Reptiles at Risk

West Coast at last!!

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on August 28, 2008 at 7:53 PM

So we've been on the road now for 7 and a half weeks. We have now hit the furthest point west that we will present programs. We now get to talk about Sharp-tailed snakes. This species is endangered and only found in a couple of places on the BC islands. In fact there have only been a handful of sightings of this small snake. They live in Garry Oak ecosystems which have been wiped out from 95% of their former range, along with of course all the species that depend on them.

Right now we're waiting outside the Pender Island Library where we will soon do our last show on our western route (we'll be doing more shows on our way home when we leave the islands after a week off here). I thought since we've now passed all the way across the country from Ontario to the Pacific ocean I'd take the time to share my amazement of the vastness of this country and the great variation in landscapes that it has to offer.

For most of the trip we have stayed off the Trans-Canada highway and away from the more touristy areas. Instead we've spent the majority of our time along Canada's southern border where more of our reptile species are found. It's been a great way to see the country, much better than flying or even driving straight across.

We started out in the familiar rocky Canadian shield of Ontario and part of Manitoba. We then passed into the prairie landscapes of western Manitoba, Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta. The prairies are certainly not nearly as flat as people say they are (though one prairie inhabitant did tell us that along the trans-Canada it is as flat as they say). We passed along the southern border through beautiful badlands where the geography is all negative. You drive along and suddenly the landscape drops before you into really neat rolling hills or strange hoo-doos.

After the prairies came the mountains which have been really beautiful. It has sometimes been a struggle to convince our van and trailer to go up some of the steep roads. It's also been interesting going down as well with all the brake problems we've had, though fortunately none of our brake problems has coincided with mountain descents. And finally we've come to the west coast. We spent a great morning a couple of days ago exploring in tide pools on the coast. We found hermit crabs, mussels, little fish, cool invertebrates, millions of snails and of course lots of neat washed up kelp, driftwood, shells and stones. In fact I think there's a small pile of stones and shells in my pocket right now.

We dropped James off at the airport a few days ago and two days later we dropped off Sara. Both had to head back to Ontario for school while Jeff and I drive the van and trailer back to Ontario. We have about another 4 weeks before we'll be home as we won't be heading straight back. We'll be taking a week off our here to enjoy the west coast and also doing a group of shows in some Saskatchewan schools as well as some other shows on our route back through and in Northern Ontario. For the drive home we'll certainly miss James' antics and Sara's giggles and of course Sean's great photography and Lenny's hypothetical questions (which fueled discussions which helped us all stay awake while driving). It'll be a whole lot quieter on the drive home, though I'm still looking forward to seeing some of the places we've passed through again, plus some new places, and of course, spending more time looking for herps.

Well, I'm off to do our last show before I get to be a tourist for a week!
That's it for now,
- Heather