When I need to drop a load on the trail, I dig a small hole, do my business, then bury it. However, someone could still come by within a few days and dig in the same area, or rest on the site. So as an additional act of responsibility I build a small cairn on top of the site. The time it takes for the cairn to topple naturally, so no one knew it was once there, the buried load has already broken down.

So the next time you kick over a cairn, just realize that it is YOU who are doing a disservice.