On Maui, what is the significance of this?

[Diver Dennis]

sure. you see stacked rocks used many places to mark trails when there's nothing else to use, like above treeline where there's no trees to put a paint blaze on. Called "cairns" around here and I'm sure the scouts hiking in those areas learn about them.

But if you can see 20 in all directions from where you're standing, certainly don't serve the purpose of marking a trail, unless you want to get everyone lost!

Sometimes they marked the direction a family or group was traveling if there is no trail or at least a discernible one, especially if a second group was following weeks later.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Didn't they teach that in Girl/boy scouts too?

Dennis, do they have to be piled a certain way to show the direction?

In the north, the terrain can be treeless and barren. The wind can cover a trail in minutes so yes, I think they are stacked in a certain way Leesa.

 

[justleesa]

Thanks Dennis

 

[El Orans]

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[KrisB]

The eskimos in Canada do this to mark the trail for others. They call them Inukshuk, "The Image of Man".

Brings a new significance to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics logo (the Inukshuk).

I do remember the Boy Scouts (Canadian version) having this sort of thing, but the idea as trail markers was certainly using smaller rocks (i.e. the largest usually being fist size). There were a bunch of "standardized" piling formats, the most basic being three rocks -- one on top of another, then a smaller one in the direction of travel.

 

[Gombessa]

This kind of thing happens everywhere there's foot traffic and rocks. People stack rocks (and put out a bin for loose change) around SF.

 

[kidspot]

Brings a new significance to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics logo (the Inukshuk).

I do remember the Boy Scouts (Canadian version) having this sort of thing, but the idea as trail markers was certainly using smaller rocks (i.e. the largest usually being fist size). There were a bunch of "standardized" piling formats, the most basic being three rocks -- one on top of another, then a smaller one in the direction of travel.

I think I remember reading about that in my boy scout handbook years ago ... I'd forgotten all about it. Most of our hiking was in brush, so a pile of rocks would get lost too easily.