Your Country Needs You!

Just because I felt like it.

The endless river...

forever and ever...

On this day I will celebrate the beauty of this land, the many wonders that you will not find anywhere else, and the great people that call this place home.
The important thing really is the freedom available to act. The freedom to write hilariously biting commentary and not fear for your life is something many in this world do not have.

Happy Canada Day.

Well, my withdrawal into obscurity has finally proved unsatisfactory, so I'm back to say a few words. No guarantee I'll be posting regularly here on West Coast, as much as I appreciate my good friend Temujin and the platform he offers here . . . but just wanted to test the waters with an initial re-exploration into the blogging world. My focus now will be theological, although I dare say a comment or two every now and then on sports and music will likely enter the picture. Hope the West Coast faithfuls have been doing well!

Oh how awful:

A 23-year-old local man was struck and killed by a dump truck at the corner of Keith Ave. and Kenney St. at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 12. Police said the truck was carrying rip rap to Kerr St. at the time of the accident.

A friend of mine was flagging that road at the time of the accident. She said she waived the fully-loaded Moxy truck through and watched in horror as a cyclist drove through the opposing flaggers signal. He got caught underneath a front tire and was ran over (probably twice - by the front and rear tire, according to my friend). She said it appeared the cyclist was wearing an ipod, which would possibly explain why the cyclist didn't hear my friend screaming at the top of her lungs for him to get off the road. The driver of the truck had virtually no way of knowing where the cyclist was, and in my opinion probably didn't even know the cyclist was near him until it was too late. My friend said the truck driver came over to her and gave her a hug when he found out what had happened.

The poor guy was only 23 years old.

As promised, here are some pictures and video I took from around the Bulkley Valley today. These pictures are in order as the river flows.

First up, the Bulkley River (first) meets the Telkwa River (second) at the village of Telkwa. A couple of nights ago a friend and I walked onto the train bridge over the Telkwa River. You could here boulders smashing and rumbling their way down, and there were plenty of trees floating along as well.





Eddy Park in Telkwa is nearly flooded right out, and there is one area where the water has seeped onto the highway.





Next, are a couple of pics of the Bulkley as it funnels into the Moricetown Canyon. I've uploaded a 30 second video as well, to give you a real idea of just how much water is being forced below that bridge.








Further downstream the Bulkley flows under the Hagwilgit bridge in Hazelton. Notice the abundance of trees swirling around on the left hand side.




Here are a couple of pictures of the confluence of the Bulkley and Skeena rivers. The Skeena comes in from the far right... it's a little tough to see, but you get the idea. Water. Lots of it. The last two images are taken from the entrance to the K'san historical indian village. Typically it is not under water.






I know there isn't a lot of death and destruction here, but at least you can get an idea of why people who live near the river are so freaked. It has stopped raining, but the weather is very nice and it is quite warm out. I don't think the waters will be receding anytime soon.