Two Cairn are Better than One

One of those days. I made this two weeks ago and still standing!twocairn

6 thoughts on “Two Cairn are Better than One

  1. (Weird, I queued that up for my 2:30PM Rubber Duck posting slot. Must have been sleepy from meat pies yesterday.)

    Hiking in Utah desert you follow the cairns. Sometimes just two flat rocks to show you where the trail is. The desert has a layer of living “cryptobiotic crust” that dies if you step on it so the cairns keep you on one trail.

    The official Wikipedia definition: Cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. It comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn). Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose, conical rock piles to delicately balanced sculptures and elaborate feats of megalithic engineering. Cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, e.g. for increased visibility or for religious reasons.

    In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. Since prehistory, they have also been built as sepulchral monuments, or used for defensive, hunting, ceremonial, astronomical and other purposes.

    (Hmm, since Cairn is plural I will fix the title removing the s from cairn.)

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