What does the term “duck” mean with regards to backpacking or geocaching?
February 28, 2010
I’ve just learned of a game called geocaching. You use a GPS to locate hidden items placed in remote spots around the world. One of the clues for a cache near my home says that a previous visitor had “ducked” the cache. The term seems to be used in backpacking as well.
Do you know what this means?
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It refers to something over your head.
Like a branch overhanging a path that you may hit your head on, your partner may say, “duck” to warn you.
If something is ducked, it is placed above the ground.
I prefer the term cairn over “duck”, but both describe a stack of stones indicating the path of the trail. Some trails consist entirely of cairns, while others have cairns only in difficult spots such as over granite slabs where there is no worn path. Most cairns in the Sierras are small, just three flatish stones. From one cairn you should be able to see the next one and so one proceeds along the trail. Sometimes the middle stone protrudes toward the direction of travel, giving the stack a “duck” like appearance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn
Some people think it’s fun to make cairns and sometimes they’ll appear where they aren’t needed, and I try to knock them down for the sake of untouched wilderness.