To the question: “Why did you GPS-doodle a musclebound thug in a fedora riding a grizzly bear wearing a pork pie hat and standing in a snow bank?”

98 kilometres (61 miles) of GPS silliness: “Muscle-bound thug in a fedora riding a grizzly bear wearing a pork pie hat and standing in a snowbank” by Victoria, BC’s GPS-doodler, Stephen Lund

“Because it’s there.”

Known broadly as ‘the three most famous words in mountaineering’, this was George Mallory’s reply to a New York Times reporter who, in 1924, asked Mallory why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. (Sadly, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine disappeared later that year during their attempt to complete the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain.)

Well, to anyone who wonders why I GPS-doodled a musclebound thug in a fedora riding a grizzly bear wearing a pork pie hat and standing in a snow bank, I offer precisely the same response: Because it’s there.

For as long as I’ve been planning GPS doodles, I’ve been aware of a hatted, gorilla-armed goon lurking vaguely in the southeast corner of Victoria’s map…but I just haven’t known what he was up to. This past weekend, I decided to figure it out. And here’s the answer!

Apart from one short line I had to fabricate (using my Garmin STOP/START ‘connect the dots’ technique) to draw the lower line of his forearm across the water, this goon and his grizzly live fully within the map of the city.

Note: I rotated the mapped image 90º CW for ease of viewing.

Also note: No hallucinogens were used in creating this GPS doodle.

See it on Strava *

* Note: The GPS points will render correctly only if you are logged in at Strava.com