This project started as a question that arose while going for a run. I would often run around Beaver Lake as part of my circuit through Stanley Park. The Vancouver Parks Board had added an interpretive trail marker system around Beaver Lake, but the information about the different points was sorely lacking. I would see these markers on the edge of the forest and they would remind me of the obelisk on the cover of, ‘Presence’, by Led Zeppelin. Like the obelisk, theses numbered markers were, a mysterious object meant to signify something, but what?

This got me thinking about those ‘scenic viewpoint’ locations we’ve all stopped at or seen, and about the interpretive trail around beaver lake, where the viewpoint of contemplation is not necessarily a scenic vista or even really scenic. I was also thinking about the prepared photo, or the prepared nature aspect, where the numbered posts indicate a position for action – specifically photography.

I soon found the literature for the interpretive trail online – a pdf you could download from the Parks Board site (how a tourist would ever find that is beyond me). I have created a small book combining my photos with the corresponding locations around the lake.