Cairn

While hiking along the Apalachian Trail in 1980, my traveling companions and I noted the white blazes painted on an occasional tree trunk to keep us on the right path.  Sometimes in the middle of a field there was a marked fencepost, or a rock on the ground with a white blaze.  But high up on the bare, rocky mountain tops, piles of stones would sometimes show the way.  This was especially true on Mount Katahdin in the northernmost part of Maine.

I gathered these five small flat stones from a creek near where I used to live four moves ago while waiting to meet a friend for an adventure.  They now sit atop my dresser and prompt memories of hiking, and of adventures, and of friendship.