Monument Building
On my walk at Harriman Park today, I followed some "unmarked" paths as well as some marked ones. I find it fun! It is a little more challenging than following the marked trails, there are fewer or no people on them, they go through interesting places in the park, and often provide nice loop connectors so I do not have to re-trace my steps to get back to the car. :)
They are marked on my trail map with dashed lines, so I do know where to look for them and where they should end up! ;)
These paths are easier to follow when they cut through the dense blueberry bush understory, or go through a dense patch of forest. They are not so easy to follow in more open areas, where their traces tend to get lost.
So I was happy to see now and then an odd (unnatural) small pile of rocks indicating a previous hiker had kindly indicated a turn in the path, or where the path began or ended.
In one open patch of forest I wandered a bit off in the wrong direction, had to re-trace and try another way. There were some very small (one or two) oddly piled rocks to offer clues, but they were not all that obvious to locate either!
So I did what I have never done before, I added a couple of rocks in two places, to provide a more easily apparent odd stack, so that hikers after me might have an easier time! Then I thought later that these "monuments" might last for years! Now my curiosity is up, and I will have to go back every year or so to see if anything has changed! How odd to ponder if these "monuments" may be the only things I have built that might outlast me! ;)
Another thought, I love seeing the glacial erratics in the woods and on the hills, where the glaciers dropped their own piles of rock thousands of years ago! I guess I am following in good footsteps, although my piles of stones are so very much smaller than the glaciers! ;)
They are marked on my trail map with dashed lines, so I do know where to look for them and where they should end up! ;)
These paths are easier to follow when they cut through the dense blueberry bush understory, or go through a dense patch of forest. They are not so easy to follow in more open areas, where their traces tend to get lost.
So I was happy to see now and then an odd (unnatural) small pile of rocks indicating a previous hiker had kindly indicated a turn in the path, or where the path began or ended.
In one open patch of forest I wandered a bit off in the wrong direction, had to re-trace and try another way. There were some very small (one or two) oddly piled rocks to offer clues, but they were not all that obvious to locate either!
So I did what I have never done before, I added a couple of rocks in two places, to provide a more easily apparent odd stack, so that hikers after me might have an easier time! Then I thought later that these "monuments" might last for years! Now my curiosity is up, and I will have to go back every year or so to see if anything has changed! How odd to ponder if these "monuments" may be the only things I have built that might outlast me! ;)
Another thought, I love seeing the glacial erratics in the woods and on the hills, where the glaciers dropped their own piles of rock thousands of years ago! I guess I am following in good footsteps, although my piles of stones are so very much smaller than the glaciers! ;)