permanent and public, its even on the Flagstaff Urban Trail System website Flagstaff Urban Trails & Bikeways Map | City of Flagstaff Official Website , and plenty of people use it every day who don’t even live in these appartments.
FUTS Cliffs Trail Marker 2
Flagstaff AZ
Not Accepted
2026-03-18
Reviewers provided these top reasons for not accepting this submission:
- The submission is likely not permanent or distinct
- The submission is on private property which is not publicly accessible
Description
This Trail Marker lies right next to the Elevation Clubhouse with convenient benches for resting.
5000 N Mall Way, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, USA
This Permanant trail marker lies in the middle of the north/south stretch of Cliff Trail and is a wonderful spot to sit on the benches and enjoy the wonderful Flagstaff weather. There is also the clubhouse, exercise center, and pool right next to it. Flagstaff Urban Trails & Bikeways Map | City of Flagstaff Official Website
The second spot was rejected similarly, but also for bad picture, which i dont understand either, maybe because the parked car or my shadow on the sidewalk?
I’m hesitant to appeal, as I have been having a heck of a time with spots being flagged as private property, even though they are far from it! I was even starting to dig around the public zoning records and property surveys to try and prove previous rejections were on public easments near public roads, but I digress. Any helpful thoughts?
At first glance, the nominated object appears to be a generic, mass produced bollard (particularly given the urban location). You need to provide reviewers with evidence that this is not the case.
Have you thought about including a link that shows that the design / imprint on the trail marker is actually the logo for the Flagstaff Urban Trails System? I would also include a link to the map of the walking trail map for this marker.
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Hello @Howevil
The key reason that this is having an issue is that you are focussing on the marker and not on the trail.
It is following the trail that is meeting the criteria of exploration and exercise. Trail markers act as anchor points for the trail on the map. They are by design all very similar and usually nondescript, so that you can easily recognise the particular trail and follow it.
So alter your approach.
Photo
I would do a close-up so you can easily see the symbols, and that it’s instantly clear it’s not just a stick.
Describe the trail
Have some text you put together about the trail that makes it an interesting trail to follow.
The cliff trail……distance, direction, what will you see, why is it good exercise.
Draw out the uniqueness of the marker
Marker at the point you can see…. Change direction.
Supplementary
Should have link to the website and the PDF a little bit about ethos of having these trails installed. The symbols on the marker post.
I have taken to providing a screenshot of the appropriate zoomed in section of the map as it can be hard for a reviewer to orientate themself.
This is an example drawing attention to the official name and a decision point where the marker would be.
Doing all of this changes the emphasis and guides the reviewer towards accepting.
Good luck as it looks like there are some great urban trails
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