Signs you’re in the right place

 

 

Peel Watershed Public Consultation Report: What We Heard

Out of the 10, 000 people in various communities in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, approximately 7, 500 voted or support the original Peel Watershed Planning Commission’s Final Recommendations for the region. It called for 80% of the 67, 000-square kilometres to be protected from any industrial development. While I am still in the process of reading the report, it seems like a real victory for the Peel and  regions similar to this.

These photos do not give the region justice. I hope to cycle down the highway sometime in the near future, it would take over a month to do 900kms of rough terrain and very remote accommodations in places like Tombstone Territorial Park and stops by the famous Snake River.

You can review the report here:

www.emr.gov.yk.ca/…/what_we_heard_peel_consultation_2012_20…

 

And for visuals of  the interior region go here:

 

http://www.yukonlandscapephotography.com/2011/06/protect-peel-river-watershed-from.html

pretty things while we wait for spring

I don’t want you here!

I don’t mean to be a selfish child about it! I have hiked the 18km return Grey Owl trail for over a decade. It is one of my favourite trails for accessibility in the park. The experience I had last weekend was by far the most exceptional! After federal government cutbacks left Riding Mountain under three season designation, the citizens of the region decided to take over the back-country trail grooming. The trail was alive with magic. While the crowds gather throughout the summer months and forget about the spirits that once convinced the Canadian government to mark this territory as a specially designated region; this experience made me remember about the mystery and majesty of solitary afternoons in nature without the crowds.

“These hours of solitude and meditation are the only ones in the day during which I am fully myself and for myself, without diversion, without obstacle, and during which I can truly claim to be what nature willed.”

“I have never been truly suited for civil society, where everything is annoyance, obligation, and duty, … my naturally independent temperament always made me incapable of the subjection necessary to anyone who wants to live among men.”

“Seeking refuge in mother nature, I sought in her arms to escape the attacks of her children. I have become solitary, or, as they say, unsociable and misanthropic, because to me the most desolate solitude seems preferable to the society of wicked men which is nourished only in betrayals and hatred.”

Quotes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Reveries of the Solitary Walker

White Snow and Red Poppies

Manito Ahbee International Pow Wow Competition

Thank-you to all the dancers with whom I shared my spirit with on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. From small children to the elders, your athleticism, endurance, precision and elegance left a lasting impression.

Young Bear winners of this year’s APCMA award for Best Traditional Pow Wow CD

 

My North

A place I would have rather been today:

The Fall Walks Series P.1

Fall is great time to explore the colours of Manitoba. A walk I often take on idle days leads me northbound on Tache Ave, through Whittier Park and along the St.Boniface trail; which I am proud to say I helped lay the foundations to during my formative years as a summer intern with Save Our Seine. My, how the river and landscape has changed.

An ode to Louis in agony.  A Manitoba legend I will never tire of, despite your overuse in popular culture. Thank-you Chester Brown for immortalizing your story in a great graphic novel. You represent the marriage of two cultures whose enculturation I wish to make formal one day.

A good weekend at Sage Garden Herbs