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Entry #29 – City of Stairs
One thing that I was not expecting about Edmonton is the amount of large wooden staircases you can find dotted around the North Saskatchewan River Valley. There are 8 well-known staircases that usually are apart of a trail of some kind though I am sure there are more. Somewhere in between my 2nd and 4th…
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Entry #28 – Foothills County Under The Half-Moon
I’d made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t drive at night in places outside of city centers. It was made after a stressful drive back from Sudbury to Grundy Lake when a black bear darted across the highway where I realized that my high beams don’t work, and was reminded that I still hadn’t…
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Entry #27 – The Birds and The Trees
On our way back from our fieldwork in Regina, we were invited to stop in to the little town of Indian Head – 45 minutes outside of Regina with a population just under 2,000. Nancy, my boss, has a colleague who was responsible for inviting Nancy and her research to the collaboration project between Living…
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Entry #26 – Land of The Living Skies
Much like how I took to mixology and card games in the Arctic as was the culture, so it’s no surprise I have taken to country music (something I never thought I’d say) during my time in the Great Plains. Swift Current – home to the Canadian country singer Colter Wall that I have really…
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Entry #25 – Putting The Hat on the Rack [Goodbye, Medicine Hat]
Saturday was my last day in the Suffield NWA, and tomorrow I say goodbye to Medicine Hat. Ironically, it took till my last few days to finally explore the heart of the city and even visit the visitors centre to pick up a commemorative sticker of the Saamis Tepee – the World’s Largest Tepee, that…
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Entry #24 – Little Farms on the Prairie
“We don’t even know what to do with so much moisture,” John, one of the farmers we were meeting with, commented as he gestured to the fields of verdant green surrounding us. Compared to the last half a decade of prolonged drought, having rain every other day in the heart of Canadian cattle country had…
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Entry #23 – Prairie Wildlife
I glanced down at my GPS hooked to the hip belt of my pack. 35H should be right around here…I thought to myself. It was a nest that I had found a week prior with 3 little lark eggs shaded by a canopy of dry grass. Unfortunately for me, the nest was also built of…
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Entry #22 – Mist Netting
Fieldwork in Suffield has consisted of main two facets: Mist nets are made out of an incredibly fine net material and are complete and utter pains to set up. The net mesh will get caught on literally everything and tangle like no ones business. We set up and take these downs at least 6-8 times…
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Entry #21 – Craters and Cow Bones
The morning of Friday May 10th was a brisk 9°C. The sunrise was not until 5:42am, however, we aimed to be on base for well before that, so we all piled into the truck at 5:00am. The prairie stretched on for miles as we drove past on desolate roads passing idyllic farmsteads and massive industrial…
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Entry #20 – To The West
SUNDAY – TYSON LAKE, ON -> MARATHON, ON [774km] It seems to be a trend that on the mornings I embark on new adventures, the weather is foggy. Pulling out of the Tyson Lake Marina and beginning down the road, honking, and waving at my grandma as I drove past, the road stretched into the…
