Clearance cairn

Okay kiddo, do you like going on walks and hikes in the great outdoors? If so, you might have seen little piles of rocks that people have made along the way. These are called cairns!

Now, sometimes when people are hiking in really remote or hard-to-navigate areas, they might make a special kind of cairn called a clearance cairn. These cairns are used to help show people the way to go and keep them from getting lost.

You see, some trails can be really hard to follow because they might be covered in snow or be hidden by lots of plants and bushes. So people will make these cairns to show other hikers where the trail is so they don't accidentally wander off.

Clearance cairns are usually bigger than regular cairns and have a special shape. They might have a square bottom and then be rounded on top, or they might have an arm sticking out to point in the right direction.

So remember, if you're ever hiking in a remote area and you see a clearance cairn, it's there to help keep you safe and on the right path!