For those who may not know, cairns are small piles or groupings of rocks intended to lead hikers to the correct trail. There are varying thoughts on their usefulness. The simple cairn above was located at the start of the Lembert Dome Trail. Cairns are often placed in a line showing the direction of the trail.
Pranksters have been known to deliberately place cairns so they lead in an errant direction. Foraging for rocks to add to a pile disrupts the surrounding area and is often frowned upon by those who oversee a park or hiking venue.
There have been a couple of times when I was glad to see a cairn because it verified that I was on the “right track” or prevented me from wandering in the wrong direction.
It is an interesting topic for discussion and I suppose there is fodder for both sides. As I will show in a later post, some cairns are more elaborate than others.
You can read some interesting points about hiking cairns HERE – Cairns 101
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.
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Meta Data – Day 65 YOY – Year of Yosemite
File Name: 3530.JPG
Capture time: 10:57:03 AM
Capture date: June 7, 2016
Exposure: 1/1000 sec @ f/4.5
Focal Length: 6mm
ISO 80
Canon PowerShot A590 IS