I’ve been wondering where the YOGI trail got its name, and stumbled across the answer on the on the Gabriola Land and Trails Trust site. The Cox Community Park History page says:
It was named the YOGI Trail because of its proximity to the landmark rock figure erected by the Youth Organization of Gabriola Island in [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, history, trails 2 Comments so far
They’re not very obvious, these: I walked past this trail blaze for years before I finally spotted it. There are a whole series of arrows on Douglas fir trees, leading one through the Gabriola woods.
Of course, these days there’s a very clear path as well, but I expect that the arrows came first.
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails 2 Comments so far
There are lots of pails in the Gabriola forest, probably dating from the time when the forest was logged. Since then the pails have started blending in, bit by bit: trees fell on them, moss grew over them, salal grew around them. Every once in a while some hiker spots a bit of plastic, drags [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, junk in the forest, trails No Responses yet
Here’s another trailmarker in the Gabriola woods: a glass perfume bottle that sits on an old stump.
It’s always fun to see what weird stuff appears in the woods, but this one I worry about. The bottle is made out of glass, and the sun shines through that decorative stopper, which is also glass. Is it [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
Last June I found a front derailleur serving as a trail-marker in the Gabriola woods. And now, not too far away, here’s the rear derailleur.
(It marks the location of an awesome mushroom that I must remember to photograph in September, when it’ll be at its peak.)
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails One Response so far
This is in Gabriola’s Elder Cedars Nature Reserve, which I suspect is the oldest-growth forest we have on Gabriola. Moss is everywhere, festooned in generous and delightful excess.
Filed in Gabriola Island, environment, native plants, trails 2 Comments so far
I know you’ve been waiting to see more of the mysterious antlers in the Gabriola woods, so here you go. For ages these antlers were twisted: one looked as it should, but the other had drooped down to point at the ground. We called them the twisty antlers. And then a few weeks ago – [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
This vase appeared in the middle of the Gabriola woods last year. Is it stranger that:
a) There’s a vase in the middle of the forest, or
b) Every time I pass there’s a new arrangement of greens or flowers, and fresh water?
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails 2 Comments so far
It’s amazing how much litter there is in the Gabriola woods, and it’s not just along the trail, either: some of it’s under a dense thicket of salal. I know this because I bush-crash through the woods fairly regularly, and discover lots of stuff in the process.
Under salal I find plastic water bottles, juice bottles, [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
You know that place in the Elder Cedars (S’ul-hween X’pey) Nature Reserve where the waters run deep in winter-time? The trail goes through it, and if you’ve tried to get past in the rainy season you’ll have wished that you’d taken hip waders or a small boat with you.
GALTT (Gabriola Land and Trails Trust) put [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails, weather No Responses yet
These antlers are in the middle of nowhere in the Gabriola woods, where they mark a trail junction.
When I began to explore the obscure trails, I was always so pleased to find another set of antlers. It felt like a treasure hunt. Now that I think of it, finding new delights in the woods always [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
Yesterday some trails were flooded in the Gabriola woods. We’re peering into a puddle, and seeing the trees and sky reflected above.
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
A while ago I showed you a Gabriola trailmarker made of a sharp thing stuck into a tree. This trailmarker looks even sharper, don’t you think? It’s on the trail down from the Middle of Nowhere Forest to the Middle of Nowhere Stream and Sodden Lands.
You’ll want your gumboots if you go past the [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
It looks like a trail there, it really does. But I’ve explored it several times over the last few years, and it goes nowhere. There’s what looks like a trail for a short distance, and then what is absolutely not a trail after that.
A while ago my observant friend pointed out that a beer can [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, assorted, trails No Responses yet
In the name of all that is sensible, tell me, please: why is this tree numbered? It’s on a trail in the middle of the Gabriola forest, and I don’t see a number 1 tree or a number 3 tree anywhere about the place.
Filed in trails No Responses yet
Here you go: another set of antlers in the Gabriola woods. Antlers are a more interesting sort of trailmarker than those trailmarkers in the 707; I wonder if that’s why nobody’s ripped them down. But then, most people don’t notice the antlers in the first place, so maybe that’s what protects them.
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
The people who take down signs and trailmarkers in the 707 Acre Woods have been at it again, I see. Until recently there was a plastic red diamond on this tree – small, but enough to help guide a hiker. Now the diamond is gone, and only the screw remains. <sigh />
This is why there [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
This compass made of stones is in Gabriola’s 707 Acre Wood. If you stand at the end of the stem and look straight through the circle, you’ll be facing north.
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
I’ve mentioned the odd trailmarkers in the Gabriola woods before — here’s an other example.
Having strange things left in the forest helps a lot when I’m chatting with my hiking friend, and trying to tell her where I saw a colourful mushroom or something. I can say well, suppose you start at the washing machine [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
Dear Gabriola Rod, Gun, and Conservation Club,
Was that a special event today, or just a normal Saturday thing? I’ve got to wonder because the whole forest sounded like a war zone while we were out hiking. What on earth are you firing, anyway? Canons? Grenades? How can it possibly be that loud?
You must wear amazing [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
There are rewards for those who traipse about in the Gabriola forest on rainy days. This is one of them.
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails, weather 3 Comments so far
A few weeks ago a big old alder tree toppled over in the Gabriola woods. It didn’t fall across the path, but along the path, which is much worse: the trunk took up the entire path, and branches sticking out all over the place made the path unusable. We had to bushcrash our way around [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
Two paths diverge in a Gabriola wood. This antler, wedged between two trees, marks the spot.
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails No Responses yet
You’ve seen those signs the Government of Canada has posted along the edges of their Gabriola property. They say private property and no trespassing.
Or at least that’s what the signs all used to say. This one’s been modified. Typical of Gabriola, don’t you think? (Don’t you tell me what to do!)
The sign is [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, photos, trails 2 Comments so far
Now really, what’s up with the birdhouses? Is it you? Are you building birdhouses, placing them in the Gabriola forest on the obscure trails I love, then waiting for me to discover them? Is it so I’ll have lots of Gabriola blog content? Or is it just to keep me puzzling about the birdhouse mystery?
In [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island, trails No Responses yet
