The tradition of building cairns goes back as far as man's history is known. A cairn has several meanings, but they are all built with firm purpose, by hand since ancient times.
This cairn is not from the Pacific Beaches, but from a trip DH and I took to New England, specifically here,
Acadia, Maine. We hiked in dense fog up a very steep trail on granite the whole way. The only way we could know the safe way to go was to follow cairns which "marked" the way. We were grateful for them because we were on solid rock and because the fog, lifting here enough for me to take this one photo, was blinding.
I include it here in order to show one use for cairns.
On the Pacific beaches we visited, we loved discovering cairns people had built. We knew they represented
the great time someone had enjoyed, and that they wanted to "return someday."
Close-up of the above cairn; a sculpture in itself:
This old driftwood seems to be a shrine for many cairns, natural and on purpose:
This one decorates someone's driftwood shelter:
I really like the simplicity of this one. It seems the builder wanted to match
the colors and sculptural flow of the old driftwood, and I can almost hear him chuckling as
he added the tiny but perfectly round topper:
And for good measure, two more views (but different) of
the cairns Pat and I left behind:
1 comment:
Really! I see a book not only in the making, but COMPLETE with all you have taken on this "Going Coastal" adventure.
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