Where It's Illegal to Stack Rocks in New England (2024)

I've seen them, and I'm sure you have, too. Rocks are stacked and balanced in various formations on hiking trails, beaches, and in deserts. There's actually something artful about it.

Unfortunately, these rock towers can be dangerous and harmful to the environment, and that's why they're not legalin any of our National Parks, accordingto theHiking Authority. It's considered vandalism, and you can be fined.

According toThe New Yorker,Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, used the help of several volunteers to destroy nearly thirty-five hundred rock stacks on two mountains alone in 2016 and 2017.

Here's why.

You're not onlydisturbing the natural environment. There's also the danger ofweather knocking them down, humans disturbing them by addingto them, or wildlife bothering them, which makes injury a real possibility.

In reality, according to theAusable River Association, we shouldn't be building rock cairns (as they're called anywhere), even if rules and laws don't exist because of the above reasons.

Ausable River Associationsays the impact on the ecosystem is detrimental because fish lay eggs between rocks for protection, so moving them is destroying possible life and the natural order of things.

Also, it goes against the idea of leaving no trace when we hike, bike, swim, and play in natural areas. We as humans should leave the smallest mark possible when visiting parks, rivers, andbeaches, whether it's illegal or not.

I'm glad our national parks made it illegal, and just so you know, always double-check any rules incity and state-owned parks and beaches. Theymay have rules against rock stacking and balancing.

By the way, rock balancing is a practice that’s been going on for 4,000 years, and althoughit's not clear why stone and rock stackingbecame a thing, experts speculate it'sfor either navigation or religious purposes and burial plots.

By the way, they're officially called rock cairns. The word 'cairn' comes from a Gaelic term that means “heap of stones."

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