Rock Cairns

[Robert Spenger]

Sue,

Enlightenment - no, I can't provide that, but I can't resist a couple of
anecdotes. First, pairs of stacked stones are often used as trail markers -
at least in the western U.S. They are referred to as ducks, possibly
because a small oval stone on top of one end of a larger oval stone bears
some resemblance to a sitting duck - or at least a hunter's decoy. In areas
where there is a lot of fallen rock, so that there are a lot of natural
pairs of stacked stones, the trail builders will set up stacks of three or
more. These shout out, "Hey! This is a trail marker, not an accidental
stacking." I still remember a hike with a friend through Dusy Basin in the
Palisade region of the Sierra Nevada. There was no clearly defined trail,
just a jumbo of broken granite blocks. We were trying to follow a ducked
trail, but it seemed as if each party that came through found it necessary
to mark their own trail. We joked about writing a paper on the "Random
Distribution of Ducks in Dusy Basin." I later thought of it as Duck City.
Fortunately, the area is open enough that we could find our way by picking
out landmarks and matching them with the map.

Forty years later I thought about this on the camino between Logroño and
Nájera. There was no route finding problem; the trail was a clearly worn
track. But for a couple of hundred meters or so, the trail was lined with
an enormous number of stacks of stones, some of them quite high. There have
been discussions amongst this group and others about the origin and
significance of the many, many cairns in this area, but there was never any
clear explanation. My own theory is that the first was built by someone for
strictly personal reasons and, since there were plenty of stones around,
later pilgrims simply copied it while they took a break in their walk. I
had lunch there myself, but didn't feel impelled to add a cairn. Later, at
the bottom of the hill, I met a group of French pilgrims. I talked to one
of the English speaking members of the group and we discussed the cairns. I
told him about the trail markers and referred to the area as "Duck City."
He got a good laugh out of the concept of "La Cité des Canards." I didn't
think of the other meanings of canard at the time, but one meaning, i.e.
false report, would apply in spades to the many, misleading, scattered
ducks of Dusy Basin.

The major cairn of the camino, of course, is the one that supports the Cruz
de Ferro, between Foncebadón and Manjarín. That one is mentioned in the
guide books as a major stopping point for pilgrims and tourists alike. Like
many millions before me, I brought a little stone from the start of my
pilgrimage and placed it on the pile. I haven't heard of any guide books
mentioning the hundreds of small cairns lining the trail west of Logroño.
My CSJ guide book says nothing about it.

regards,

Robert

Sue Kenney wrote:

> Wondering if anyone can enlighten me about the significance and history
> of the rock cairns along the Camino.
>
> Sue