Gabriola’s 707 Acre Community Park will have official trailmarkers soon. People who are in charge of safety-related things on Gabriola say we need them, and the Gabriola Parks and Open Spaces Advisory Committee has come up with trail names to put on the signs. (Flying Shingle article: Parks committee proposes trail names. Gabriola Sounder article: [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,Gabriola people,trails 10 Comments so far
If you’ve hiked in Gabriola’s 707 Acre Wood, you’ll have seen them: piles of logging debris like this. They’re all over the place. What should be done with them, or should they just be left to slowly rot away? I seem to remember hearing that these piles might be removed, possibly so that there’d be [...]
In the 707, oxeye daisies are pretty much done for the year. But ah, look at those seeds!
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You know it’s been a dry summer on Gabriola when we get excited at the sight of a puddle. Here’s the first puddle we’ve seen on the island since, oh, June or so. This is in the 707, and it’s a favourite puddle of ours because it freezes so nicely in winter. (Dog likes to [...]
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If you hike in Gabriola’s 707 Acre Woods today, you might keep an eye out for this bit of guerrilla knitting — surely the red and white will catch your attention on Canada Day, yes? This knitting has been in place since March, when it appeared along with some other knitting on trees. I’m astounded [...]
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I often see equestrians on Gabriola trails, particularly in the part of the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve that’s near Windecker, and in the 707 Acre Community Park. I like horses and they (both horses and riders) always seem to be friendly and polite, so this is fine by me. But are horses OK for Gabriola’s [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,invasive plants,RDN 9 Comments so far
Many of you have been on Gabriola for ages, so you know this kind of thing, right?
Filed in Gabriola Island,history 2 Comments so far
In Gabriola’s 707 Acre woods, the official trailmarkers disappear soon after they are posted. The red wooden triangles went, then the red plastic diamonds. Yet these piles of rocks remain, even though it would be ever so easy to kick the piles over and cast the stones into the outer darkness. I think it’s something [...]
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For years I’ve been thinking of these piles of branches and stuff as debris, but now I’ve been living on the Isle of the Arts long enough to see the truth of it all. It’s art. Of course it is. Look at the symmetry, the composition! The angles! The use of colour! Regular readers will [...]
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I hiked in Gabriola’s 707 Acre Wood today, and came across this: a few trees wearing, um, sweaters? Really. I am not making this up. Somebody has been knitting for trees, and now several trees are sporting fanciful knitted stripes. I don’t know many knitters, and don’t knit myself. But a friend who does knit [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,trails 3 Comments so far
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 [...]
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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.
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Lost your gloves on Gabriola? By now somebody has found them, and your gloves are decorating a tree, just waiting for you to return. These gloves are in the 707 Acre Woods. Other lost gloves are similarly displayed on other parts of the island. Maybe one day I’ll find the one black glove I lost….
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How long has this been at the side of the road in the 707 Acre Woods? I used to walk that main loop (from end of Ricki Avenue to the end of Jeanette Avenue) every day, and I’m sure I would have noticed this if it had been at the roadside then. Has somebody dragged [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,junk in the forest,photos,trails 3 Comments so far
From the Nanaimo News Bulletin: Gabriola park future planned. A comprehensive management plan and a new name are in the works for Gabriola Island’s 707 Acre Community Park. The Regional District of Nanaimo is set to host an open space meeting to determine what residents feel should be the future of the park. "It’s a [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,trails One Response so far
A couple of years ago there were red triangular trail markers in the 707 Acre Woods. Hikers who began at the end of Ricki Street could follow a short loop (40 minutes, maybe?) to the end of Jeanette, following the markers. It was all very handy for those new to the 707. But then the [...]
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