Thursday Doors: It’s More Than A Tent

When is a tent more than just a tent?  When it’s a yurt.

While hiking on one of Toronto’s urban trails a few months ago, Helen and I discovered a yurt at the popular Evergreen Brick Works.  We were compelled to investigate – even though it was located in a cordoned off area – and found that it was being used simply for storage.

I found it rather curious at the time that such an interesting door would be installed on what is basically a tent, so I filed this away knowing I would want to revisit it again some day.

Well, that *some day* arrived a lot sooner than I expected.

While playing tourist at the zoo a few weeks ago, I was surprised to encounter another yurt.  What are the chances? Toronto is not exactly the place where I would expect to encounter these portable round tents originating from Central Asia.

While I’m aware of the existence of semi-permanent yurts built on wooden platforms in many North American parks, I’ve never seen any that came close to these beauties.

I learned that the yurt just might be the ultimate mobile home and among its many features, including a spacious interior, it can handle high winds and heavy snow loads.

There it was! … finally a potential explanation for finding a temporary storage yurt in the final days of winter in Toronto.

A peek inside the yurt on display at the Toronto Zoo.  I wonder if the guys would mind setting up one of these for me every night of the Bike Rally?  We could leave the spinning wheel behind though.

… but I still haven’t figured out why these two have such beautiful decorative doors.  Everything I’ve read suggests the typical yurt has plain doors and the decorative patterns are inside.  Could it be as simple as making it easier to find the door in bad weather? Maybe it’s a sign of welcome.

Either way, I thought these were perfect inclusions for this week’s Thursday Doors.

Hope you liked them too … and if you would like to see more interesting doors, visit Thursday Doors at Norm 2.0.