Mr.Peyton) and could send one on a very loud adventure that could result in tragedy as anyone whos experienced such an area knows when one snake rattles they all join in and it becomes impossible to determine if you are too close to one. Thank you for posting veral years ago at at a near by lake durring the recent california drought the island at said lake became accessible by foot.but first one would have to walk down a tiny path through rattlesnake breeding area and traverse a field of boulders that cover a portion of the dam.if you knew where the little trail was coming back this was an easy task under fairly dark sky.if you miscalculated it could become a virtual disaster.especially with fishing gear and a 130lb old english Staffordshire (r.i.p. but now I know NOT to build them anymore !! 🙂 😉 We were in a designated GScout camping area, so I don’t think anyone since then could’ve gotten lost following our signs …. and then at the end of the hunt’s trail, there’d be a big basket of goodies for them to find that we could snack on and enjoy later while we were sitting around the campfire that nite and singing our Girl Scout songs, and roasting marshmallows and eating S’mores !!! …. 🙂 … It sure made being in the woods even more adventurous and fun to be navigating with such interesting signs ! …. but where I lived was on the Chesapeake Bay, near Jamestown, we learned that they were called *Indian trail signs* …. I learned about cairns around that same time too (late 50’s ~ early 60’s) in Brownies or young Girl Scouts, and then 30 years later when I became a leader, I taught my Brownies about them too ! … and we’d only be using cairns, (stacked rocks) snapped branches, rubbing onions on tree trunks, or *some kind of sign * every 10 steps on our scavenger hunts while hiking out in the woods on camping trips ……. This is a serious problem for those who depend on real rock cairns for navigation or to mark safe stream crossings. Today, rangers are struggling with visitors building their own aesthetic cairns and knocking down accurate trail routing cairns. In Acadia National Park, rock cairns have been used historically for navigation. Our parks would be completely covered, taking away from the natural beauty of the landscape.
Imagine if every visitor built their own rock cairn.
While enforcement of this law is rare, keep in mind that our National Parks receive over 320 million visits a year (in 2019). It should also be noted that moving rocks in National Parks could be considered illegal since it disrupts the natural state of the ecosystem. When you move rocks to create decorative cairns you are altering nature for the next visitor and leaving a reminder that you were there. Leave No Trace means leave no sign that you traveled through the area. Leave No Trace principles aren’t just about trash on the trail. Doing so could send hikers in the wrong direction by misrepresenting the trail. Unless you are one of these people, you should avoid building rock cairns for fun in places where they could be confused as trail markers. Generally, rock cairns along trails and in the backcountry should only be made by park rangers, trail maintenance volunteers, or trail creators. Venturing towards the West Coast and towards the southern United States you’ll come to find even more routes marked with cairns. If you head farther North to Acadia National Park in Maine, you’ll find stacked rocks, known as “cairns” marking most paths. The Appalachian Trail is famous for it’s “white blazes” that mark the route through 14 states. Trail markers differ depending on the territory you are in. For outdoor adventure junkies, the purpose is generally navigational, as they mark the route of a trail. It might not be obvious why this is a big deal, so we wanted to put together a post that shares more information on the purpose of rock cairns, their history, and why we should avoid building them for fun in the backcountry.Ĭairns in the simplest form are stacked rocks with a meaning or purpose. Lately, I’ve been noticing more and more rock cairns in places they shouldn’t be. What are rock cairns? Generally, rock cairns are a way of marking the right way on not-so-well-defined trail.
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