Something more was going on than met the eye. 

Halfway up the rocky trail, hikers had built small offerings to creation. They were impressive, and not only because it’s difficult to balance one stone atop the next. Many had added their own stack to an elaborate, growing structure that suggested a temple. The many cairns stood against the sky like a modern Stonehenge.

The park rangers took them down. Stacking stones disturbs animal habitat. Sometimes hikers mistook their purpose, and got lost thinking they were signposts. But the hikers soon rebuilt them. 

I’d been photographing the cairns for months. I was trying to communicate the impulse to reverence that I sensed was at play. That summer, I was looking forward to the coming Perseid showers while I tried to solve this puzzle. I played in post-production with this image, a single cairn against the sky, shot in broad daylight. 

Then digital magic intervened. One filter after another enriched the texture of the sky and rendered the air dense with primordial awe.

Part of the Dreams & Imaginings series, works of gratitude for the night sky, which has helped me to carry on with life during the darkest times.