When I go grocery shopping, I avoid buying ice cream. When my wife does the shopping, she sometimes buys a quart, and once I find out, I can’t help myself from finishing it. A little ice cream is fine, but a quart in one sitting probably isn’t. When I asked my wive to please not tempt me this way, she was puzzled why I’d find it so hard to resist. There’s something biblical about it.
It’s the same for nature paths: Tails, often paved and wheelchair accessible, that have a board on the side every few steps that explains about something about the local plants, animals and rocks. I feel like having those educational walls of text subtracts from my enjoyment of the walking experience. The reason that they’re like having ice cream in the fridge is that I can’t help myself: I have to read them, just like I have to finish the quart.
I don’t think there’s ever a good reason to put up educational signs along a path. People can look things up on their phones. If you, being in charge of path design at the local parks department, are worried that people wouldn’t look up the right things when walking the trail, have a single sign early on. List all the things that are forbidden on the trail (No drones! No camping! No motorized vehicles! No dogs!) there, together with all the things you’d like hikers to learn. Those that want to can take a photo and look it up later when they hike the trail. By not putting up additional signs later on, you’ll increase the enjoyment of the trail for most people, an you may even save the taxpayers some money, which I’m will assume is a priority for you.
Nehaveigur 