Where the Tawatinaw meets the mighty Athabasca River
We live on the west ridge of the Tawatinaw valley, about 20 minutes south of Athabasca. We were in town yesterday, so I took some pictures of the Athabasca River and thought I would share them along with pictures of the river when Ben Stewart visited us a few years ago. It will give you an idea how big this river is! Sadly, this river flows through the tar sands projects just north of Fort McMurray and is horribly polluted as a result. Yes, we only live a few hours away from the worst gaping sore Mother Earth has encountered. When I visited there, my heart ached!
Smile Ben! I love this man deeply.
Same location, only a little different now with 2 feet of snow covering the river.
Owl prints in the snow.
I decided to add this picture because it happened just outside our earthship door. Beautiful. So now that there is an owl around, we need to watch out for the puppies.
This is the location where the Tawatinaw River meets the mighty Athabasca. If you ever get a chance to visit the river, I recommend it highly. It is a powerful and beautiful river. Water is sacred and all of this needs to be protected. This river is being threatened over the years and needs to be protected.
Please be aware that our daily activities do have an impact and each individual can make a difference!
Reading this reminds me of my values and commitment to raising awareness about humanities addiction to fuel and the devastating impact that it has on nature. Great pictures, I'm inspired to come visit the Tawatinaw river and pay respects to this sacred land on my trip home to the West Coast in March... Keep on keepin' on @wwf!
If you want to see the Tawatinaw valley, head north on highway #2 towards Athabasca. Turn right at Nestow, a small little hamlet. The old highway 2 is a gravel and sand road that heads north from Nestow and takes you to Tawatinaw, Rochester, Perryvale, Meanook, Collington and then into Athasbasca. This old highway runs the bottom of the valley and is beautiful! It all should still be frozen in March, so you don't have to worry about spring run off issues in the valley!
Thank you for all the work that you are doing too! It is important to bring awareness to addictions. All addictions!
Fantastic! Supporting each other support our pacha mama
Your pictures took back to my first experience of snow. I have only experienced it once when we were off on a vacation to north of Pakistan. It was magical and pure. The silence of snow still echoes in my realm of memories. :) My mood has been elevated. Thankyou for sharing, Great pictures.
It is indeed a powerful experience to witness the silence that snow brings to our environment. It is calming and eerie at the same time. Not being able to hear a sound is an amazing experience. I am grateful that your mood was elevated as a result of the post. <3 Peace to you.
The river was beautiful before man interfered with work in the tar sands. I am not happy about the amount of pollution killing off our lands. I think every country does the same. If it is making money in some shape or form then they turn a blind eye to the destruction. I have lived in 3 countries in the last 20 years and the pollution is rampant in all of them.
The amount of pollution leaking into this river from the tar sands is probably more than what anybody is willing to admit. The tailings ponds north of Fort MacMurray are huge, toxic and dangerous. Yet few around here are willing to talk about it in fear of pissing off the corporate monster and its government side kick. People have been killed doing it. That also happens in other countries too. But people are sick and dying as a result. It must be stopped. But we need to change how we live to make that shift as we ourselves drive the demand for all of it! We are responsible!
It must be an old picture of you Rob as you are looking so young & dashing here :P
Water is indeed sacred and it should be protected at any cost not for ourselves but for the coming generations. Owls foot prints are really WONDERFUL <3
I am loving your new way of blogging Man <3 <3 <3
Actually, that picture was taken about 4 years ago. So I'm doing really well eh! Off grid living is not nearly as stressful as living in the city. People look younger when they live this way!
The river is indeed beautiful! I feel a great deal of power and authority when I visit it. It demands great respect.
What do you mean my 'new way of blogging'?
I'd like to read more about your earthship!
I actually have several posts on it already.
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@wwf/pineapples-earthships-and-northern-boreal-forest
https://steemit.com/ungrip/@wwf/dealing-with-extreme-cold-when-living-off-grid
https://steemit.com/ungrip/@wwf/our-earthship-build-2007-08-09
That should give you a good start. :)
Great! Thanks a bunch!
New way blogging means; Blogging about your life experiences through pictures as i have not seen that much pictures of you in your previous blogs. So i loved this idea that you are sharing your pics, other than this the wording is quite easy to comprehend ( i usually check dictionary for the tough vocabulary :P )
There is no doubt this is superb and pious, The river :) :) :)
Well, there should be lots of pictures coming as Carey and I start ramping up for spring. More pictures, less words as we will be busy soon! I'm glad you broke open your English dictionary! Bravo to you for doing the work to comprehend what I am talking about.
Thanks a lot for the support and the kind appreciation Rob, you are just love ;)
for me the river is very beautiful @wwf
It's a pity to know that a beautiful river like this can't be enjoyed by our grandchildren.We must stand against this civilian life that will destroy everything beautiful on the face of the earth.
thank you brother , @wwf
Well its nice friendship steeming as ever post by @wwf and also soo cold day with snow fall snapshot sharing picture.
Nicely and prefect story written.
All the best and stay blessed
thank you my friend. <3 Peace to you. I do appreciate you commenting on my posts and touching base with me. Keep up the great work!
Sir great thanks soo much for quick response and support me. Its my pleasure to your fellow and working on this platform under your kindness.
Stay blessed
It's nice to see you roaming around and enjoying the nature with your friend Sir.
And it is alarming that our natural assets and resources are devastating day by day, where the industrial revolution is making life easier but on the other side it is also harming and polluting our environment, sometimes it scares me that this industrial growth is taking us to the point where natural resources are getting extinct. 50% area of my town is captured by some industrial Giants and they have turned its agricultural area into a technological colony.
We have a lot of work to do. We are caught in a paradox. Our life style demands that these corporations provide us with the life style we want. But few are willing to give up the life style yet want to hold the corporations accountable for the devastation that they cause. The consumer DEMANDS are being met by the corporations and now we are caught in a catch-22 situation.
To resolve the paradox, we need to change our expectations of what our life style should look like, return to the land so that we can eliminate our demands of the corporations and shut them down, which would then save our environment. I don't believe they can do it any other way. Not without a huge revolution of technology!
Very well stated and totally second you, Sir. We have to change our lifestyle, expectations and demands. This mother earth is entrusted to us humans and we should pass it to next generation in it's healthy form.
Really beautiful pictures my friend @wwf
A large river is a source of energy that any country must exploit in its own interests and in the interest of its people. This is truly unfortunate.
We also have a large river in our country, but the state is not built on it. It is not exploited in anything.
I really liked your photo with your friend. I wish you more friendship and love.
I'm confused. Are you saying that we must exploit the river? I'm not sure why you would say that as it is counter to what I've been talking about. I also want to acknowledge that there is a language barrier here and I don't want so assume what you said.
Did you mean to protect it and not exploit it?
I never saw a frozen river in my life, thats cool. Loved the photos special the owl prints. We all must continue protect water, rivers, lakes, oceans. And its good to know you still in prety good shape as shown in photo.
Off grid living keeps people in shape! No gyms required! lol. The river is deceiving and one must be very careful. You see the snow mobile tracks on the river, but nobody dare walk out onto it as there is moving water under the ice. Many people have fallen through the ice and got swept down stream to never be found again. For it to be frozen solid would be a rare event.
I live 2km far from Beberibe city and 3km far from Morro Branco Beach. I walk everyday few times and I also have a mini gym at home. I have 57 years old and I still in good shape too.