Evidence of Trail Fairies is a work by photographer Euan Forrester which shows riders the work that went in to making the trail that they’re actually riding on.

Forrester was there throughout the nine month construction of the Good Sir Martin and Penny Lane trails (Beatles fans perchance?) on Mount Seymour in Vancouver, BC and decided it would be a nice idea to display the photos on the trails themselves.

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1,882 hours of graft

The names of the trails aren’t (just) oblique references to The Beatles but refer to the two principle trail builders: Martin and Penny. Between the pair of them and some help from other volunteers put in 1,882 hours of building into the trails.

Video: GRAFT – a trailbuilder’s story

Only up for another month

Forrester’s trailside ‘gallery’ consists of a selection of 20 photographs. They’re weatherproof (well, as much as is feasible) and printed with UV-resistant inks. The pictures should last about six months outside but the installation itself will be taken down next month.

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Forrester: “I also made some posters to place at trail intersections which have text that explains what the project is about, and maps to show where it begins and ends.”

Pic: Euan Forrester

Pic: Euan Forrester

Pic: Euan Forrester

To see more pics and to read more about the construction of the trails head over to Forrester’s website.

Special moments

Explaining the idea of the project Forrester: “In these photos I want to show the experience I had of being a trail builder: appreciating the beauty of nature, caring for it, and being dwarfed by it. I want to short the feeling of friendship, of pride, of adventure, of teamwork, of mentorship, of exhaustion, and of loneliness that I saw.

“I want to shoe that a trail (or, this trail at least) is not some grand plan that unfolds, but rather a rough sketch that’s filled in, tested, and evolved as it’s built.

“And I want to show some of the special moments that happened along the way that not everyone gets to see.”