For every track I’ve walked, someone was there long before creating steps, erecting substantial structures such as ladders and platforms and setting out track markers. These markers come in all shapes and sizes, with the post in the photo being on the highly visible end of the visibility scale and complete with a reflector for night time walking, I presume. Most of the time walkers are attempting to exclude a marker from a photograph: to keep things natural or maybe give the illusion that we’re walking on unmarked tracks. But the shiny white beacon in the photo was in a particularly nice spot and worthy of being in the picture. It reminded me of the many times that I have silently appreciated the effort involved in creating, maintaining and marking kilometres of bush walks. I am a big day dreamer when I walk and am easily and frequently lured off-track by the faintest semblance of a path. At some stage my brain registers that I haven’t seen a marker for a while and I scan the landscape to find a post and mutter to myself: “Ah, there you are.” Track markers are a life-saver for this solo, absent-minded bush walker. So, a big round of applause for all the track markers: the posts and the people.