The Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail is a moderately strenuous trail being developed in the Columbia Gorge by Friends of the Columbia Gorge. They envisioned having a number of interpretive stations along the trail to inform and educate trail users. A station could focus on a single topic, such as the geology, plants, animals, indigenous and cultural history of the area. But they found that the cost of interpretive signs would be prohibitive, would be expensive to maintain and might not last long. So they started brainstorming for better ways to realize thier vision. The came up with a plan to place trailside posts, resembling basalt columns, with a QR code the user could scan with their smartphone that would connect to an informative recording about that location. Friends hopes to have the trail work and information stations finished by 2024. Then everyone will be able to experience the beauty along the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail with a deeper understanding of their surrounding through the recordings.
Renee Tkach, a Friends coordinator of the project, contacted Lloyd DeKay, president of the IAFI Columbia Gorge Chapter, about doing a recording for the first station about the geology of the area. They took a very windy hike together on the still somewhat challenging trail to the first station, where they talked about the focus of a recording and took a number of photos to document the views. At home Lloyd developed a script that everyone reviewed and agreed upon. Then began a few frustrating hours of recording and editing to produce a 4:30 minute recording. Since the original plan was for a 3:00-3:30 minute recording, Friends will now review the recording and decide if it’s OK or needs to be shorter and where to cut back.
This method may also be an easier, economical and useful way to provide information at other floods sites throughout the region. Significant advantages include the relatively low cost and long life of the information station, and ability to provide both video and audio clips for a number of features on a webpage linked to the QR code, and the ability to modify and update the presentations as new or updated information becomes available.