GC3E1VN Woody the Tree Spirit
Type: Traditional | Size: Not chosen | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: 1purplemonkeydishwasher1 @ | Hide Date: 06/03/2012 | Status: Archived
Country: Canada | State: Manitoba
Coordinates: N49° 49.802 W97° 05.063 | Last updated: 10/06/2026 | Fav points: 0
     

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In 2003, Walter Mirosh and Robert Leclaire of Les Gens de Bois Woodcarving Club, learned of Save Our Seine's (SOS's) effort to preserve the Bois-des-esprits and wanted to get involved. The idea occurred to them to carve a "tree spirit" in the forest. Dave Venema, a volunteer river-keeper and SOS Board member found a carving prospect, a 75 foot elm tree slated for removal due to Dutch Elm Disease (DED).

The trunk had to be cut to a manageable 10 foot height and all infected bark removed by hand to avoid the spread of DED. In over two years, Les Gen de Bois have carved two tree spirits in the ancient elm, once destined to become a lost stump. Today, hundreds of visitors trek through the Bois-des-esprits to see this totem, a unique partnership of art and nature.


Type of wood carving: Chainsaw, grinder, chisel & carving tools

Artist's Name: Walter Mirosh and Robert Leclaire

Approximate size/height: 10 feet

06/08/2013 By Kabutroid
I've gotta say, finding this geocache is arguably about the LAST thing that I expected to do today. For like... a whole slew of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I didn't have a GPS on me whatsoever, nor did I even know that a geocache was here!

Although on that note, I didn't have any chainmail balls with me, so I will be having to return in the near future (possibly with my wife to show her the carving), since that's kinda my thing .

Nonetheless, I pulled a find out of my biking shorts today. My original goal for today was nothing more than to bike some dirt trails along the Seine, and maybe time how long it took me to do the full stretch of them from Bishop Grandin to John Bruce Road (evidently about 4 minutes and change... although taking a tumble in the middle probably added about 20 seconds). However, after having travelled the dirt path going South, I still had a good chunk of energy, and decided to see if I could stumble across that wood tree carving again. When I first searched for it about a week or so ago, I thought it was somewhere along the area I had just biked, but since it clearly wasn't there, I decided to keep hunting. The housing has developed a lot in the area however, so that threw me off. Eventually however, I discovered the gravel path that led me onto the trails, since houses now reside where I used to always bike a decade or so ago.

I quickly worked my way down the trails, and was soon rewarded with seeing the giant carving through the trees. Seeing as the trails here are significantly more developed than they were many years ago, I was not surprised to see several other people mulling about the area. I WAS however surprised when one of them asked me after I had shown up if I “knew where the geocache around here was.” Clearly, the couple took a blind shot at asking in the hopes that I even knew what geocaching was. Evidently they were in luck . The geocacher I had inadvertantly met said they did not have an online profile, and just geocached casually. All fine and good, but if you happen to read this, it was nice to have met you Sam and boyfriend/husband/friend/guy that was with you .

When they first asked me if I knew where the geocache in the area was, I pointed off to the West a bit towards the bushes, thinking that perhaps someone had adopted an old geocache that I had found... over 6 years ago?!? Man, I've been caching for a while it seems . Nonetheless, I pointed them towards the bushes to the side, and was preparing to help them slog through the brush to see if we could find it. However, I was quickly informed that they were 'within 3 meters'. Now, I remember that the coordinates to that now-archived cache were pretty far off, but I really didn't think they were THAT far off. When I had first searched 6 someodd years ago, I was definitely not hunting around the carving itself.

After several minutes of hunting, my well-honed hunting abilities stumbled across the geocache, evidently in a place where Sam had already searched. Keep at it, young Padawan. Evidently as well, this was the first time she's come across this type of cache container, so I'm glad I was there to avoid this being a DNF for her .

The log signed by both of us (thanks to her having a pencil, since I had nothing of the sort on me), I replaced the cache from whence it came and we went our separate ways. Glad to have met you two. If you're up for it (and again, if you read this), come to one of the pub-night geocaching events. All the geocachers are really friendly, and it's generally good times had by all .

Took: Picture
Left: Logbook entry, and a chainmail ball in the near future

EDIT - Aug. 7th: Chainmailled!

This entry was edited by Kabuthunk on Thursday, 08 August 2013 at 00:11:15 UTC.