Cairns comfort off-track trampers
Cairns are used for a variety of purposes. In pre-history, they were raised as markers, as memorials and as burial monuments, some of which contained chambers. In the modern era, cairns are often raised as landmarks, especially to mark the summits of mountains. Cairns are also used as track markers. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose conical rock piles to elaborate structures.
They are strangely comforting. When you are finding your way over the top in misty weather or low cloud it’s with a feeling of relief to come across a cairn of rocks and know you are on the track. It’s a tramping tradition that when you pass a cairn you add a rock, a show of gratitude to this mute reassurance on our journey.
Features of the Wanganui Tramping Club’s weekend programme for June include five days on the Matemateaonga Track, three days at the Mangaturuturu Hut in Tongariro National Park at Matariki, five different day walks and the club’s annual trivia quiz night.
The club’s full weekend programme for next month is:
