To be honest when I saw the title I was prepared to disagree with the author but after reading the article I have to say I wholeheartedly agree. When hiking I try to stick to trails that I am confident lead to where I want to go but there have been plenty of times that I was hiking somewhere for the first time and let me tell you... it can get extremely confusing when people make "artistic cairns". One time on a road trip I was hiking near Arches National Park and saw a cairn that I assumed signified a trail, ended up bush wacking alone a water-route or animal foot-path for a bit until I decided it was best to turn around. I was younger but I still feel bad since I obviously affected the land in a way the park service does not like.

Yesterday I saw someone building a "cairn shrine" of sorts at a pretty populated beach, and it made me think of the ethics of cairns at populated beaches where the tide will wash it away. In this particular case since there is a constant flurry of people on the beach and the water will quickly wash the cairn away as it would a sand castle I think it is socially acceptable.
Anyways I think that this call for an end to cairns is an idea that is beneficial to spread. Thanks for sharing!