Skip to content

Mount Doug thaw reveals abandoned Subaru, dog poo

Gate left unlocked in snow storm invites daredevil drivers
15618509_web1_MountDouglasPARK2
A Subaru wagon was left on the side of Churchill Drive, the steep road which climbs Mount Douglas Park. The driver attempted the ascent during the recent snowfall. (Friends of Mount Douglas Park)

The recent snowfall saw a lot of drivers abandon their cars on the side of the road and the same goes for Mount Douglas Park, where a Subaru wagon has spent a week sitting pinned to a tree.

If it wasn’t for the tree, the driver and any passengers in the car would have slid into a drop about 20-metres, said Darrell Wick, president of the Friends of Mount Douglas Park society.

READ ALSO: Vandals dump living room set in Mount Doug Park

As of Tuesday morning, the car remained as the tow truck company who was contacted won’t send a truck until the snow is gone, Wick said. The Subaru has a cracked front windshield and is about 400 metres up Churchill Drive.

The driver is unknown but the car does have Alberta licence plates.

“There are a number of wheel tracks so there was more than one car driving up,” Wick said.

When it does snow, there shouldn’t be access to Churchill Drive for motorists. The gate was locked for the first few days of the snowfall but then was mysteriously left unlocked. Churchill Road is closed to drivers until noon each day but is also closed to drivers whenever the roadway has snow or ice.

“We don’t know how it was left unlocked, there are a lot of people with keys and access, but it wasn’t broken,” Wick said.

The park’s subsequent snow thaw has also revealed that some of the park’s dog-owning visitors insist on leaving behind excrement, Wick noted.

It’s ongoing problem that isn’t new but with the snow, it’s made worse.

“Seems to be that dogs are dropping their stuff on the trail, and then the dog poop is left and it’s nicely preserved,” Wick said. “Now that it’s melting it creates quite an aroma.”

Again it’s nothing new, Wick offered. To rate things, the worst offences seen at Mount Doug Park are the non-bagged poop left in the middle of the trail. The second worst is the bagged poops which are thrown in the bush and then are exposed in the summer when the forest dries up.

“It’s the same story of not taking care of what your dog does, thinking that it’s somebody else’s problem,” Wicks said.

reporter@saanichnews.com


Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter