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Galloping Goose Regional Trail

Bike paths in British ColumbiaBritish Columbia geography stubsCanada road stubsCanada trail stubsHistoric trails and roads in British Columbia
Rail trails in British ColumbiaTransport in the Capital Regional District
Galloping Goose Trail a restored train station near the Sooke Potholes
Galloping Goose Trail a restored train station near the Sooke Potholes

The Galloping Goose Regional Trail is a 55-kilometre (34 mi) rail trail between Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and the ghost town of Leechtown, north of Sooke, where it meets the old Sooke Flowline. Maintained by the Capital Regional District (CRD), the trail forms part of the Trans-Canada Trail, and intersects the Lochside Regional Trail. The section from Harbour Road in Esquimalt to the Veterans Memorial Parkway in Langford is also part of the Vancouver Island Trail. The trail is a popular route both for commuting and recreation, including within urban areas of Victoria (Vic West and Burnside-Gorge). It is frequented by people walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding and (in places) riding horses. It connects up with many other trails and parks in the area. The trail was created in 1987 on the former right-of-way of the Canadian National Railway, and runs through the communities of Sooke, Metchosin, Colwood, Langford, View Royal, Saanich, and Victoria as well as the unincorporated community of East Sooke. The trail surface is paved between the west terminus (Johnson Street Bridge) to Wale Road in Colwood, approximately 13 km, or one quarter of its total length. It connects to a multi-use path across the bridge and bike lanes along Pandora Avenue. In 1996 two important connecting links were opened: the rebuilt Selkirk Trestle (across the Selkirk Water). and the Switch Bridge over the Trans-Canada Highway. The trail was named after the local gas-powered passenger car (No. 15813) that ran on the line from 1922 to 1931. However, the name is disputed by the Sooke Region Museum and longtime Sooke residents who say that the term Galloping Goose was not used for the old rail line; it was applied by CRD marketing staff to the trail. Although maps show Leechtown as being the end of the trail, this area has been restricted since 2007, as part of the Greater Victoria water supply. In 2010, a warning sign and locked gate were erected before the end of the trail. Leechtown itself is not accessible.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Galloping Goose Regional Trail (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Galloping Goose Regional Trail
Esquimalt Road, Victoria Victoria West

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Wikipedia: Galloping Goose Regional TrailContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 48.42836 ° E -123.372324 °
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Address

Johnson Street Bridge

Esquimalt Road
V8W 1S3 Victoria, Victoria West
British Columbia, Canada
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Galloping Goose Trail a restored train station near the Sooke Potholes
Galloping Goose Trail a restored train station near the Sooke Potholes
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Dockside Green
Dockside Green

Dockside Green is a 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m2) mixed-use community in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada owned by Vancity Credit Union and noted for its strict adherence to the principles of sustainable architecture or green building. The development sits on 15 acres (6.1 ha) of Victoria’s Inner Harbour, and was a brownfield site used by light industry for more than a century. Cleanup cost estimates were up to $12 million, from spilled petrochemicals, toxic heavy metal and the site's landfill (garbage and hazardous factory materials).The project's first and second phases, completed by 2011, have achieved globally significant ratings for sustainability.Dockside Green has a centralized biomass gasification plant that converts waste wood into a heating gas for hot water and heat, with peak period support from natural gas boilers. Biomass generation makes Dockside carbon neutral in greenhouse gas production, with some energy sales to surrounding communities. The development treats its sewage, using treated water for its toilets, irrigation, creeks and ponds system. High-efficiency shower heads, faucets, urinals, dishwashers and clothes-washing machines are standard. Each Dockside accommodation can meter its own cold and hot water, space heating and electricity. Internet connection allows residents remote heating control when they are away. Dockside Green has a car sharing program, a planned dock for the harbour ferries, bicycle racks and showers for people commuting to the development’s commercial areas. Bike access is linked into the region's Galloping Goose regional cycling trail. Dockside Green is committed to using the "LEED for Neighborhood Development", similar to the LEED environmental rating system. Overall design aligns with the principles of New Urbanism, favouring mid-to-high density neighborhoods, a focus on community and a walkable range for most of its residents' daily needs. As a genuinely "mixed use" community Dockside hopes for a mix of suites, a thriving retail and office culture and residents of varying ages, ethnicity and socio-economic levels. The development's team has worked with the municipality of Victoria on a Housing Affordability Strategy to create "affordable housing" (or families in the $30,000 to $60,000 income range). Dockside Green stands on land originally home to the First Nations Songhees people. Developers have included them in on-site celebrations and by including First Nations art and history throughout the site. Dockside has also supported local and Canadian business wherever possible: innovative technology companies involved from British Columbia companies include Nexterra (the biomass gasification plant) and Sol-Air Systems (ultraviolet air decontamination for the sewage facility), and the Canadian company Zenon (sewage treatment process). On October 15, 2017 it was announced that Bosa Development is buying the Dockside Green development from Vancity. The sale for the mixed-use residential and commercial real estate development closes on Dec. 15. Bosa Development will continue to build the project to Dockside’s LEED-ND (leadership in energy and environmental design – neighbourhood development) standards.

Tilikum (boat)
Tilikum (boat)

Tilikum was a 38-foot (12 m) dugout canoe that was used in an effort to circumnavigate the globe starting in 1901. The boat was a "Nootkan" (Nuu-chah-nulth) canoe which was already old when she was obtained by captain John Voss in April 1901. The boat was built in the early 19th century as a dugout canoe made from a large red cedar log. Tilikum was purchased for $80 in silver from a native woman (Voss describes her as a "siwash") in a transference ceremony allegedly sealed by a bottle of rye whiskey - the name Tilikum means "friend" in Chinook jargon. Apparently, John Voss and his companion in this venture, Norman Luxton, were inspired by the voyage of Joshua Slocum, who sailed the 37-foot (11 m) sloop Spray around the world a few years earlier and wrote a best selling book about his adventures. The boat was refitted - reinforced, covered and rigged with sail, 230 square feet (21 m2) in total, and readied for her voyage at a shipyard in Spotlight Cove on Galiano Island BC. Tilikum was then sailed to Oak Bay harbour, then departing from there for the Cook Islands on May 20, 1901, captained by Voss and mated by Luxton. After 10,000 miles (about 16000 km) and five months on the Pacific Ocean, Tilikum struck a reef and Luxton was thrown from the boat. His whole body was badly cut by coral. The boat limped into harbour at Penrhyn Island in the Cook Islands on 2 September 1901, and Luxton left the trip entirely in Suva, Fiji on 17 October 1901. Tilikum was crewed by 10 more men between that time and when she finally pulled into harbour on the Thames in London, England in September, 1904. On 25 October 1901, after leaving Suva, the mate, Louis Begent, the binnacle, and the compass were lost in 'large breaking seas'. Voss was now alone without a compass, 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from Sydney. Tilikum arrived in Melbourne on 13 March 1902 and was exhibited in full rig in Collins Street. She was moved to another vantage point at the Exhibition Buildings, but during loading onto a 'wagon', the hook broke and she was damaged, with splits appearing in five different places. Voss repaired her himself using thin steel ribs. She was then sailed on Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, and presented with a new set of sails by local yachtsmen, before travelling to Geelong to be returned to the sea. Voss was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London after lecturing in Britain about the voyage, but he never completed the process to officially become a fellow. Captain John Voss published his sailing memoir as The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss in 1913. Many years after the voyage, Norman Luxton wrote his own version of the journey with Voss in his Tilikum Journal. This manuscript was edited by his daughter Eleanor and was published after Luxton's death as Tilikum: Luxton's Pacific Crossing in 1971.Tilikum changed hands a number of times in London, losing her bowsprit and masts over time. In 1929, the Furness Shipping Line returned Tillikum to Victoria, British Columbia. She underwent restoration beginning in 1936 by the Thermopylae Club before she was moved into the Maritime Museum in 1965, where she remained until 2015. The Tilikum is currently on display at the Ogden Point cruise ship terminal in Victoria, B.C.