Stacks

Padawan catches me trying to photograph a 
teenie-weenie rock stack on our girls-day-out

You have surely heard of rock stacks or rock balancing, right?  If you haven't heard of it, you may have seen one on the beach or even in the city.  I have been fascinated by this phenomenon as of late, especially after coming across them more and more in my travels.  I thought it was some sort of zen-type thing, and I was partially correct.  The truth is that folks have been stacking or balancing rocks for a very long time, perhaps even Stonehenge is a rock balancing project!

Stonehenge, located in England

Rock balancing is an art, discipline, and/or hobby depending upon the intent of the practitioner. It can also be a performance art, a spectacle, or a devotion, depending upon the interpretation by its audience. Essentially, it involves placing some combination of rock or stone in arrangements which require patience and sensitivity to generate, and which appear to be physically impossible while actually being only highly improbable. The rock balancer may work for free or for pay, as an individual or in a group, and their intents and the audiences' interpretations may vary given the situation or the venue.

I added this stack of cobbles to many others out on Ruby Beach

There are different types of rock balancing;

• Pure Balance - each rock in near-point balance
• Balanced Stacking - rocks lain flat upon each other to great height
• Free Style - mixture of the two above; may include arches, etc.
  

is this for real?

I tend to favor the 'balanced stacking' myself and love to give it a try when I'm presented with lovely flat rocks.  We even found a rock stack on our day spent on Mt. Rainier not too long ago.

 a simple stack along the trail on Mt. Rainier

 It seems rather faddish at the moment, but I still like it.  I didn't realize how prevalent it was until I started doing a little digging around on the 'net about it.  Here's a couple more stacks for your enjoyment...

 a stack found on the Oregon Coast

and that teenie-weenie rock stack out on Damon Point, Ocean Shores

Professional Rock Stacking & Balancing