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40 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 10, 2004 Since You Asked Follow your ‘rock duck’ What is the common name for a stack of rocks indicating which way to go when you cross a creek bed? Cairn is for a monument, but I thought there was a two word name for directional rock stacks. — Anita J., Medford How about "rock ducks?" That’s what piles of two or three stones offering direction along a trail are called in some parts of the country. (A small pointed stone atop a larger one can look a little like a waterfowl, especially if you have a good imagination or poor eyesight.) The term seems to pop up most often in descriptions of trails in California and Arizona. A cairn can be a landmark offering directions, too, though. In fact, the Forest Service’s "Trail Construction & Maintenance Notebook" posted online says rock ducks are no substitute for proper cairns, which trail maintenance crews should build to mark trails in open areas where low visibility or snow cover makes following the trail difficult or where the path is rocky and indistinct. Cairns, blazes, marker tags and marker poles, which all help people keep track of a trail, are generally known as "reassurance markers," the notebook says. That has a warm, fuzzy sound, but the hikers and word-lovers here at Since You Asked headquarters favor the descriptive rock duck, even though we aren’t all Oregon grads. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers