In Utah, the cairn has lost its way.
Erected along already well marked paths, the pile of stones, is seen as a kind of mountain graffiti. Forest rangers or trail blazers have asked Utah hikers to quit piling stones.
I first came upon cairns in the presence of hiking friends who dutifully dropped a rock or pebble on top of the long ago beginning of what might have had a purpose. For the purpose of a cairn is to show the way.
But out here in the isolated world of fire and ice, where boiling vents from the earth's core , where misty clouds make it impossible to see farther than ten feet ahead, a cairn is a lifesaver. A whole row of cairns line up in an undistinguishable field where lava once flowed, where mountain passes go on forever. guide to the use of cairns is critical to a trekker trying to find their way on an unfamiliar trail.
Yet, they still look like a landscape intrusion where no man or woman should tread, but man and woman do--and so there are cairns. Precisely placed, their purpose is clear.
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