If you plan on visiting Arches National Park in Utah, be aware that rock stacks you will find are likely not ornamental and serve as navigational markers for hikers. With high profile National Parks like Glacier and Yosemite issuing public service announcements encouraging visitors to knock over stacked rocks (cairns) it interesting that Arches National Park has a completely opposite policy:
“If you see a cairn in Arches National Park and are tempted to knock it down, please do not! Cairns are very important in rocky desert landscapes to help with navigation.”
Arches National Park, home to the world’s densest concentration of natural stone arches, features a trail system unlike many other national parks. Its terrain, a mix of loose sand and slickrock (bare rock surfaces) poses challenges for installing permanent trail signage. To guide visitors safely through this rugged landscape, the park relies on an ancient method: cairn building. These carefully stacked rock waypoints mark the trails, helping guests navigate the stunning geological formations.
Visitors are asked to respect these cairns, as they are essential for safe exploration. Knocking over rock stacks is prohibited, but guests are encouraged to report any cairns that appear ornamental or out of place to help maintain the park’s trail integrity.
“If you do see cairns that seem to be out of place or large groupings of cairns, please let us know! Stop by our visitor center or contact a ranger on trail to report out of place cairns.”
Arches National Park Statement:
Arches Trail Navigation 101: Just in time for back-to-school season, have we got a lesson for you. Every year, Arches National Park sees over 1.5 million visitors come through the front gate to explore our desert landscape, and unfortunately, some of those people get a little lost sometimes. This series of informational posts will teach you the basics of trail navigation here.
Lesson #1: Cairns
In desert environments, it can be difficult to install trail markers. Drilling into rocks to put up posts or secure arrows into a rock face is both strenuous work and it damages the park’s geological resources. Paint similarly detracts from the beauty of the landscape and requires frequent upkeep.
For these reasons, many desert parks use cairns to mark the trail. Cairns are stacks of rocks that you follow to hike through the desert. These rock stacks are constructed by park rangers at specific intervals along trails so you can always see at least one more ahead of and behind you. When you are hiking in Arches National Park and you see a cairn, that means you are most likely on a park-maintained trail and you should continue to follow the stacks of rocks. You will often see cairns on trails like the Broken Arch Trail and the Windows Primitive Loop.
Problems arise when people knock over, move, or build their own cairns. Each of those actions could result in other hikers getting lost on trail. Here’s what you can do to help yourself, other hikers, and the park rangers at Arches National Park: when you see a cairn along a trail in the park, leave it alone. If you see a scattered pile of rocks, it may have been a cairn; you should report broken or toppled cairns to park personnel so rangers can rebuild them. Additionally, if you see a pile of rocks and you’re just itching to stack them, resist that urge! Only park-created cairns are allowed on the trails of Arches. Other cairns that you build for fun might mislead other visitors and entice them to follow a nonexistent trail and get lost, so it’s best just to leave unstacked rocks in the wild alone.
Related: Why Arizona State Parks Says NO To Stacking Rocks For Fun
