Interesting Cairn!

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donaleen
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by donaleen » June 22nd, 2016, 7:11 am

I think they are beautiful but do the rocks fall on wildlife? I saw a video of one where the birds were landing on it and it fell down. It looked dangerous even to a bird. I suspect an animal that could not fly could be injured by the falling rocks they might disturb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9b8-9AsrC4

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rainrunner
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by rainrunner » June 22nd, 2016, 3:44 pm

This is my opinion (kevin) and not my wife's since we use the same username.

In general I don't have an issue with cairn's. They can mark a troublesome route on a trail, they can mark a route near a river crossing, and even some artsy ones are cute if they are in an area that nature will take them down at some point like a river bed.
What I have an issue with are the artsy ones that are just artsy and don't provide a service to navigation, and are placed in designated wilderness areas.

Here are a few of the issues I have with cairns in designated wilderness areas:

(Keep in mind, my father was a National Park ranger. I was raised in National Parks and brought up from a very early age to protect and enjoy nature, leaving it as untouched as humanly possible - The "leave only footprints and take only pictures" mentality, so I am biased when it comes to this issue.)

  • 1. A designated wilderness area is just that. It is an area set aside to preserve the wilderness in it's natural state. Yes we put trails in them, but we need to limit our impact on the area if at all possible.
    2. You might not think about the damage that you are doing when making a cairn, but to start off, you are probably off trail stomping around the ground selection the rocks that you are going to pile up. When you move the rock, you have just disturbed all the bug life and micro organism life that was making it's world under that rock.
    3. You are ruining the wilderness experience for all the hikers that want to enjoy nature without any human influence except for the trail they are hiking on.
    (kind of selfish in my books, kind of the "me me me" mentality)
If some don't have an issue with artsy cairns in wilderness areas, then what if someone decides to use colored chalk and do a drawing on a cliff face. That is temporary, and some might enjoy it. Are you ok with that?

Yes the artsy cairns can look nice, but for me, Nature is the art the I came out to see when I enter a designates wilderness area.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
John Muir

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Chip Down
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Chip Down » June 25th, 2016, 10:47 pm

Inspired by this topic, I built my first cairn today. I like how it turned out. Really didn't expect it to be so much fun. If I had time to kill, I could spend an hour at this.
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Peabody
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Peabody » June 26th, 2016, 4:56 am

Chip Down wrote:Inspired by this topic, I built my first cairn today. I like how it turned out. Really didn't expect it to be so much fun. If I had time to kill, I could spend an hour at this.
I like the location you chose for your first Cairn. Beautiful! The third rock from the bottom was really well placed. Looking forward to more of these.
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

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retired jerry
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by retired jerry » June 26th, 2016, 5:17 am

uh oh

more artsy cairns because of this website?

spurring more arguments about it?

:)

mreha
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by mreha » June 26th, 2016, 6:10 am

This is purely philosophical musing, but...

It seems like there's an underlying assumption at work here that human beings are completely separate and apart from Nature-with-a-capital-N. Since anatomically modern humans evolved around 200,000 years ago, insisting on a version of Nature that is untouched by humanity seems like pining for a world that has not existed for a very, very long time (and obviously we weren't around to see it when it did!). How different, really, is a human-built cairn from a bird-built nest or a beaver-built dam? Different intent, sure, but they're ultimately still piles of found materials put together by an animal. And, of course, the million-dollar question: How does our tendency to view ourselves as apart from Nature contribute to our tendency to abuse and destroy our environment?

All that said, I still get vaguely irritated when I see unnecessary cairns out in the wilderness :lol:

Always good to question your assumptions, though.

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Chip Down
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Chip Down » June 26th, 2016, 8:14 pm

I didn't care for the rock art pictured below. Strikes me as tacky.
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Koda
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Koda » June 26th, 2016, 9:12 pm

mreha wrote:This is purely philosophical musing, but...

It seems like there's an underlying assumption at work here that human beings are completely separate and apart from Nature-with-a-capital-N. Since anatomically modern humans evolved around 200,000 years ago, insisting on a version of Nature that is untouched by humanity seems like pining for a world that has not existed for a very, very long time (and obviously we weren't around to see it when it did!). How different, really, is a human-built cairn from a bird-built nest or a beaver-built dam? Different intent, sure, but they're ultimately still piles of found materials put together by an animal. And, of course, the million-dollar question: How does our tendency to view ourselves as apart from Nature contribute to our tendency to abuse and destroy our environment?

All that said, I still get vaguely irritated when I see unnecessary cairns out in the wilderness :lol:

Always good to question your assumptions, though.
thats a really good post...
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

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Chip Down
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Chip Down » July 19th, 2016, 7:02 pm

Agree w/ Koda, mreha's post was interesting.

Here's a recent discovery, in a place that I overlooked on a previous trip when I was in a hurry, but found on a more leisurely exploring hike:

[edit: forgot to mention, I'm including this here because the cairn served no navigation purpose, strictly decorate/fun/artsy/whatever]

[edit 2: can you identify the rocky outcropping to the right of the vertical rock? I was there the day before, TR pending.]
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Fantastic thunderheads this day. Started out overcast, then sunny, then TH developing, but never got stormy, just extremely windy.
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Found here (I think...pretty sure).

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Koda
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Re: Interesting Cairn!

Post by Koda » July 19th, 2016, 9:00 pm

Chip Down wrote:Agree w/ Koda, mreha's post was interesting.
what I liked about mreha's post was the idea that man's impact on the environment is also a part of nature. I do agree that we should conserve and preserve the environment and wild areas but human history is part of that. I think in some cases cairns can certainly be excessive, but mostly they really don’t bother me. Nobody’s kicking down the Indian pits

as a different example, Here is a old human relic I found off trail in the middle of a wilderness area that I would imagine for its vintage someone would never have ventured into with beer... I thought it was kinda cool and wondered what’s the story behind that.
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here is another example, again off trail in a wilderness surrounded by old growth... a cut felled tree. How is that? I think I would have rather seen a cairn actually...
Image
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

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