Anonymous Shrines
Travellers driving on the Trans-Canadian Highway may have noticed these anonymous shrines placed on the rocky formations on the side of the road, and consisting of several stones piled together.
I think I began to notice these tiny constructions in the mountainous part of British Columbia and Alberta, but only stopped to check them in Western Ontario.
Someone climbed here and disposed the stones as a sentry in the wind and the rain...
This is worth to stop and make a short meditation along the nearly empty highway. The beauty of these clusters of stones, standing in the silence of the uninhabited vastness of forests and tiny lakes of western Ontario, help you appreciate the mystery of the place. Who did that ? For what purpose ?
I see these stones as a tribute to Nature. Someone spent time here, left his mark anonymously as a reminder of his day and meditation, and for years thereafter, the sharp-edged stones will stand through the seasons untouched....
I recently hiked back to a similarly isolated place in the provencal wilderness, where I had disposed years ago small pieces of tiles on several rocks and cliffs. I had found the tiles debris near there, although nothing except low stone walls pointed to human constructions or ruins from the past. The area had been inhabited very long ago, I guess. The tiles fragments were still there on the cliff, even though some of them had slid on the side.
Right now, my silent sentries are watching on the quiet mountains and valleys, barely disturbed by the wind and the autumn rain... And the spot is so difficult to reach through the thick and impenetrable brushwood that I am sure to find them again in 2 years or 5 years from now...
