South Yuba
Cairns are stacked rock piles created by humans – their quality ranges from casual heaps to megalithic masterpieces. They've been around since the Neolithic era and are still constructed all over the world. As a Boy Scout I was introduced to cairns as trail markers – we called them “ducks.” Cairns have also been used as landmarks, as memorials, to locate burials, for astrological markers, as artistic expression and for ceremonial functions.
In the Yuba watershed there are cairns built by surveyors, cairns designating mining claim corners, cairns marking range allotment boundaries left by Basque sheepherders in the early 20thcentury and cairns on mountaintops that celebrate a peak experience. They are also a contemporary means of expression. Recently, the pleasure of stacking stones and boulders has become an extremely popular pastime for Yuba River devotees.
However, these stacked rock offerings contrast with the bedrock landscape of the streamside environment, which is rounded and worn by water, sand and gravel from former upstream gold mining activities. Most of the contemporary rock constructions are vertical and linear, like little cathedrals adding spikes to the sensually smooth bedrock backdrop. They have an air of domination or triumph and introduce reason into prevailing earth rhythms. Many of them are cleverly constructed and I can appreciate the delight in building them. While this activity seems harmless, the cumulative impact of continuous mini-monuments can be tacky and gives the impression of a colonized landscape.
Pacific Crest Trail/ North Yuba
