Montmorency Falls, Quebec

Image from wikimedia

Located a short distance from Quebec City, this 83 m waterfall is 30 m higher than Niagara. Parc de la Chute Montmorency is located on the Montmorency, a tributary of the St. Lawrence.

Tourist facilities at this site include a cable car, a suspension bridge, footpaths and stairs.

Athabasca Falls

Image of frozen falls from wikimedia

Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park is as interesting for its rock formations as it is for the waterfall itself. It lies a short distance off Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway.

The headwaters of the Athabasca River arise at the foot of the Columbia Icefields near the continental roof. This major Alberta river travels 1500 km across the province, draining into Lake Athabasca. The Peace River also flows into Lake Athabasca; as the waters of these two rivers mingle and flow into the lake, they form a huge wetland called the Peace-Athabasca Delta. From the enormous lake, the Athabasca waters flow north to eventually join the 1800 mile long Mackenzie and flow into the Arctic Ocean through another vast delta at Inuvik.

Hunlen Falls, Tweedsmuir Park

Image from hellobc

At 401 metres, this waterfall in Tweedsmuir Park in the Chilcotin country is the highest in BC, and the third highest in Canada.

Perhaps the reason this astonishing waterfall is not very well known is its remote location, deep in the back country.

One way to see the falls is by taking a 20 minute float plane ride from Nimpo Lake. It's also possible to land on Turner Lake. From there, the trail to the lookout is only a kilometer long. Turner Lake is part of a popular back country canoe circuit. But be careful! You're in Bear Country.

Small waterfall in the Callaghan Valley

This waterfall is located up in the back country of the Callaghan Valley a short distance south of Whistler.

I photographed it on a spring Bear tour in the month of May, when the bears were foraging on the spring growth and the creek was full of snowmelt.

And yes, that is a skiff of snow on the ledge of the viewing platform.

 

Shannon Falls

I
The world is full of wonderful waterfalls, and many of these are located here in British Columbia.

A couple of hours north on the Sea-to-Sky, Highway 99 to Whistler, Shannon Falls cascades into the forest. The third largest falls in BC, it drops 335 metres from Mounts Habrich and Sky Pilot into the lovely Shannon Falls Provincial Park.

The park has trails that go into an adjacent park. Stawamus Chief Provincial Park features the Chief, a huge cliff face of international interest to climbers, and offers a view over Howe Sound and the town of Squamish.

Before or after picknicking at the foot of Shannon Falls, the intrepid hiker or sightseer can ride the Chief Gondola.

Image from jagged pixel

Non-native bird species

The other day I was walking in Bear Creek Park and saw this pink feather on the trail.

I've read enough detective stories to know what it suggests.

A feather of this brilliant hue is not from a native bird species; therefore, a strange and exotic bird passed this way.

Either that, or someone wearing a boa was taking a stroll in the autumn park. Any detective worth her salt can see that.

Blogging as part of a writing life

Image from adaddyblog.com

Five years ago today I created my first blog post, which happened to be a poem. This blogging venture began with a Brazilian friend, Silvia Pandini, who did a guest post on Dec 17. We promised one another, "I'll start blogging if you will." By the end of the year, I'd logged ten posts and was enjoying myself. Silvia is still blogging too, in Portuguese.

The second year, I realized this short form writing was habit-forming. I kept getting sudden ideas for posts, and that year I posted about every two days.

In 2011 I entered the year-long Writer's Studio at SFU and decided it was time to step up and take my writing vocation more seriously. So I set myself a task of posting on a daily basis. To make this feasible, I often wrote several related posts at a time, and scheduled them to come up daily.

Wondered when I would run out of ideas, but I needn't have worried. As one series wound down, another suggested itself. More and more, I was taking pictures specifically to illustrate upcoming posts. By the end of the year, I'd logged 371 posts, more than the 365 I'd promised myself.

After taking a lot of time off teaching to do the Studio, I had to work full-time again, so I decided to let myself off the hook and go back to a couple of posts a week. But ideas kept coming and I finished that year with 228 posts.

Last year, I was only 19 days short of a post-a-day tally. This year, I retired from my teaching work in the spring and threw myself into finishing my novel. Still blogging, though, and on track for a similar tally. I've thought about quitting, but somehow, I keep on. Through this daily discipline, it' been useful and illuminating to discover favourite topics areas. The top three of the twelve headings under which I classify my posts are Books and Writers, Canadiana, and Cultures and Civilizations.

One more benefit: as I prepare another draft of my 120,000 word novel manuscript (Working title is The Habit of Secrecy), these simple, short and imperfect bits of non-fiction provide a fine counterpoint to the fiction task of keeping all those characters and story lines in my head.

It's good editing exercise too. As the pre-scheduled posts go up, I check for accuracy, brevity and visual appeal. But even if at some much later date I discover (or a reader does) some egregious error, I can go right back and fix it. Hallelujah! Recently I added a picture to a post done long ago.

Most popular posts to date:
Ammolite (2013) This simple post about a gemstone that has been officially adopted by the City of Lethbridge and the Province of Alberta has been read by an astonishing 4583 viewers. Go figure.
The top five posts also feature Chauvet Cave art, the Orient Express and Roses wild and tame, and a light bit of humour on the terminology of street signs, British and Canadian.

No idea what the above info tells me. Should I press on? Are my thoughts worth sharing? Am I learning? For now, I think I'll celebrate the five year effort by taking tomorrow off. Maybe. And then I may turn to waterfalls, or Canadian River Systems for inspiration.