Mount John Laurie Canada

Mount John Laurie is a mountain in the Canadian Rockies, officially named in 1961 and famous as Mount Laurie, or by the Nakoda name name Yamnuska (unofficial name), or simply Yamnuska which means (wall of stone), and it is located in the province of Alberta, Canada. The word Yamnuska" is perceived from the Stoney Nakoda word "Iyamnathka" that describes steep cliffs or "the flat faced mountain." Actually John John Lee Laurie, (1899-1959), was an educator and political activist and a founder of the Indian Association of Alberta.

The Mount Laurie is the most easterly mountain in the valley and features very steep, often vertical and overhanging south cliff 360 metres in height and almost two KM in width. The mountain's 1961 renaming came at the request of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Laurie, an educator and political activist, served as secretary of the Indian Association of Alberta from (1944-1956), encouraging the causes of Alberta native peoples. Mount Laurie is standing at about 2,240 meters above sea level, and is the first mountain on the north side of the Bow River valley (Bow Valley) as it exits the mountains for the foothills and prairie of Alberta. It is well situated close to Calgary; and it is a widespread "Great Scramble". It is also very famous for rock climbing destination, with more than hundreds routes of all difficulty levels spread out across its face.

Mount John Laurie is the result of the McConnell Thrust Mistake, which put the resistive, cliff forming Cambrian carbonate rock of the Eldon Formation on top of the much younger and weaker Cretaceous aged, clastic Belly River Formation. The error, which sits at the base of the cliff face, represents an age variance of around 450 million years. The access is to mount Laurie is at the Highway 1X and Highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail) intersection, travel east for two kilometers. Turn into the signed parking lot that says "Yamnuska”.

 

10 other mountain peaks closest to Mount John Laurie:

1.                Mount Yamnuska (2240 meters)                                    0.0 km

2.                Mount Fable (2702 meters)                                             7.6 km

3.                Heart Mountain (2135 meters)                                       9.2 km

4.                Grotto Mountain (2706 meters)                                     11.4 km

5.                Mount Sparrowhawk (3121 meters)                              11.5 km

6.                Mount Lady MacDonald (2605 meters)                       14.0 km

7.                Mount Baldy (2192 meters)                                             15.0 km

8.                Squaw's Tit (2514 meters)                                                15.4 km

9.                Mount Charles Stewart (2809 meters)                           15.5 km

10.              Middle Sister (2769 meters)                                             17.2 km

Toxic Algae Bloom on Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the 11th largest lake in the world, in terms of surface area. Lake Erie, aside from providing drinking water to the neighboring population, is a source for many waterborne commerce, navigation, and manufacturing. Outflow from Lake Erie spins the immense turbines at Niagara Falls providing hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. The intensive industrial development along the shores of the lake has been devastating the lake’s environment for decades with lot of issues like; overfishing, pollution and more recently fast algae blooms.

During the summer months, Lake Erie along with the rest of the five Great Lakes smothers under massive swaths of green algae, often spread over thousands of square kilometers in size. The algae flourish by feeding on excess nutrients in the form of phosphorous in the water. The phosphorus comes from sewage treatment plants and fertilizer used in farms that runoff along with rain water and enters into streams and rivers ultimately winding up in Lake Erie. Blue-green algae also prosper on light. Lake Erie, being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, particularly at its west end, is further susceptible to algae than its deeper cousins, which do not have the same penetration of sunlight. The algae float on the surface and proliferate rapidly, and when they die, they sink to the bottom of the lake, where they falloff and absorb the oxygen in the water creating dead zones where most aquatic animals cannot live. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed up on Erie’s shores during 2011 when the lake saw the biggest algae bloom in recorded history. The blue-green algae occupied Lake Erie covering as much as one/sixth of the surface, ranging from Toledo, Ohio to beyond Cleveland and along the Ontario shore. It stretched over 20 KM from the shores, and in the central basin it was observed at a depth of at least 60 feet.

Not all types of algae are destructive, but the bloom is primarily microcytic aeruginosa, algae that is toxic to mammals. Microcystis aeruginosa produces a liver toxin, microcystin, that commonly kills dogs swimming in infected water and causes skin irritation, respiratory difficulty and gastrointestinal distress in humans. However; algae blooms were common in the lake’s shallow western basin in the 1950’s and 60’s. Phosphorus from farms, sewage, and industry fertilized the waters so that massive algae blooms developed year after year. The blooms subsided a bit starting in the 1970,s when regulations and developments in agriculture and sewage treatment restricted the amount of phosphorus that reached the lake. But the problem has resurfaced in the recent years.Source: Amusing Planet

Baker Lake Canada

Baker Lake is located inland, at the mouth of the Thelon River, nearby to the geographic center of Canada. The lake is famous for its arts and craft community and it is 320 km inland from the west coast of the Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. Several distinguished studios and artist promoting crafts and arts i.e. Inuit Heritage Centre, Jessie Oonark Center and art galleries. Baker Lake has rich natural resources making significant impact on the economic development of local area, like development of Meadowbank gold deposit, has already created several local jobs, and more opportunities are increasing in the town at mine site approximately 70 kilometers from Baker Lake. The area community council vigorously looking training programs for their residents for the assortment of jobs and business. The Baker Lake area has seen main exploration projects in recent years, particularly with gold, uranium and other minerals. 

A number of major rivers, including Thelon, the Kazan, and the Dubawnt, flow into Baker Lake. You can explore the lake shores which tell a tale of early settlement and growth of a community mixing tradition with high technology. The lakefront is well lined up with several little sheds, used by inhabitants to store fishing gear, or winter equipment. On the hills above the houses, you will see a large snow fence installed to control drifting in the community itself. 

There's the arena and community center, the swimming pool, RCMP facilities, post office, schools and colleges and the Health Centre. There’s a road winds north via rolling country towards White Hills Lake. It's a lovely place to hike, and you may spot nesting loons, a peregrine falcon, or caribou. The area at the mouth of the Thelon River has always been an old-style gathering place for Inuit, for summer hunting and fishing. The numerous groups travelled up the river systems in the area to their winter hunting grounds. The Kazan River, in specific, was also very important as a travel route and for hunting caribou. Several local outfitters proposed trips to fish or see the sights of barren lands. The Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization are licensed to outfit sport hunts to visitors attracted in hunting barren ground caribou and muskoxen.