In the Spirit of the Great Trail
Soon after I started walking this trail, I realized it would not be a peaceful stroll through the woods. It passes through many suburbanized and industrial areas. It also passes through the traditional aboriginal and first nations territories. I didn't know it then, but the trail is part of a larger cross-country network. At one point, I happened to come across a welcoming pavilion that provided information on the trail and its significance .
Greeting Figures
K’AY’ACHTN’S
“Our hands and arms welcome
You to this sacred area.’
Darren Yelton,
Squamish Nation Carvers
Two elder figures greet you in friendship to the Trans Canada Trail. Both wear traditional cedar hats and vest with white doves representing peace and friendship.
Salmon, symbolic of our cycle of life, and a bald eagle symbolic of power and prestige are represented on the figures.
‘Mother Earth,’ high above the carvings,
Welcomes the world to our wonderful city.
This plaque is held by a grizzly bear
Which represents strength to our people.
The Great Trail network, as it used to be called, stretches across the country for over 27,000 kilometres touching the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans. It is the longest multi-trail network in the world.
In addition to the carvings and the large trail map, there were several boards on the grounds detailing the variety of natural sights that a trekker might encounter during a hike and their cultural importance to the local first nations.
Bear's delight contains information on bear snacks, mainly berries
I didn't have a cloth with me, and I didn't want to get in trouble for touching private property, but I was dying to give these informative signs a good scrubbing.
The Bald Eagle is a common sight around these lands
Coastal giants refer to the massive cedar trees that populate this region
It would be something to trek the whole lenght of the trail from coast to coast to coast then arrive at this place and see this pavilion.
Welcome to the Trans Canada Trail!
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Fantastically inspiring poles, would like to try them. Maybe on narrow branches, because I have a lot of tools!
That is a big piece of wood that they used for the carvings. It would be interesting to try it on a small branch. The following video presents an interesting story from a local artist about his carving craft.
Those carved posts are so beautiful!!! I would have loved to have cleaned the signs and read everything properly too!!
They are so huge. It must be a lot of work. I wish the boards had been more legible. The indigenous people have unique relationship to nature because of their history.
And that connection with nature is the real source of energy; we should learn from them.
Thank you @jlinaresp and @visualshots for your support.
We appreciate your work and your publication has been hand selected by the geography curation team on behalf of the Amazing Nature AN Community. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, @hive-174680 and @jlufer!
Love the Native American carvings! Quite the visual and informative trek.
I wasn't expecting to find them in my hike, so it was great to come across them in that section of the trail.