I saw this on the rock face on an island on the north end of Darky on the 6th of July. I am no expert on pictographs, the only ones I have actually seen are those at the south end of Darky. In all the photos I have seen of pictographs they are rust colored. This is white, but seems clearly to be man made. I was wondering if anyone has seen this in the past or if it is some recent paddler's graffiti?
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Pat

that is an odd thing.  there's a picture of the same thing on Denton Doc's trip report page

definintely looks to be a new feature

grafitti ?  seems to be unlikely, as who would go to all the trouble to portage some white paint that far into the park ?

I wonder if it is some kind of survey marker or something of that nature

Mad_Mat wrote on Jul 18^th, 2012 at 12:59pm:

there's a picture of the same thing on Denton Doc's trip report page

It is the same picture. DD stayed on this island a couple of weeks before I did. When I got home I put it on his trip report page before starting this thread.


Mad_Mat wrote on Jul 18^th, 2012 at 12:59pm:

I wonder if it is some kind of survey marker or something of that nature

I hadn't considered that. Perhaps a high water mark?

Pat

My belief is that it is graffiti.  ALL the pictos I know of or have seen are rust colored.   

Quote:

Perhaps a high water mark?

I agree with IC and others, It's not a picto.
But a horizontal line with a vertical line at it's center does look like any graffiti I've ever seen.

Looks like it was meant for a specific purpose, not some "artistic" statement?

The paint seems to be running already, so maybe it was meant to be short lived?

To me, that looks like a spray paint type drip on the right. You know what though, I don't recall a specific rule about not spray painting rocks. I'd seriously doubt it's anything but graffiti though.

You wanna leave a semi-perminant mark? Sign your name and make it worth something like these guys did:
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Seems a lot of bother to bring in a can of paint and just spray paint 2 lines. :-?
Usually people with that mindset get more creative even if they have zero artistic talent.

Maybe an aiming point for a transit or some other surveying equipment like Mad_Mat suggested. It is only about 400 yards from the portage to Wickstead and would likely be visible from there with magnification. I wonder if the park people are doing any surveying or mapping.

It would be interesting to know if the runs are from when it was made or if they came after the rain on the evening of the 4th. I may have to go back next year and see if it is still there.

Pat   

Isn't a pictograph just really old graffiti?
Wouldn't this mark be considered a picto in a thousand years or so?
I wonder if the guy that slapped his handprint on a rock back then got in trouble if he got caught by the Chief. Or if he got criticized for his poor art skills - "Those look like smiley faces more than any canoe I've seen, Muktuk. Is that supposed to be the Chief? You need to stick to moose and handprints."
:)

Pondo wrote on Jul 20^th, 2012 at 9:39pm:

Isn't a pictograph just really old graffiti? Wouldn't this mark be considered a picto in a thousand years or so? I wonder if the guy that slapped his handprint on a rock back then got in trouble if he got caught by the Chief. :)

Ever see all the handprints on the western most (I forget and am too lazy to pull the picture) Quetico Lake site? While the eastern most site seems to have an artists touch, IMO, that pillowed western site does not. Do you suppose they were all yelling "Neener neener neener! You can't catch us old man" on that one? :)

Although I agree to some extent, sometimes the difference becomes the ex factors. Expectations, experts and excrement.  :D