Trail Blogger

Me in Yoho Nat'l Park, B.C. Twin Falls Trail

There is nothing more refreshing than that sweet almost pungent fragrance of alpine tundra from my sleeping bag on a 5 day trip on the Skyline Trail in Jasper Alberta. The sound of my SVEA stove erupts to welcome us to the first coffee steam breaking the crisp morning air.

or... where oh where are you Tom McMillan?

I've been pouring over topographic maps, other through-hikers journals for this backpacking trip I'm planning for this fall. This might as well be the introduction and in part my MO for considering this project. The contest just re awakened why I studied biology at University of Calgary and Concordia in the first place. Those two summers I spent in Jasper in the early seventies became so rich in imagery to me, I remember the pained feeling I had when I could smell the heavy presence of boreal forest as our train left the prairie on my return  to Montreal the first summer. The east is so different. It didn't take long for my pining for Jasper to leave though in spite of the wicked crush I had on Charlotte.As spectacular to the west as those alpine meadows are, the mountain vistas, the pungent fragrances of alpine tundra, our eastern forests have an incredible richness in bio-diversity that the west just doesn't have. The myriad of flowering plants, hardwood trees, conifers, each to season each to habitat. Romantic sounding non-vascular plants including mosses and liverworts such as marchantia, lower vascular plants the selaginella's and the ferns as their names roll off your mind's tongue. They all belong to this wonderful zone we live in called the Great Lake St. Lawerence Forest Region.So, these thoughts and notes become the prelude to my trip. 

La Mauricie National Park: Great Blue Heron

It's been a long time since I read up on happenings inside Parks Canada. First they cut out the Warden service living in and patrolling the back country, now they've actually reduced the actual number of wardens all out, to a trickle. Therefore there is little to no protection against poaching around the borders of the parks. Keeping in mind, confiscation of poacher's possessions is the only power they have, and poachers are so wealthy, they just consider it the 'cost of admissionAs well... yearly pass to any Parks Canada territory is over 100.00 per person, including any use for educational purpose. This puts access to any NPS park way out of reach of the average Canadian. Including single parent families. This defeats the purpose of Parks Canada's third mandate, educational purposes of the Canadian public.finally.....The high cost of 'admission' has put the squeeze on back country use. Fewer and fewer wilderness educational experiences are enjoyed by those wanting boots-on-the ground learning. This defeats the purpose of Parks Canada's third mandate, education to the Canadian public at large. Education is the corollary to the other 2 mandates, to preserve ecological integrity, and to preserve ecological integrity for future generations.