PUFFER CAMO

PERFECT LIGHT

IGUANODONTIPUS

Iguanodontipus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint.. Dr. Lisa Buckley small avian tracks from Guy 

the birds evolved along side the dinosaurs 

robin to an emu in size

Along side the large therpod there are a number of smaller bird tracks

sauropod

Lime Creek at a Mine site blown up and never recovered

Dr. McCrae did a write up on a Large tridactyl track. The track was 86 mm

Photo: Footprints of large Cretaceous ornithopods: Iguanodontipus sp. from Bückeburg Formation (Berriasian-Valanginian) of the Münchehagen Dinopark, Germany (A); Caririchnium leonardii Lockley, 1987 from Dakota Group (Albian-Cenomanian) of Dinosaur Ridge, Colorado (B); Amblydactylus kortmeyeri Currie & Sarjeant, 1979, PMA P76.11.11, from Gething Formation (Aptian) of Peace River Canyon, Canada (C); Hadrosauropodus longstoni, TMP 87.76.6, from St. Mary River Formation (Maastrichtian) of St. Mary River Valley, Canada (D).

NIGHTFALL ON ISAAC LAKE

PEREGRINE SEARCHING THE SKIES

GRIZZLY!

HUNT MEMORIAL POTLATCH

SUMMER STROLL

BEAUTY IN NATURE

40 DEGREES OF LATITUDE

The Rocky Mountains, vast yet quietly humbling, define this part of the world. Vertically, they soar above 14,440 feet(4,401 m). Spanning 40 degrees of latitude, some 4,800 kilometres((2,980 mi), they run the length of North America from Liard Plain in BC's north to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The mountains you see north of the Liard river, into the Yukon, are often grouped in with the Rockies, but are actually part of the Mackenzie Mountain system. The river systems that gather and wind their way out of these mountains head in all directions.

Four individual raindrops falling on these high peaks could easily end up thousands of miles apart -- one flowing north to the Beaufort Sea, another reaching the the Gulf of Mexico, a third would be absorbed into Hudson Bay to the east and the last into the vast Pacific.

OKANAGAN ARC

The Okanagan Highlands is an area centred in the Interior of British Columbia, but the term is used in a slightly misleading fashion to describe an arc of Eocene lakebed sites that extend from Smithers in the north, down to the fossil site of Republic Washington.

The grouping includes the fossil sites of Driftwood Canyon, Quilchena, Allenby, Tranquille, McAbee, Princeton and Republic. These fossil sites range in time from Early to Middle Eocene, and the fossil they contain give us a snapshot of what was happening in this part of the world because of the varied plant fossils they contain.

FOSSIL FIELD TRIP TO HORNBY ISLAND

PALEONTOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

PADDLING PRISTINE WATERS

MARRAKESH مراكش

CATACLYSMIC FORCE: THE BUILDING OF BC

Waterfront Property fetches a high price today, even in this economy. Investing early is clearly the way to go. We've all heard tales of folk who bought up acreage in the early days for pennies and much to their delight, the bit of land they chose is now worth millions.

How early is early is a matter of perspective. Some 270 million plus years ago, had one wanted to buy waterfront property in what is now British Columbia, you’d be looking somewhere between Prince George and the Alberta border. The rest of the province had yet to arrive but would be made up of over twenty major terranes from around the Pacific.

The rock that would eventually become the Cariboo Mountains and form the lakes and valleys of Bowron was far out in the Pacific Ocean, down near the equator. With tectonic shifting, these rocks drifted north-eastward, riding their continental plate, until they collided with and joined the Cordillera in the Pacific Northwest and helped to shape British Columbia.

Continued pressure and volcanic activity pushed and shoved, sculpting the tremendous slopes of the Cariboo Range we see today. Repeated bouts of glaciation during the Pleistocene carved the valleys and mountainside into the slightly smoother finish we see today. Wish I'd been around to stake a claim, even a little bit earlier... land as far as the eye can see... open vistas... and all for a penny.

The image above was taken from a jet ranger helicopter on the way to the fossil exposures near Castle Peak. I've flown in many times to search for exquisite Hettangian ammonites. These extinct cephalopods, now find high in the rockies, lived in the open ocean while BC was still being formed.

HORNBY ISLAND PALEONTOLOGY

Hornby, one of the northern Gulf Islands on the west coast of British Columbia, draws me back year upon year. Both for its picture perfect sunny days, stormy seas and the island's own rugged beauty.

Hornby also has some of the best preserved fossil specimens of the Pacific Northwest. Many species of ammonites (mainly Pachydiscus), crabs, bivalves, sharks teeth, echinoids, wood and bone can be found in the Upper Cretaceous shales and concretions of the Lambert Formation. Interestingly, they are remarkably similar to the ones you find in the French and Tamil areas of Pondicherry, India, telling us a great deal about what was happening back in the Maastrichtian some 70-million years ago.

If you happen to find yourself in Pondicherry, be sure to take in the exceptional cuisine and fossils at Thriuvakkarai. Photo by Tina Beard, beautiful friend and artist, on a particularly lovely afternoon.

FOSSILS FROM THE PARIS BASIN

QUARTZITE KIND OF BLUE

Paddling in time to the wind, I soak up the view of Isaac Lake, a vast, deep green, ocean-like expanse that runs L-shape for nearly 38 kilometres. The strata I paddle past is primarily calcareous phyllite, limestone and quartzite, typical of the type locality for this group and considered upper Proterozoic, the time in our geologic history between the first algae and the first multicellular animals.

It is striking how much this scene fits exactly how you might picture pristine wilderness paddling in your mind’s eye. No power boats, no city hum, just pure silence, broken only by the sound of my paddle pulling through the water and the occasional burst of glee from one of the park’s many songbirds. Somewhere in the back of my head Miles Davis is working through Kind of Blue, in time to the wind and my slow, smooth strokes - perfect pairing for this lazy day.

EYE ON THE PRIZE: PACIFIC OCTOPUS