Burned-out car on Okanagan trail transformed from 'eyesore' to sight to behold

Trash along the popular Fur Brigade Trail between Peachland and Summerland in B.C.'s Interior is nothing new.

And, until Thanksgiving weekend, an abandoned car, apparently stolen, vandalized and burned-out, was just another piece of trash desecrating the hiking trail.

That was the day Martyne Boutot and some friends came up with a clever way of dealing with the problem: they turned the car into a "Fur Brigade guestbook." 

They painted it, left some marker pens and invited hikers to leave messages on the vehicle.

"This way, it looks a little bit finer," Boutot told Radio West host Sarah Penton. "It's quite fun, actually… It's becoming a community project."

Passers-by have been leaving positive messages on the car over the last few weeks as they walk past what Boutot once described as an "eyesore."

She feared that she and her friends would have to keep coming back to spray over inappropriate messages, but so far, nothing of that nature.

"It's overwhelming, but in a good way," she said.

District plans removal

The Central Okanagan Regional District says it is aware of the rubbish car — which has been on the trail for several years — and plans to remove it.

Cynthia Coates, the district's waste reduction facilitator, says the removal has been on the to-do list for some time but its location on a hiking trail with numerous tight switchbacks makes that a difficult chore.

"It's tricky, it's narrow," Coates said of the trail. "[The car] got there, but it's a whole different ballgame getting a tow truck up there."

It's not known how the car landed on the trail in the first place.

Boutot said she's not torn up over the possibility of the car being removed, even if it has become something of a landmark on the trail.

"Spray paint and permanent markers aren't really art, but it's fun," she said. "It's just a temporary measure until they can take the car out of there."

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With files from CBC Radio One's Radio West