Cairns in Vee Lake

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balzaccom
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by balzaccom »

Good for you! And you are a braver man than I, both for the swim and the bad pun about posteriors!
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by Cross Country »

I will never cease to be amazed (actually only alerted) by the mountains made out of molehills. Come on people do you really think this is a big deal?
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sekihiker
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by sekihiker »

Maybe this belongs in a different thread, but I was very grateful for ducks/cairns I found on seldom used or poorly maintained trails where I hiked this summer.
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longri
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by longri »

Threads drift; it's not a big deal. This one started out about a cairn on an island.

Cairns to mark the way on an otherwise difficult to follow section of a trail is a good use of them. I build ducks/cairns for that reason on occasion.

Marking use trails, xc routes, peak climbing routes, campsites... more debatable. I'm not sure what the official line is but I've seen rangers knocking over cairns on well-traveled xc routes (e.g. en route to the Palisade Glacier).

It's funny though, the most egregious cairns in the Sierra were built by the NPS.


I won't touch the NPS cairns but all the others are fair game. It's fun to toss rocks to knock them over. I think of it as alpine bowling.
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by Jimr »

I like side kicks, myself
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by sekihiker »

I've knocked over plenty of them, mostly on well traveled trails. There were so many ducks on the east side of 60 Lakes Col when I went over it in 1991 that I could have spent an entire day knocking them over. The strangest part was that I couldn't see a single one that was necessary.

There are two places where I have seen truly monumental ducks marking maintained trails. Ranger Bob Meadows had the ones built on the south side of Elizabeth Pass and the other set was on the east side of Sawtooth Pass descending into Columbine Lake. Both sets were helpful. The largest of the ducks were knee high to waist high.
Last edited by sekihiker on Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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sparky
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by sparky »

longri wrote:Winter snow will probably take care of the balanced ones.

They're definitely less obtrusive than painted graffiti but in some places the sheer number and continual replacement make them effectively permanent. There's a feature down the hill a bit from Muir Pass that people call the "rock monster" or something like that. I always take joy in tearing it down, knowing that it will be rebuilt again, probably very soon. I walked by it this past summer and there were about 25 people lined up with their phones, taking selfies.

So even though I'll continue to have fun tipping them over I figure it's a losing battle. A lot of people want these things. It's their vision of the wilderness.
ugggghhhh just everything about that visual makes me cringe.

I have taken a selfie or 3 in my day but enough is enough!
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cgundersen
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by cgundersen »

Ok, one vote for a raft and one vote for a swim. I like the raft idea, but I'd rather have the extra weight in chocolate. And, the idea of a 50 yard swim out to the island is not that bad. It's getting back to shore after warming up lifting rocks.....and, then doing it all over again on the second island. Still, if anyone who visits HST wants to solve the mystery, or document the process, well it'd be interesting!
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by Cross Country »

Everone I read here said that Edith Lake was VERY hard to reach and it is except for one route. The first time I hiked up and out of Edith I ducked about 25% 45-60 minutes) of the way. When I returned the following year I thought I could find the route without close attention to the cairns. I couldn't. After that on my 6 subsequent trips I carefully followed my cairns. The ultimate trip was 15 years after I placed them and only only one was gone. On my route Edith was easy.
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Re: Cairns in Vee Lake

Post by kpeter »

I appreciate small ducks and cairns to guide me through portions of trail that have been allowed to revert or otherwise have been poorly maintained--which at this point is probably more than half of all the trails that existed a half century ago. They are certainly less intrusive than the trail itself and can save time and energy if well placed. I remember appreciating them on the hike from Purple Lake up to Ram Lakes, for example, or the old trail from Wood Lake to Deer Lake.

However, now that I carry a GPS I think the utility of ducks will decrease for me. I found it possible to follow old trails and routes that had entirely reverted just by moving right and left to follow the old route on my GPS. And the ability to come here, ask advice for the best route, the best pass, etc. and preset waypoints based upon other people's experiences makes a huge difference.

I agree with those who dislike huge cairns or the needless proliferation of ducks. I find ducks in high traffic areas are always unreliable since all kinds of well meaning people misplace them. But in low traffic areas they can be helpful.
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