Stacking rocks

[EightFingers]

Something I see all the time and wonder about are stacks of rocks. I don’t thing they are heiau as those are a lot bigger. I Googled it and it appears that it’s frowned upon by the natives. I don’t thing they are cairns, either, since they are pretty much in random places.
So what are they for?

Puna: Our roosters crow first

[Carey]

In HVNP, the cairns are referred to as ahu (though this is more of a ceremonial or boundary meaning... the ahupua`a rock temples were rock stacks, but had more than "trail marker" meanings...)
Since random rock stacks were not a part of the Hawaiian culture, & are a recent affect of tourists, most locals abhor them & the National Park even has fines, as the ahu they have are to assist people in trail-finding & random stacks would not be beneficial....

[terracore]

When stacking rocks becomes outlawed, only outlaws will stack rocks.

[MarkD]

Might be a new cultural offense to native Hawaiians. That would be # 47.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

People stack rocks all over the world. So I went to Google, typed in “stack rocks” to see what might be listed and quite a number of the results are anti-rock stacking articles and web sites, some from Hawaii.

This one really caught my eye, talk about too much of a good (or bad) thing. The photo says it all:

Why rock stacking at Hanakapiai Beach isn’t considered pono
https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/w...pono-right

[randomq]

Carey, on what do you base your assertion that "most locals" regard rock stacking with disgust and hatred?

I polled a few local co-workers: none of them cared.

HotPE, the picture in that article was beautiful, thanks for sharing it.

[kalianna]

i thought the rock stacks in the article were beautiful. If I hadn't read the article I would have thought they were landscape art. I fail to see what harm comes from doing this. The world could use a little more frivolity.

[bluesboy]

Why does the past always get special treatment? How about the present? There would be no past without a present.

[Carey]

Random, based on articles like the one posted just above your question & when I worked at HVNP...of course, because national park does not condone "willy nilly" free-stacking (in fact they have fines for the creation of non-trail marker ahu (cairns)), as that is their trail marker system, I probably have a different set of local ties than you...

[Seeb]

Someplaces piles of rock are old survey markers. Think the best policy is not to muck about on other people’s land