High Sierra Topix

edgeagg wrote: ↑Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:45 am Thanks @kpeter. BTW are "ducks" the same thing as cairns? And why are they called ducks? I googled but could not find any convincing explanation for the name

EDIT: I found some posts that indicated that "ducks" are supposedly directional, cairns are not. In the PNW we call everything a cairn.

Usually cairns are large piles of rocks and more or less permanent, will survive a winter. Ducks are small, temporary markers, often just three stones on top of each other, and they tend to get knocked down and scattered easily. They also tend to get replaced often by the first people in during the season.

By this definition, there are very, very few cairns in the Sierra. I know of a couple of wilderness graves that are marked that way, but I think such large piles are frowned upon as being a bigger mar on the landscape.

However, everyone is entitled to their own definitions and usage of these and all other such terms! Whatever works for you

kpeter wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:10 pm cairns are large piles of rocks and more or less permanent

Does a "Stone Boy" qualify as a cairn?

I'm kind of assuming that the term "duck" comes from the fact that the duck has a beak and the rock duck points in the direction of the "beak". This is merely an uninformed hypothesis, A Stone Boy? Never ever heard of it.

The Wikipedia article on Cairns is interesting as is the snippet below:
==
The US National Park Service has a set of rules regarding public interaction with cairns found within the boundaries of the park. Falling within the rules set by the Leave No Trace rule, the Park Service has three rules:

Do not tamper with cairns
Do not build unauthorized cairns
Do not add to existing cairns
This guideline is made with the intent of preventing needless cairns created by visitors and preventing the destruction of important trail-marking cairns.
==

TahoeJeff wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:06 pm

kpeter wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:10 pm cairns are large piles of rocks and more or less permanent

Does a "Stone Boy" qualify as a cairn?

Hm. Reminds me of the cairn atop Haskell Peak in the Northern Sierra.