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Visitors 17
Modified 16-Sep-21
Created 10-Oct-15
30 photos

Along trails and on beaches across North America, we regularly come upon impromptu rock sculptures and assemblages of natural materials. They are not the elaborate works of art constructed from natural materials by the likes of Andy Goldsworthy or the seemingly impossible stone balancing sculptures created by Michael Grab. Nor are they the obviously religious and ceremonial petroforms and offerings found at sites like Bannock Point in Manitoba. Rather, the impromptu petroforms, sculptures, and shrines we find along trails and beaches seem to reflect a spontaneous urge to touch and arrange rocks, sand, and found objects as a way of experiencing place. Occasionally, we also find incongruous objects—garden gnomes to ring cases—consciously embedded along trails and beaches. The practice seems as widely popular as it is vexing to land managers who view it as annoying as graffiti and, in places where rock cairns guide hikers through alpine or open terrain, as dangerous as maliciously altered trail markers.
Balanced Rock Trail, Blackwater Falls State Park, West VirginiaLoyalsock Creek Petroform, Lycoming County, PALoyalsock Creek Rock Sculpture, Lycoming County, PAStone Balancing Sculpture, Hermit Island, MERock Cairn, Northumberland Strait Provincial Park, PEIPetroform 1, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIStone Sculpture 1, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIStone Sculpture 2, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIPetroform 2, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIStone Balance Sculpture 1, Twelve-Mile Beach, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, INStone Balance Sculpture 2, Twelve-Mile Beach, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, INPetroform 2, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIPetroform 3, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIPetroform 4, Twelve-Mile Beach, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MIEngagement Ring Boxes and Beer Can, Ravensburg State Park, PAFeathers, Grand Beach Provincial Park, MBRock and Stick Structure along the Cold River, Mohawk Trail State Forest, MABeach Structure, Acadia National Park, MEBeach Structure, Cinnamon Bay Campground, US Virgin Islands National ParkSandcastle, US Virgin Islands National Park

Categories & Keywords
Category:Lifestyle and Recreation
Subcategory:Outdoors
Subcategory Detail:Hiking
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