After my post one week ago, On the Art of Stacking Rocks, I quickly learned (again thanks to MickETalbot) that there is a very definite and important difference between merely stacking a bunch of rocks one on top of the other and the feat of coaxing one or more rocks to balance harmoniously in gravity defying positions.  If I may quote from his comment on that blog post, “In balancing there are only 2 points that touch, the surface areas being 1%, or less of each where they meet.”  Unquestionably, achieving that will take much more patience and skill than merely piling one flat(ish) rock on top of another flat(ish) rock!

As a result of our exchange, I’ve become slightly obsessed with the concept of rock balancing and less impressed by basic rock stacking.  Of course, the majority of carefully arranged rock piles I’ve seen around Mississippi Bar and Negro Bar are the simple cairns.

Until today.  Suddenly, in the very same spots where I’d previously seen towering piles of flat rocks, I saw this instead:

And this:

Note that none of this was done by me.

Is is pure coincidence that these show up after my blog post last week?  Well, of course it is, but still… I can’t help but wonder. 😉