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Cyclopath
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PostSun Jul 04, 2021 8:13 pm 
Whenever there's a thread about cairns, you see just how much hatred and passion they inspire in people. It seems like they're more hated than the stinky bags of dog poop lining the first 3 miles of every trail so inexperienced hikers don't get lost.

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Downhill
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PostSun Jul 04, 2021 11:19 pm 
Cyclopath wrote:
Whenever there's a thread about cairns, you see just how much hatred and passion they inspire in people. It seems like they're more hated than the stinky bags of dog poop lining the first 3 miles of every trail so inexperienced hikers don't get lost.
I always wondered why those poop bags are there. Now I know.

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RumiDude
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PostMon Jul 05, 2021 1:12 am 
Cyclopath wrote:
Whenever there's a thread about cairns, you see just how much hatred and passion they inspire in people. It seems like they're more hated than the stinky bags of dog poop lining the first 3 miles of every trail so inexperienced hikers don't get lost.
But not as much hated as off leash dogs, or snowshoeing in ski tracks, or hikers playing loud music, or HOH that won't yeild to mtn bikers, or hikers that won't yeild to trail runners, or hikers that post photos of secret places, or the WTA, or anyone that gets lost and requires a rescue, or Boy Scouts, or ... Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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Chief Joseph
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PostMon Jul 05, 2021 2:25 am 
What is a "HOH" and why don't we have a sarcasm emoticon?

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Chief Joseph
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PostFri Aug 13, 2021 10:30 pm 
While in Idaho I noticed a logging road had a cairn of only two rocks high. I thought it a bit odd but whatever. So I was taking a 4 wheeler ride on the old Polaris and came about the cairn, so I accidentally on purpose swerved a bit and knocked them over. So.. However, apparently back in the last century cairns served another purpose, that being to mark a first ascent on a mountain peak. I am reading Beckeys book "Challenge of the North Cascades" and can upon this reference to cairns....."Darr, the motivating force behind several attempts, wrote in Mazama, "Men that have built a cairn on Goode will have earned a summit that has few peers among our American Mountains".

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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pula58
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 2:28 pm 
Cairns? Nope...leave no trace please. What is so hard to understand about leave no trace? But I am all for building small cairns as you make your way in, so that you can find your way out. Just please take them down on the way back! Personally, and I suspect for a lot of people, part of being off trail is figuring out the route. It gives a great sense of satisfaction, and a feeling of discovery, to find your way when there are no markings or aids.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 2:43 pm 
I can't really reconcile that cairns are the worst thing ever, yet people are constantly asking for GPS tracks. I've always thought the hatred of cairns is ridiculously overblown.

Cyclopath, MtnManic, geyer, Chief Joseph, reststep
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crock
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 8:05 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
I can't really reconcile that cairns are the worst thing ever, yet people are constantly asking for GPS tracks. I've always thought the hatred of cairns is ridiculously overblown.
I can see cairns that people construct, flagging, and TP in the wilderness. All signs that other people have been there. I've never seen a GPS track out in the wilderness.

dave allyn, Walkin' Fool
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Malachai Constant
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 9:17 pm 
You an see GPS tracks when mobs of people follow them especially way trails to popular geocaches.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Randito
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 9:37 pm 
crock wrote:
I've never seen a GPS track out in the wilderness.
I see them on my gadget, but not on the dirt. Technology enables not defacing the landscape with cairns, but also allows people it get ideas about places to go they would have never thought of by examining such things as Strava Heat Maps and GaiaGPS public tracks.

dave allyn
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crock
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 11:03 pm 
And before Strava or nwhikers.net there were guidebooks, maps on paper, and word of mouth. Harvey Manning talked about crowds of people on trails 50 years ago in 102 Hikes int the Alpine Lakes, South Cascades, and Olympics. Those "mobs of people" didn't get there using GPS tracks. Whatever it is that leads someone into the wilderness, GPS tracks, nwhikers.net trip reports, guidebooks, word of mouth, or a map, we all have the duty to leave as little trace of our being there as possible. Cairns, toilet paper, and especially plastic flagging don't tie in with leave no trace.

Brian Curtis
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uww
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PostSat Aug 14, 2021 11:24 pm 
Trails, camps, and signage I assume most are not bothered by. I put cairns are in a grey area for navigation utility, and am glad they are natural and not permanent like blazing. I don't get upset seeing them like I do with litter, and have found them helpful on occasion. But overall I would prefer to minimize any signs of impact.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSun Aug 15, 2021 6:01 am 
It's inconsistent though. I want to pretend I'm tromping around where no one has ever tread before...while following a digital breadcrumb trail that tells me exactly how to get there. You either want the adventure of discovering/figuring it out for yourself, or you don't.

Anne Elk, Chief Joseph
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Chief Joseph
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 11:17 am 
How about stacks of wood-limbs to notify other hikers that a trail junction that looks like a trail is not the way to go? I was hiking to a lake recently and to the right was a trail with a large tree across it and to the left was a clear, distinct trail. So we went left and after descending about 400' realized it was probably the wrong way, climbed back up and the other way was correct. So on the way out we placed wood across the incorrect trail so others would not go that way. So Cairn haters, please tell me why that isn't a good idea. wink.gif

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Chief Joseph
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 11:20 am 
crock wrote:
Whatever it is that leads someone into the wilderness, GPS tracks, nwhikers.net trip reports, guidebooks, word of mouth, or a map, we all have the duty to leave as little trace of our being there as possible. Cairns, toilet paper, and especially plastic flagging don't tie in with leave no trace.
Not sure that cairns belong in the same category (loathed) as TP, flagging, paint on rocks, etc....we were at a lake with a pretty distinct trail and someone felt the need to place flagging and also cairns. At one spot where the trail was not obvious the cairns were helpful, but not the flagging. Here is a suggestion, if the Cairns bother you, how about simply ignoring them, is that a possible option???

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.

ozzy
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