inuksuk

I discovered this on the first day of vacation in a gift shop, and was intrigued by the story and symbol. We saw them everywhere. All the gift shops had them, constructed of everything from river rocks to wood to expensive jade.

Inuksuks are stone figures created by the first inhabitants of the Canadian north, the Inuit. The Inuit have lived in the areas now called Canada, Alaska, and Greenland for thousands of years and inuksuk can be found in all these regions.

Inuksuit (plural) have been used by the Inuit people as guides and markers for special places in the Arctic, marking trails, caches of food, nearby people, or the migration routes of caribou.

Depending on who I asked, the stacked rocks could mean anything from safe passage to good luck.

We even made our own little stack on top of Sulphur Mountain to mark our trip there.