Building new cairns, memorials etc

[Colin1951]

Question that came up in discussion with some other hill folk who are noticing an increase in seemingly random cairns, crosses, arrangements of old fence posts/ plants or whatever in our hills. The protagonist was making a connection in his mind with the increasing numbers of people going to the hills for the first time in the last couple of years; I’m not so sure as I suspect estates might be doing this for their own purposes.

Personally I belong to the “leave no trace” school of hill goers; that extends to “don’t muck about with piles of rock”. So if I see a new random cairn or whatever I’m very likely to return the stones to their original state. What do others think? Might be especially interesting to hear opinions from recent converts!

[prog99]

Did you see this on ukh?
https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/hill_talk/building_new_cairns_and_shelters-742033

[Sunset tripper]

UKH and UKC forums can go a bit mental sometimes.
Generally a bit more civilised on here.
We've talked about the stones before.

A member of the family, a marine who wasn't a mountain man climbed one of the munros on Beinn Eighe in the mist with no map or compass. When the path ran out he built cairns every few yards apparently all the way to the summit. Then he used them like a ball of string to get back to the path. He knocked them all over on the way back down if I remember correctly.

Not to be recommended!

[AyrshireAlps]

There was a spate of Cairns being knocked down in the Galloways last summer, god knows what kind of f##kwit thinks that's a good idea.

Personally I belong to the “leave no trace” school of hill goers; that extends to “don’t muck about with piles of rock”. So if I see a new random cairn or whatever I’m very likely to return the stones to their original state.

LNT mentality here too, but I wouldn't be dismantling any cairn, it's doing no harm and someone else may be using it.

[Caberfeidh]

Things can get a bit silly, especially in places with a lot of visitors. I'm all for stomping down silly tourist cairns, but you don't want to incurr the wrath of someone who has just built a wee memorial to some loved one, incorporating their cremated ashes. The hippy visitors to Skye invaded Balnacnoc and built up cairns and swirls of stones on the grazing pasture, incurring the wrath of the farmer. This kind of thing just annoys local people who are happy to have visitors but not happy to be subjected to intrusive behaviour. It could end up in locked gates and big fences to keep people out.

Wee piles of stones, hill road between Invergarry and Glen Moriston. Added to by many tourists, they were eventually cleared away.

[AyrshireAlps]

It could end up in locked gates and big fences to keep people out.

That's a very extreme outcome.

[Booga]

While I'm not a fan of tourists stacking rocks for instagram photos and thinking it makes them an artist, at least they can be kicked over. I'd rather people did that than place painted rocks everywhere, attach engraved padlocks to things and write their names or social media handles on bothy walls. It seems we'll never eradicate some people's urges to mark where they've been so this sort of thing is the best of a bad bunch. It can still be an issue as Caberfeidh mentions with visitors disrupting grazing land or habitats for wildlife.

Obviously these are in a different league to memorials or "genuine" cairns marking summits or important points for navigation.

[al78]

Man, like a dog, finds it necessary to leave its mark.

I believe in leave no trace. When I camped on a lochside beach on my way across Fisherfield I had to use rocks to hold the pegs in the ground. When it was time to pack the tent away next morning I put the rocks back from where I had got them, and made sure no-one following would know I'd been there. Seems automatic to me to leave a wild place as you found it.

[Skyelines]

Most, if not all, people would not go into their neighbours garden and build a cairn or memorial.
I am at a loss to understand why some seem quite happy to go onto someone elses land in the hills and build or change something without any thought for the owner or the other people who have a right to enjoy it without their interference.
Essentially building things for ones own personal gratification on land that we only have a right to be on but not alter is an act of selfishness and disrespect for fellow hillwalkers.

[matt_outandabout]

I was so disappointed to find large photoframe, Irish flag with messages written all over, stones all written on and a Celtic kit all left on Ben Lomond summit this summer. It was a memorial to a young child that had died.... I was about to pack it all away and carry it home when another summiteer pointed out the date was the same day - and so we left it. I did message the LLTP rangers though.

To me it is litter and innapropriate.

The only cairns I would like to see are where there is a safety issue for navigation.

I even object to the endless benches with plaques on which seem to be spreading beyond urban parks at a rate.

[LobeyD]

My main peeves are unnecessarily large sub-peak cairns and any painted nonsense.

Couple of times in clag I've assumed I was at the top thanks to a huge cairn with only some careful map checking preventing a missed summit (Loony Bin springs to mind).

Any painted stones etc. get flung in the nearest remote corrie (found one commemorating a 75th Munro, I mean come on!).

Might also remove a jauntily perched stone on top of a cairn or a few off a too-big-for-the-hill cairn.

On reflection, I may just be a grouch.... .

[jupe1407]

Social media has turned us into a society of attention-seeking dafties in need of validation from strangers through whatever means possible. I applaud folk who will flatten pointless cairns or other such twee pish.

Painted rocks are even worse. Moving stones into cairns is annoying enough, why on earth would you want to coat them with a coloured substance which could potentially be harmful to its immediate environment to mark stuff like your 75th munro? Utter, utter nonsense.

[Moriarty]

UKH and UKC forums can go a bit mental sometimes.
Generally a bit more civilised on here.

Much more of a convivial, fraternal spirit on this side of the House.

Social media has turned us into a society of attention-seeking dafties in need of validation from strangers through whatever means possible. I applaud folk who will flatten pointless cairns or other such twee pish.

What if they're doing it for likes on Social Media?

Agree though, no patience for those that lack the capacity to leave things as they found them.

[NickyRannoch]

Must admit Iobbed a few painted stones from the summit cairn off the side of Toll Creagach a while ago which isn't much help as now there are still painted stones on the hill, just a bit further down.

Don't want people thinking it's the done thing though.

We all leave our trace so I don't want to get too arsey but I do get bothered by obtrusive plastic, concrete and paint on the hills.

I'm going to go out in a limb and suggest someone putting a Celtic kit on the summit of Ben Lomond isn't a regular hillwalker and I have sympathy for them as they probably truly believe its a nice thing to do and brings them some comfort. I think the NPs, JMT and others could do more to sensitively suggest it isn't ideal.

Plenty of lifelong walkers obviously feel quite happy slapping up trophy shop plaques on rocks and trees and bridges though. Folk who should know better.

[Sgurr]

I quite liked this (below) between Sgurr an Fidhleir and Ben Mor Coigach, but I gather it is no more, this was 2007, so things disappear eventually. However, I agree it can be annoying if they are put up randomly. We had to repeat Maol Chean Dearg as we were in clag and someone had put a cairn lower down on a lump we could walk downwards all the way round. R said "Last time I was here the cairn was bigger," and our friends mocked him and said he couldn't possibly remember the size of a cairn he last visited 20 years previously. Then next day, across the glen we saw a HUGE cairn, which at first they said was 4 men standing together. We had to go back. We tried from the north and got blown back. 3rd time lucky (pesky cairn builders)