Recent Examples on the Web

These scant details were gleaned from a note the crew left in a cairn. Megan Gannon, Smithsonian Magazine, "Divers Recover More Than 350 Artifacts From the HMS ‘Erebus’ Shipwreck," 24 Feb. 2020

How did a cairn or loose pile of stones at Walden Pond become an ongoing public monument honoring Thoreau? Jeremy Engle, New York Times, "Lesson of the Day: ‘Lessons in Constructive Solitude From Thoreau’," 16 Apr. 2020

At the top of the rise, go left where two big cairns mark the unsigned junction of the Spring Valley and Hermit trails. Jill Cassidy, azcentral, "Hells Canyon Wilderness hike near Phoenix feels a million miles away. Here's how to do it," 7 Feb. 2020

Giant stone cairns mark old pathways once used by traders to find their way through fog and heavy snow. New York Times, "Warming Climate in Norway Reveals Relics of Ancient Viking Trade Route," 16 Apr. 2020

How does the Walden cairn have the power to bring us together? 6. Jeremy Engle, New York Times, "Lesson of the Day: ‘Lessons in Constructive Solitude From Thoreau’," 16 Apr. 2020

The four-mile route, which reaches an altitude of more than 6,000 feet, is now marked only by ancient cairns, piles of reindeer antlers and bones, and the foundations of a stone shelter. Tom Metcalfe, Scientific American, "Melting Ice Reveals a “Lost” Viking-Era Pass in Norway’s Mountains," 16 Apr. 2020

Pilø’s team discovered multiple cairns—stacked rock formations designed to help people who were unfamiliar with the terrain find and navigate the pass on longer journeys throughout Scandinavia. National Geographic, "THE BEST OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX," 15 Apr. 2020

Fictional viruses spread across the world in a matter of days, turning domiciles into cairns and highways into parking lots, lined with cars filled with corpses that may or may not eat your face off. Los Angeles Times, "Column: Flesh-eating apocalyptic films and shows didn’t prepare us for this pandemic’s horror," 2 Apr. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cairn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.