The
Garden of Annie
With a fast trigger finger and a green thumb, Cougar Annie tamed a patch of Canada’s westernmost wilds
amidst the paddler’s paradise north of Tofino. by Ryan Stuart
photos by Josie Boulding
Standing the test of time and West Coast weather: Flowers bloom amidst the cedar-shingled cabins of Annie’s day.
feats beyond human. Take the tales of Cougar Annie, who is rumoured to have shot a cougar one-handed, dealt with more than one husband by force, withstood the shelling from a Japanese subma- rine and cultivated a garden of exotic plants amidst the wild coastal rainforest. Tall tales indeed, except these stories are true. Cougar Lady really did earn her name from her ability to dispatch meddling big cats and black bears and she made a life and a horticultural career for herself far from civilization in an environment where it rains almost every day from October until April.
O
ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 27
n Vancouver Island’s West Coast, stories grow as fast and tall as the fat red cedars and amazon Douglas firs they’re told under. The characters grow larger than life and their
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