Photo: New 1/10th mile markers allow trail users to calculate their distance, identify their location and navigate the trails. Each marker includes the color and abbreviation of the trail you are following.

New trail signs in some parks are a sign of things to come for trails throughout the Metroparks. In addition to new posts identifying trails and providing other way-finding information, markers are now spaced every tenth of a mile.

The signs have been installed at Wildwood Preserve are about to be installed at Swan Creek Preserve and along the Towpath Trail connection Farnsworth, Bend View and Providence.

Using the mile markers and new kiosk maps, runners and walkers can now plot their own distance and make their own course. The markers also allow trail users with cell phones to better pinpoint their location in the event that they need to call 911 for an emergency. In addition to the color (or "blaze") of the trail, the posts also have abbreviated trail names for the 7 percent of the population that is color blind.

Eventually, the new signage will be used on trails in all of the Metroparks.