Bull Canyon, 2015

On my second trip across the Chilcotin, 'way back in the 1970s, I stopped for the night at the campsite in Bull Canyon. And on every trip since, except that once when the whole area was on fire, I have dropped in, if only, as on this trip, to take a few photos, pump some water, listen to the river and the wind in the aspens.

First, a bit of scenery:

Blue sky, silty green water. This is the Chilcotin River, which drains the Chilcotin Plateau, flowing from Itcha Lake, near Bella Coola, to the Fraser River, near Gang Ranch.

Mixed vegetation; soft deciduous trees and shrubs by the river, evergreens on higher ground, thinning to scattered barren slopes, rock cliffs. (Note vertical wall in background.)

The Chilcotin Plateau is old volcano country, much of it covered by the Chilcotin Group, a volcanic field of overlapping vents, and further west, the Anahim Volcanic Belt, which reaches out to sea beyond Bella Coola. For millions of years, lava spread over the surface; later, glaciers scoured the top layer, exposing the old granite to erosion; now winter ice, freezing and thawing, crumbles the old faces, leaving a skirting of scree at the base. (My old house in Bella Coola was at the bottom of one of these scree slopes.)

Driving the road, we are treated to an ever-changing view of tall mountains, odd-shaped peaks, sheer rock faces, "painted" hills, crumbling granite, cones of scree. There are lava flows and hot springs; obsidian is found in some areas. Trees cling where they find cracks in the rock; mountain goats hop up and down impossible rock faces.

Rock formation, Bull Canyon. At full size, some white spots may or may not be mountain goats.

Crumbling hill, from near the river bank.

Zooming in to show the strata. 

Not all is towering rock: in between, we find fruitful river basins, and eroded, gently-sloping grasslands. But if you scratch the surface here, you'll find the granite bones not so far underneath.

Lone tree

Coming up: Bull Canyon greens.

"Good Planets", February 10th, 2007

What can I say without touching the earth with my hands?
Pablo Neruda (Ceremonial Songs, 1961)

Welcome to "Good Planets are Hard to Find" for February 10th!

The theme of this post is the second of the four "elements" that the ancients described: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. (My ordering, for convenience) And the first photo I received was of what I call "the bones of the earth". The earth as ballerina, pared to the bare essentials. So let's start there, with the basics.

The Bones

From Celeste Pinheiro, at Dzonoqua's Whistle, "a chunk of serpentine, a rock that comes from very, very deep in the earth." (Note: looking it up, I read that "serpentine in the rough has a silky feel to the touch...")










Bev, at Burning Silo, sent the next two, taken in the John Day Fossil Beds region of central Oregon. More can be found at her online photo gallery.This first one is on the Blue Basin trail.












And these are the Painted Hills, seen from the Leaf Hill trail.















BunnyGirl, of Diary of a (Slow) Triathlete sent a view of Cadillac Mountain, Acadia, Maine. She writes, "This mountain was carved out by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age. Note the cairn in the left foreground."











Dressing the Bones in Green

Patrick Belardo: from his recent trip to Costa Rica (see his blog, A Hawk Owl's Nest for a travelogue), a photo of the Arenal Volcano.













From Pam in Tucson, looking north across the drought-ridden desert towards Sabino Canyon near Tucson, Arizona.










Robin Andrea at Dharma Bums writes, "This photo was taken on one of our favorite trails. We loved the light in the trees, and the little dusting of snow."














Accessories: The All-Important Details

One of my own favourite walks, down at shoe-level. This was taken the week after that big windstorm that blew some 3000 trees down in Stanley Park. The Watershed was spared major damage, but broken branches covered much of the undergrowth. These mushrooms survived. Many didn't.






Dawn Bailey sends a photo of a young goose, taken at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, in Washington State.















Another of mine, in an urban setting. The bounty of a generous earth in back-yard gardens in Strathcona, Vancouver, BC.












Lights!

From Toby Boyce, at Sadie's Take on Delaware, Ohio, a photo of the sunrise over "Tar Heel Drive at the intersection of Locust Curve and across Locust Curve Park". (I love those names!)









And finally, from SBGypsy, trees silhouetted against a darkening blue sky.















Thanks, again, to all who sent photos. I've held a few over for next week, "Air" or the next, "Fire". (That will be the difficult one to show in photos, won't it? Some brainstorming is in order, methinks. I am eager to see what you all come up with. Such fun!)

You can e-mail your photos to me, susannah at dccnet dot com, or send them to the Blog Carnival, using the carnival submission form.

And, as far as I know, we still need someone to take the month of March. If you are able then, or at any other time, please e-mail Robin at newdharmabums at yahoo dot com .