The lost buoys of Grand Manan

Hiking the Red Trail along GrandManan'swestern cliffs offers more than 40 kilometres of secluded forest, ocean vistas, and more than its fair share of fog.

But for years it's also brought into view an island oddity.

In a remote clearing on thesouthwestportion of the trail, there are hundreds of brightlycolouredfishingbuoys hanging from dozens of trees.

The area is only accessible by foot or all-terrain vehicle.

Grand Manan's lost buoy graveyard

6 years ago

Duration 0:37

Deep in the woods of Grand Manan there's a spectacle that catches hikers by surprise.

Although there is a small cabin nearby, there is no placard or on-site explanation as to why there are nearly1,000 buoys of all shapes and sizes sitting in trees.

"How did they get there?I have no idea," said GregPidduckof the Grand Manan Tourism Association."I know very little about them.

"I think here on the island there are so many untold stories."

Pidducksaidhe's aware of the spectacle and has heard about it fromsurprisedhikers who have trekked the trail, which is more than a century old.

Those who have been maintaining the trail were also at a loss as to the creator of the buoy display in the trees.

"I do not know," said Bob Stone, who has beenmaintainingthe trail for more than 20 years. "But I can conjecture."

"Whoeverowned the camp wanted to do something different."

Stone writes and publishes a guide to the ancient trail,Heritage trails and footpaths on Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada.

Now initsninth edition, the guideinstructshikers to keep on thelookoutfor "a tree with brightlycolouredbuoys," but Stone said that inthe two decades of working the trails he's never met anyone who has claimed responsibility for the collection.

But since the guide's latestpublication in 2012, the installation has grown from thedescribedsingle tree to several.

Long lines of the buoysare nowstrung from different trees in the clearing. Some buoys arelargerthanrefrigerators, while others arethe size of a loaf of bread. Each one is marked with a registration number and the name of the fishing operator it belongs to.

BothPidduckand Stonesaid it'slikely too remote to bean art installation of some kind.

Mystery solved

Itturns out the island oddity has been years in the making.

By checkingpropertyrecords,CBC News was able to track down the landowner where the buoys are perched.

"Just for something to do," VernonBleumortiersaid to explain his creation. "I put a few up and I said 'Well, that looks crazy. I think I'll keep doing it.'"

The former fisherman owns the nearby cabin and said that whenever buoys washed up onshore, or he came across lost buoys whilefishing, he'd bring them to his camp, grab his ladder and string them up in the forest.

He has lost count of how many are in his wilderness collection and can't recall when exactlyhe started putting buoys in trees.

"I would say 10 years probably," saidBleumortier, now the second mate and quartermaster of the Grand MananAdventure ferry.

"I usually just take my ladder and climb up the tree as far as I can go. And I put that rope up with my ladder and my four-wheeler. I just go up my tallextensionladder and climb up in the trees."

Bleumortier, alifelongisland resident, said he never gets tired of the reaction from hikers who stop to marvel at the unexpected site. The Red Trail relies on agreements from local landowners to allow hikers to cross.Bleumortiersaid he enjoys talking with those whopass by and some even set up campunderneaththe buoys.

"I don't mind that one bit," Bleumortiersaid. "They tent under thebuoys and they think it's cool."

Bleumortiersaidhe only takes issue with campfires, because of how inaccessible the remote area isto emergency vehicles.