As you read this, chances are I’m hiking somewhere above 10,000 feet in southwest Colorado, where we have a family vacation home. While Katie shows her love for us by staying at the house with our dogs, we’re enjoying two weeks at our cabin. As much as I love the water and never want to live away from the Chesapeake Bay, I look forward to these two weeks all year. It’s here in the mountains where my soul feels refreshed and renewed. It’s where I’ve learned some important lessons about life, particularly about the markers God and others leave for us along our journey.

Anyone who follows me knows I’m a big walker. I typically walk five miles a day and am training for Camino number three. Out here, I could walk for days, breathing in the fresh, clean air and tilting my face toward the sky, feeling as though Heaven is just beyond the reach of my fingertips.

 

Finding Markers

As a hiker, I’m always on the lookout for cairns. These are human-made piles or stacks of stones used as markers along a trail. They mark hidden trails, safe passages, memorials, historic events, and even burial places. Hikers will leave them as a testament that they were there, usually on a high peak or a remote trail. They’re a common sight throughout the Rockies and along the Camino, as well as other famous and not-so-famous trails around the world.

Perhaps it’s in my biology to be pulled toward these monuments. After all, they’re a Scottish tradition, and despite my married name, I have Highland blood flowing through my veins. Maybe it’s because I’m a walker and hiker and feel a kinship to those who have walked before me. But I believe it’s something even deeper than that. Even if I had never ventured further than my front door, I believe I would be looking for cairns. Each of us has a life journey full of cairns just waiting to be discovered.

 

Finding Answers

When I met my husband and he told me he was a waterman, I have no doubt that was a cairn (see my last blog). I’m certain my grandfather laid the foundation stone to that one.

When my grandmother passed, I was a mess, but she sent me a cairn I’ll never forget. I was on my way to school to pick up my girls just after I got the call, and Vince Gill’s voice floated through my car speakers. Vince was my grandmother’s favorite singer, and I’d taken her to see him in concert only a few years prior. I know this was more than just a song on the radio, though, as Vince consoled my heart with as he sang “Go Rest High on the Mountain,” about a loved one who goes home to God.

The first time I laid my eyes on the Sea of Galilee, I knew that pilgrimage was changing my life, and it did. Standing on Mount Precipice next to a cairn marking the Gospel Trail, I felt at peace and at home.

 

 

 

Finding Meaning

As I look back at the past fifty-six years, I see many cairns I’ve encountered along the way. Some led me down hidden trails I never thought I would go. Some afforded me safe passage when my world had been shaken. Others have served as memorials and symbols, reminders to where I’ve been, where I am, and where I need to go.

Wherever we go, our family seeks cairns already built and leaves cairns behind, to mark where we’ve been and lead others where they need to go. Much like life itself, some of these are mounds we’ve piled ourselves, and others are stacks we’ve contributed to along the way. Some are too high to reach and require a leap of faith. Others are small and easily overlooked unless we’re looking for them.

These all have become somewhat of a symbol for me in life, a tie to the trails I’ve walked and the lifelong journey I’m making toward my final destination.

 

Finding Joy

I always advise hikers to keep an eye out for the cairns that pop up along the way. You’re not alone in this journey. Those who have gone before you often leave signs for you to follow, pieces of stone to ground you, and markers to help you find your way. We would all be lost without these precious cairns that typically show up when least expected but most needed, bringing us reassurance and even happiness. Follow your cairns, and your journey will be one of peace and joy.

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Copyright 2026 Amy Schisler

Photos copyright 2026 Amy Schisler, all rights reserved.