WARNING: Stop Stacking Rocks Along Idaho Trails

The first time I ever encountered a cairn was during a trip to North Idaho. Near some old ghost towns in Shoshone County. At first, I thought perhaps some people were engaging in some sort of satanic ritual. After all, when you’re alone in a ghost town and the wind is blowing, it can be spooky. Later that day, I posted some pictures to Facebook and got an answer. The stacks of rocks are guides for hikers.

I don’t know if the piles are constructed all at once (that could take up a good part of a day), or if people walking by add a rock, and you see this large apparition over time.

Meanwhile, park managers across the country are asking the builders to cease and desist. Considering many of the people hiking and stacking rocks consider themselves conservationists or environmentalists, they’re doing a great disservice to our great outdoors.

You can get more details by clicking on this link. It explains the rock stackers are also doing it all wrong.

Millions visit our state and national parks and there’s a movement among some radical environmentalists to close the parks altogether. Moving rocks disturbs some habitats. Throw in the idiots taunting bison and elk and even the most flagrant eco-terrorist makes a little sense.

I also know that with my luck, if I picked up a rock that it would be the one offering shade and shelter to a rattlesnake. Years ago, I was doing some landscaping for a friend and she wanted to grab some bales of wood chips. I flipped one over and found a black widow looking back at me!