Stacking rocks on the KVR

[exFarmerS]

Ran into this article this morning and it mentions the rock piles on the KVR trail....

http://explorenorth.com/wordpress/leave ... ng-cairns/

It's something that irritates me when I see it. Glad to know that some parks have banned the practice.

[Ken7]

Ran into this article this morning and it mentions the rock piles on the KVR trail....

http://explorenorth.com/wordpress/leave ... ng-cairns/

It's something that irritates me when I see it. Glad to know that some parks have banned the practice.

I'm with you, a Uncle of mine used to work for Parks Canada. He used to say you can't even pick up rocks. Leave nature as it be. The other thing that bites me is when people leave things behind, that is sad. Hope time changes those people so that we can all enjoy nature.

[JLives]

Why would a stacked pile of rocks irritate you? It doesn't hurt anything by being there.

[Atomoa]

The KVR trail is man-made and was a path cut from machinery intended for machinery.

It has unnatural bridges. Until the bridges are removed and all the rock that was piled up to create a train rail bed is restored to it's original state I cant see the point of freaking out over rocks piled.

We're not talking about hiking a mountain top in a National Park. I laughed at this thread.

[BoB76]

*removed*

[artistwithaflare]

a quote from a hiker, Mr.Jameson:

The vertically assembled rocks are intended to mean something different for everyone, “Children appreciate it. I keep coming back because the kids & adults stop to look/reflect. I enjoy making & seeing them too! I told one person that we are all artists, and it was like her brain exploded."

For the man stacking these rocks it's about a fresh start in an old city, "It's a way for me to heal,” says Jamesonm. “When the stacks fall, I'm happy. It doesn't make me sad."

Jameson's rock-stacking dexterity was taught from an old man in Hawaii, "He was drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, picking up garbage and stacking rocks. I asked him how he lived so long, and he said by finding balance in picking up other people's garbage."

Jameson says if there's any message in these stone work towers of symbolism, it's to find our own message, "It is whatever they want it to be. It's art."
so don't be an old fart.

[fluffy]

Why would a stacked pile of rocks irritate you? It doesn't hurt anything by being there.

It's just the principle involved. I'm on board with the "Leave No Trace" crowd. There's a degree of arrogance involved in thinking that everyone will enjoy your "improvements" to the natural beauty of a public area. It's not the same as paths and bridges and things designed to facilitate safe access to an area.

[JLives]

Leave nothing but tracks, take nothing but pictures. I agree. But stacking rocks really harms nothing. It's not an improvement nor a detriment.

[Atomoa]

It's just the principle involved.

...and you have to know when to apply these values.

The KVR is a train track.

Leave no trace...define trace?

[Ken7]

Another way of looking at it, is what was it like 50 years ago?

That is my line of thinking and I appreciate letting things be so other can enjoy it also. Pick up after yourself and enjoy nature as it naturally changes.

I guess you might say respect Mother Nature and her ways.

[fluffy]

But stacking rocks really harms nothing. It's not an improvement nor a detriment.

That's arguable. I look at the pictures of places where these stacks have been placed in large numbers and it turns me off. I don't really have to analyze it to any great degree, something in me just says it's wrong. And unattractive.

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

Another way of looking at it, is what was it like 50 years ago?

That is my line of thinking and I appreciate letting things be so other can enjoy it also. Pick up after yourself and enjoy nature as it naturally changes.

I guess you might say respect Mother Nature and her ways.

50 years ago it looked a lot like now but no railings were on the bridges.
And all the rocks were probably black for twenty feet either side of the tracks, from the steam trains..

[fluffy]

The KVR is a train track.

And train tracks come with a crowd of little stacks of rock? Appreciating the natural beauty of the area was not a big consideration when it was a working railroad. But it's not a train track any more, now it's a nature/hiking trail, most of the people who go there go to be out in nature, not to be among a new version of tagging.

I look at the people who indulge in this practice as the same sort who painted the trees at Mushroom Beach. A poorly considered decision that doesn't consider the others who use the area.

[BoB76]

Someone should put train tracks down and watch the meltdown!

In the meantime knock the little Rock piles down as they are really ignorant.

[Snarf]

I like the rock art, harms nothing!