On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BeautifulPlumage
In the summer of 2023, Danish artist Thomas Dambo installed six of his recycled-material trolls in the Pacific NW: five around the Puget Sound and one in Portland, OR. He has installed 120 of these all over the world in the past 10 years. More about NW Trolls: Way of the Bird King at this link https://www.nwtrolls.org/
A good friend’s daughter and her husband planned a troll hunting trip on the last day of summer this year. The weather was sunny and perfect for our day-long adventure. Apologies for the crappy cell phone pictures.
We met up around 8:30 am at the Issaquah Community Center for the short walk on a paved trail to find our first Troll, Jakob Two Tree. We were able to walk around and under this troll. Note the woven bracelet visible on the right wrist.
Jakob has a braided cedar bark bracelet, necklace, and hair tie gifted by Ginger de los Angeles from the Snoqualmie Tribe. This closeup shows the treehouse necklace he’s wearing.
After a quick stop to pick up donuts and coffee we headed into Seattle. Frankie Feetsplinters is stationed outside of the Nordic Museum in Ballard. This pic has a random small child to emphasize the size. Plenty of kids were at each site.
This pic shows the back detail. I like how Frankie is crushing the black box underfoot. This site is on a main road and just off the sidewalk, so very accessible.
We headed south to Lincoln Park in West Seattle for Bruun Idun. She’s near the beach and a bit of a walk either through woods or along the paved, beach-side walk. One of our party has mobility trouble and a wheelchair really helped (although the last bit was gravel).
This second pic of Bruun Idun shows the forested setting. This troll is blowing through a shell “calling the whales back to the Salish Sea” and has shell jewelry. Each site had groups of families but this was the busiest location.
The Fauntleroy Ferry dock to Vashon Island is located just south of Lincoln Park. After a 30 minute ferry ride we drove across Vashon Island to the Point Robertson Park. We ate our lunch at picnic tables by the water then visited Oscar the Bird King in a clearing off of the parking lot. This picture includes our hosts, Alan & Katrina, who took turns driving us around all day.
Oscar on his throne was the largest installation of the five we saw. I like his red beard and crown of tree houses visible in this closeup.
Our final troll of the day was a short ferry ride off Vashon Island to the Olympic Peninsula and on to Bainbridge Island via the bridge over Agate Passage. Pia the Peacekeeper is located just beyond the parking area at Sakai Park, seated cross-legged in a clearing.
It was now 4:30, so we drove back south to eat dinner in Gig Harbor then back to our cars via the south sound and Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The sixth troll is located in the Portland, Oregon area, so too far away for this trip. You can find out more about all of the trolls at the website above.
Baud
That’s how I picture BJ trolls.
Rachel Bakes
There’s another collection at the Botwnical Garden in Boothbay, Maine. So lovely. Thanks for sharing
WaterGirl
I loved this post and somehow thought it would be a good fit for today.
eclare
Fascinating.
Liminal Owl
Those trolls are marvelous! Now I’m trying to figure out how we can travel to the area to see them in person. Thanks very much, to Beautiful Plumage for the post and to WaterGirl for presenting it today in particular.
Winter Wren
Very cool! Good to know about the ones in Boothbay, will need to check them out next time we are up there.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
AL’s morning post isn’t even up yet, and we’re already being trolled. ;-)
MagdaInBlack
Those trolls are pretty damn cool. Thank you both.
HinTN
Fantastic, in all its meanings. Thanks for this, BeautifulPlumage and WaterGirl.
Meanwhile, Randall Bramblett had this nailed a long time ago:
Marleedog
These are awesome.
Powerfully good omens.
Dorothy A. Winsor
When scouts from another planet examine Earth and find these trolls all over, they will conclude we all share the same god and that god is ridiculous
stinger
So cool! I especially like the reversed images that look like the trolls have turned their heads to look right at you!
Also a great distraction from waiting for my polling place to open, in about 45 minutes. I can see it across the fields, a literal country half-mile away. The poll workers pulled in a half hour ago to set up. I sometimes walk to vote, but today I’m going to try to be the first voter, and it would be unsafe to walk in the dark misty morning.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Just an idea here …
One of those trolls, positioned as if ready to climb, would look great at/on the base of the Empire State Building.
Salty Sam
One of Danbo’s trolls guards the entrance to the ferry landing in Culebra, Puerto Rico.
https://www.thomasdambo.com/works/hector-el-protector-2
Named “Hector, El Protector”, I passed by him daily in my dinghy on my way into town. When Danbo created him, the local school kids made necklaces of seashells to adorn him.
Mr. Prosser
Thanks, I needed this this morning
beckya57
@WaterGirl: what’s embarrassing for me (and I agree, great choice for today) is this is in my backyard (I live about 10 minutes from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge), but I’ve never gone on a troll trip. I’ve heard about them a lot, but seeing these pictures is motivating me to finally do this next summer.
Trivia Man
I love big public art. Especially themes that can be spotted unexpectedly.
Years ago Chicago had a series of decorated cows placed all over town, many have now copied the idea and it is always fresh. Madison also has cows, every one unique. In Sturgeon Bay it is giant sturgeons.
Trivia Man
@Trivia Man: and also a bunch of giant bucky badgers for a different event
Gloria DryGarden
@Lacuna Synecdoche: it could also be a hilarious exhibit to have some of these on the White House grounds, or nearby…
Gloria DryGarden
Don’t we have some of these up in Breckinridge, just up over the divide? Someone of the Colorado contingent may have gone to see them..
frosty
We were in Seattle and the PNW this summer and I didn’t know about these. Now I have to go back!
cope
These trolls are so cool, thank you. I went looking to see if any are here in Colorado and found that there are a couple. The quoted text is from a Rocky Mountain PBS piece about the one that was placed near Cripple Creek and Victor up in Teller County.
Each of his trolls live in their own world: they’re 100,000 years old, nap for 100 years at a time, have children, are vegetarians and can communicate with plants, animals and some humans. However, Dambo said most of his trolls are afraid of humans.
“They become a link between the natural world and the humans,” Dambo said of the statues. “The trolls believe the reason humans are destroying the natural world is because they don’t understand the language of the natural world.”
Dambo said he places his trolls in off-the-beaten-path locations because he wants to keep the trolls “special,” and ensure those who find them do so with care.
“Us humans have this behavior where we want to own all the plants and animals and we don’t want to share it with anyone else,” Dambo said. “Because of this, the trolls think the humans are sick and they’re a little bit afraid of the humans, so they try to find some of the nicer humans and then change them.”
BeautifulPlumage
So glad to share these with everyone and find out about other installations. I hope my “trolling of BJ” gives everyone a smile. Thank you, WaterGirl, for keeping up this feature in the midst of * all this
StringOnAStick
@Salty Sam: Look at how big the conch shells are in that necklace!
KRK
These are so amazing! Thank you for sharing. Might have to do a road trip and check them out.
@Trivia Man: When I lived in Saint Paul in the very early 2000s they were doing summer series of different Peanuts characters. Only 5 feet tall, but so fun to see them popping up in different places all around the city.
StringOnAStick
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes there are some up by Breckenridge though they are quite a bit smaller. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen them so I don’t know their current status.
Dan B
We went with a friend from San Francisco to Snoqualmie Falls and after checking out the lunch menu at the lodge decided to go to Issaquah. We found a wonderful Thai restaurant on the main drag at the south end of downtown west of the troll then misread the map and finally found the correct location but not the trail. By the time we turned around several more times it was time to beat rush hour. 😔 It would be easy for us to get to Lincoln Park / West Seattle so there is hope!