Smashing Pumpkins;

Kicking Cairns.

People who live along the North Shore say cairns started appearing in large numbers about five years ago. Many attribute the growth to Instagram and other social media sites.

Travis Novitsky, a photographer who grew up on the Grand Portage Reservation and still lives there, said the cairns didn’t bother him at first. But then he started seeing them at virtually every public access along the shore, practically covering entire stretches of beach.

 "I see it as a big detractor to stepping out on the shoreline, where you’re expecting to see ... an untouched piece of shoreline,” he said.

Novitsky sympathizes with tourists, especially families with children, who like to stack rocks, “kind of like building a sand castle.” But then to leave them there, he said, “takes away from the next person’s experience.”

His tendency, he said, is to knock them down...

Peter Juhl, an airline database administrator by day ... has been balancing rocks for the past quarter-century, mainly along the North Shore...

[A]fter he finishes a balance, and takes pictures of it, Juhl knocks it down. He thinks other people who stack rocks should follow suit...

“It's not owned by me, and other people use it,” he said.