Went to a camping in the Laurentians in Québec (Ste-Agathe) and there were those things near some camp sites. The sites are only accessible by footpaths. No car access. And if you bring a bike, you have to walk it up a hill, so I doubt they are bike racks.
Vertical Rack for storing clay tool molds. Keep an eye out for a friendly seraph. They're clearly in the iron age at this point.
OP, none of the answers here are satisfactory. Please ask the rangers and update this post because this is fascinating.
Google Lens wasn't helpful, it compares it to things like drains and fences built around old markers (it specifically thought it was a Mason-Dixon line marker which is obviously incorrect). But this is not protecting anything and not a drain.
My guess is, if it's not something to tie a horse to, is maybe it's something to put animal feed in? But that's a wild guess, I don't really think it's right. Like shove a hay bake in. But you said only accessible by walking, so I really doubt it.
It looks like a park but it's a municipal camping with a forested area for tents. I will ask the employees when I go back, but I'm afraid they may also not know. I'm also tempted to call and ask directly but this gives me a reason to make another cycling trip "in the north".
My guess is either a seat, something left over from an eagle scout project, or a cooling rack. Somewhere to put your hot pans/utensils to let them cool/serve from without putting them straight on the forest floor.
Like a lot of things in camping though, it's probably whatever you make of it. Improvise and have fun.
Roughly how big is it? I feel like my sense of scale might be a bit off.
But some thoughts based on how big I think it is.
The bars look too far apart to be useful as a grill, also a little awkwardly low to the ground for that, not that campers are overall opposed to squatting or sitting on the ground if it comes to it, you could maybe put pots, pans, griddles, etc on it above a fire, but I don't see any evidence of the concrete being discolored from that.
The bars also look too close together for it to be a bike rack, and the little bars going across it seem like they'd be kind of inconvenient for that purpose.
You could maybe put a cooler in it, it wouldn't be particularly useful for protecting it from bears with the open sides, but could maybe keep a raccoon or something from getting the lid open, or if you bring a cable lock it might be effective at keeping bipedal scavengers from walking off with your cooler or stealing your beer.
Also seems a bit low to be a hitching post for horses or whatever.
As far as being a firewood rack, it seems a bit small for that, but I guess if you're not as big of a pyro as me and all the former boy scouts I know are then maybe its sufficient for that purpose.
The answer that makes the most sense to me is that it's for skis, or maybe trekking poles or something like that. Lets you store them upright so they don't get stepped on or buried in snow, leaves, etc. you said that the sites are closed in the winter, which puts a dent in that theory, but was that always the case? The concrete is a bit busted-up, so they've probably been there a while, maybe years ago they allowed winter camping and a lot of skiers used the sites. Also would explain why some sites have them and others don't, if they don't allow winter camping anymore, it doesn't make sense to replace the ski racks when they're damaged or to install them in newer sites.
Here are a few more pictures for context
And I don't know about the past of the site. It's a municipal camping close to a lake and hiking trails. It may have been open during winter in the past but I doubt it because campings here are all closed by the end of November. However it can still be part of a network of ski trails, and be places to take a break.
Also, gathering wood for fires is usually forbidden on such sites and you have to buy a bag/bundle at the reception.
I gave it a try here hoping maybe someone would know exactly what these are, and so far everyone has good guesses, but it's still guesses.
it holds firewood (but not right now)
Nice steady pic. Especially with sasquatch looking on... waiting to tie his mule up before taking a dip in the stream?
I didn't know a sasquatch could take the form of a white birch!
looks like a grill to me.
The concrete isn't discolored like it would be for a grill.
Maybe everyone else who has ever been there was just as confused as OP, and never realised it's a grill, so it's a grill that just hasn't ever been used.
That and/or its just been very rarely used as a grill.
If its been months or years between sporadic uses... wind and rain could wash away light, non consistently repeated burn marks.
My guess is some construction team at some point had some extra materials laying around, and either got bored and just fucked around and made this, or got very vague instructions for something approximating a grill, and this was 'good enough'.
Assuming this pic is recent... thats a lot of wear and erosion, and vegetative growth on this thing, I'd spitball guess its 60+ years old, it looks roughly similar to some campgrounds I've been at with firepits that were built in like the 1950s or 60s.
Could it be a grill that hasn't been used in a long time? It really looks like a grill, but I'm confused in that there is an obvious circle-of-rocks firepit clearly visible in the bacground.
I would second this guess.
If not a grill, could be a good work surface for a pot or pan
I'd assume it's for wood if there are designated fire areas for each camp. I could see it being even more useful for wet wood, allowing you to set it near the fire to dry out.
Hmm. Possibly to place gathered firewood so it doesn't get under foot?
Second on firewood storage.
The sides keep it all in one place, while the top lets you throw a tarp over it to keep wood dry in the rain.
It's definitely not a bike rack, the cross bars would stop it working.
It's definitely not a grill. The concrete would be discoloured, and the base is all wrong.
Looks like a grill design to me.
If it was a grill, the concrete would be discolored.
Why?
EDIT: Oh, because of the fire. I was thinking grill like the grill we put on drains to stop leaves
How the hell would that work?
Fire goes under the bars, food goes on the bars.
You know, like a grill.
What kind of food is going to sit on that? You cooking a whole leg of something?
You could probably get a tomahawk steak to work on there, or a whole, bone in long pig thigh.
Giant toast rack
There doesn't seem to be anything culturally significant under the bars, perhaps because it was removed via the open sides.
Dry place to set your backpack in wet weather?
Is there cross country skiing there in the winter?
There are hiking and cross country skiing trails very close. However the camp sites are closed in winter.
Could it just be a deteriorated bench?
Maybe a way to keep bears from getting into a cooler? It would need some way of closing the sides but maybe that piece is missing?
Maybe cross-post to Canada@lemmy.ca ? And update us if you get an answer!
!canada@lemmy.ca
Needed an exclamation point at the start to link to the community, otherwise it will likely be interpreted as an email address
Edit: might also try !askacanadian@lemmy.ca
I don't think it's worth the cross-post. I'm from the region, go camping several times a year and never seen something like this. The camping is on the route of my bike trip between Montreal and the Mont-Tremblant SEPAQ, so I may go back this fall and ask them. Or maybe next spring.
Horse hitch?
bike rack
Unlikely. I don't see anything showing scale, but it looks to me like the cross bars would prevent bike wheels from entering the slots.
My guess would be a very uncomfortable bench.
Maybe something related to an old logging or mining operation. Could be a protective cage for some equipment.
Maybe it's a grate. Imagine having a concrete pipe extend to both directions, this could then act as a grate against larger objects into the pipe.
Maybe some kind of bear-proof storage? Like maybe it would have gotten some plywood on either side seasonally?
Plywood wouldn't stop a bear, but it might stop raccoons or foxes. Could be some type of locker for a cooler or icebox.
Maybe you put a canoe on there somehow?
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