High Sierra Topix

Heartless monsters calling for an end to cairns.

It just depends, right?

We see ducks or cairns in places where they're apparently of real utility to mark a trail or whatnot, including to us, and I'm generally appreciative of them.

We see ducks or cairns set out to mark campsites or even maybe just to adorn the world or pass the time... who knows, and I generally find them inappropriate. Like the duck/cairns we'll set up, ourselves, to mark the path to our latrines near campsites, I tend to kick and spread them out before leaving the area.

If in doubt, I treat them like the former, rather than the latter.

I dont build them, but the only ones I've ever knocked down are the ones folks built right along an established trail (two to three rocks right at an obvious bend). As pointed out by others, a paticular duck or cairn may be very useful for marking a route for winter travel or may mark a particular route to avoid cliffing out. I've had a few that really helped out in finding a route in difficult cross coumtry terrain. I guess my biggest question for those who feel the need to knock everyone thy see down would be how does one know whats a "good" or "useful" cairn and which ones are not? Is there a list??

I guess in general I'm somewhat amused by the topic. if a cairn ruins your wilderness expeirience, what does a maintained trail (you know, engineered step ups, water barriers, and obvious blast marks from the use of explosives) do to your mood? I'm guessing those of you in this mind set really dont like trails that start off on old logging or mining roads such as Pine Creek, and what do you do when you see trail signs with actual words and mileages written on them???? Do you knock them down as well in a fit of outright rage???????

OK, OK, I'm pushing the envelope so to speak at the end, but really folks?? I go into the Sierra to relax and remove myself as much as possible from the stress of everday life, not to worry about cairns/ducks ruining my wilderness experience, which they dont. Things like folks leaving garbage in the wilderness and improperly burying human waste tweak me out way more than seeing a few "ducks" along the way, but to each their own eh!

Troutdog

Hey! I'm retired, have a great wife that lets me go backpacking and fishing almost as much as I want, I have the resources to do pretty much what I want. My kids are all employed. So what can I b-tch about? Ducks of the cairn variety (not football Ducks!)

Mike