The End of 2011

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Douglas Smith

So 2012 has come and 2011 has ended! 2011 was a great year for me in the employment area.

My greatest achievement for 2011 was getting on at Parks Canada in the winter and working out of Halifax. My time here and throughout the summer has led me to meet some wonderful people and networked greatly. I was given the opportunity to travel to Prince Edward Island National Park and Kouhchibouguac National Park to help assist in teaching the plover camera systems to other people. This experience was great for me to learn more about the plover on a regional level. In the Fall I was able to attend a piping plover recovery team meeting. I was privileged to be able to listen to real scientists debate and discuss real issues related to the piping plover in the atlantic provinces. I am still employed with Parks Canada’s Species at Risk program in Halifax.

Athletically this year was not soo hot. I did some running in the winter up to the Pre-E2C. I did race this but not without the flu. My performance was less than stellar. I competed in some mountain bike races, but non long and gruelling. The most unique and interesting thing I was able to do in 2011 was the first ever mountain bike biathlon in Nova Scotia at Martock in the fall. We were taught in the morning on how to use a gun and how the biathlon works. In the Afternoon mountain bikers were able to race and shoot targets! This sport is interesting and I would like to compete more in the future but the costs of the guns is far too much for me. I’ll stick to regular mountain biking for now. Also on the athletic front is climbing. I began to climb at Dalhousie on the indoor wall semi regularly. This winter semester should prove to be less busy and therefor leave me with more time to climb!

Two trips stand out for me in 2011 for recreation. The first being Polletts Cove in Cape Breton. It was my first time exploring this area on foot and was a amazing experience. This trip led me to the most incredible camping site I’ve seen yet in Nova Scotia! We spent two nights at Polletts Cove under the stars with the horses and my Dalhousie enviro friends. The second trips that stands out was the Keji road trip to Fundy National Park. In attendance were my Keji co-workers Sarah and Chantal of Ontario. We travelled to PEI NP and Charlottetown, Hopewell Rocks, Moncton, and Alma. This was my first time in Fundy and won’t be my last. We had some wonderful hikes in the rain and also some great times at the Edgewater House in Alma where we stayed with Fundy park staff. Edgewater House is one of the houses in Alma owned by Parks Canada for the use of seasonal staff.

I was able to finish off 2011 in a yurt in the Keji Backcountry!

2011 was a great year! Thank you for sharing it with me!

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First River Paddle, and First Plunge

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Douglas Smith

So here is how the story goes,

Alison and I are paddling, and all of a sudden we round a corner and there is a tree across half of the river. The fast half. And there is no way were paddling out of its way and I attempt for land on the other side but we don’t react quick enough and into the tree trunk we go. The tree is more than a foot in circumference, and is horizontal on the surface of the water. The river is flowing under it like crazy. The bow hits it, the river pulls our canoe sideways to hug the tree. We have a keel btw. As soon as the canoe is lengthwise along the trunk, the canoe rolls, and instantly fills with water. Now most of the canoe is under the tree and about two feet of it is visible above water. We shimmy ourselves along some drift wood that is against the truck and is moving a bit more than I wish. Some branches I grab break. Eventually Alison reaches shore and climbs up, then I pull myself out behind her. And there is our boat. Stuck. Then a kayak hits it and mostly sinks. The kayak guy is holding on and I yank his boat out and he then scrambles over and I grab his hand and yank him out.

I see the others running from down river through a field towards us. I’m a bit shaken, and very wet. I don’t at all remember the temp of the water when going in. But the kayak fella claims it was freezing! The others see us all ok and out of the water so they start poking at the boat and pulling at it. Many minutes later it moves under deeper. I had rescued two paddles from the drift wood that were jammed. Then a boat pops out the other side and goes down river. I leap after it, plunging myself into the water. And soon some land sticking out into the water stops me and i keep holding the canoe and manage to pull it out.

Phew!

My camera, throw bag, and shoes were rescued by another boat right after the canoe rolled. We found the third paddle down river 30 minutes later along with my water bottle drifting along. My GPS and a flash light has never been seen since.

So wat did I do wrong?

Not foresee the tree? There were a lot of trees in the water. I should have started the corner tighter. I can easily paddle to the outside of the river to avoid an obstruction. But cant paddle to the inside of a corner. Due to the flow. Is this accurate?

Didn’t get somebody down river with my throw bag while people were poking at the jammed canoe. And when I jumped in after it. Yes, I knew the throw bag was recovered at this point. Did anyone besides myself know how to use it? Maybe not.

Paddle a river that was this flooded? I estimate by the grass in the water, that the water was three feet higher than normal.

No spare dry change of clothing. No dry sack with my stuff in it secured to the boat. Even though it was a short trip, shit can happen obviously.

Beautiful!

Other than that our paddle was incredibly beautiful. Paddled along cliffs, forests, fields, and cows for a couple hours. The Fall colours were in full vibrance and the river was flooded so no worrying about rocks. It was a stunningly beautiful paddle.

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Nova Scotia’s first MTB Biathlon

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Douglas Smith

Photo stolen ruthlessly from Ski Martock's Facebook page. Shot by Andy MacLean of Ski Martock


On Sunday I competed in Nova Scotia’s first ever Mountain Bike Biathlon. For those that don’t know, it’s shooting and mountain biking. Since it’s new here with regards to mountain biking, they offered a session before the race on how to shoot and let us use the club’s guns at Martock. This was the fist time I had ever shot a real gun. A 22 calibre. They showed me how to load it and hold it and all that fun stuff. By the afternoon I was a expert marksman. About to shoot a penny from 10,000 yards. Time to race. The organizers did not seem too experience in organizing races for mountain bikes. The used multiple courses for the various categories and the race was on pre existing trails for skiers. This is all fine, it was the first and it was going to be fun no matter what. We get a tour of the course so that everyone knows where they are supposed to go. Then the race begins a bit after that after we are given skin tight bibs with numbers on them.

I didn’t see many of the regular MTB race crew here. Most were skiers who had not raced MTB before so this was new to them. I had a feeling I was one of the faster people at this race for once. The starts were staggered by 30 seconds. Unlike a mountain bike race where the start is in mass, there are only so many guns and spots in the range to shoot, so we needed to be spread apart. I started in forth and passed all three guys within two kilometres. The first round of shooting was after a 3km loop. I missed 3 of the five targets. This shooting was done from the lying down position. Then I departed to start my second lap but missed the three 150m penalty laps I was supposed to do for missing 3 targets. Ops! I cam in for my second round of shooting. this time from a standing position where I hit 0 of 5 targets. Thanks wind and shaky arms. I did five penalty laps and proceeded to finish the race after my third 3km lap. It was a very short race. I was the first person to finish. After my penalty, I was found to be in second place. After waiting a looong time, there was a small awards thing, and I got to stand up from the mud onto a podium.

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Ride your Riding

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Douglas Smith

Today it rained all day. So far. So what does a person do on a rainy day? Go for a bike ride! Ride your Riding was a ride around Halifax with our favourite MP Megan Leslie. About 30 people showed up in the piss pouring rain at Africville to start the ride to the Market on Terminal Road by winding through residential streets all over the city. The traffic was minimal, and most cars seemed respectful of our presence. Not all were good, but most were. And the cyclist themselves were not the best city riders either. Some did not seem to know how to ride intersections safely and when to take your lane, when to block traffic from passing, and other things. The ride was extremely wet. My favorite part was riding through deep puddles on Purcell’s Cove Road. Some folks behind me got soaked by a bus that sent a wall of water their way. This group included our MP, Megan Leslie.

Overall a great day spent on a bicycle in the rain!

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No Impact Man

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Douglas Smith

http://noimpactproject.org/

No Impact Man is a documentary film about a family in New York City who decide to try an experiment for one year. They practiced a no carbon lifestyle in one of more difficult environments. One of the worlds biggest cities, NYC. The film explores the stages from deciding what to do and how to do it to the emotional hardship in the process. The family was a couple and a young girl still in diapers. In the end they discovered their life was enhanced and better off without stuff. Without a tv they had better quality family time. Without electricity they spent more time outdoors. Without processed food, they had explored the roots of real food and what it takes to produce it. They were healthier, happier and more rich (cite the website above) because of their life changes.

What would it take for me to do that? How could I change my life for the better? I’m not a smoker, but could it be compared to smoking? Dropping the consumerism lifestyle, the tv, make frequent trips to the market or starve, and travel only by foot or bicycle? Right now my life is busy. Very very busy. I’m a full time student with a part time job. I’m involved with many things as a volunteer at school and out in the community. Search and Rescue, Intramural, NS Road Safety Youth Committee, Biology Society at Dal, and my cycling and exercising squeezed in everywhere. My diet has gotten worse in my life. Stress is up, and time crunched to nothing, all on top of a sour living situation. Maybe a change is just what is needed. Can I bite the bullet?

I think I can if I can fix my living situation and start to be surrounded by positive people who can contribute and encourage. Right now I’m a poser. I am going to make it a goal to seriously attempt to do my part for this world.

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Use Your New TV Properly

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Douglas Smith

So for eons we have been watching tv. I remember wooded framed tvs on the ground, then black plastic ones. These tvs have been around for a long time and all the worlds content was made for them. The content was in a 4:3 ratio. Meaning that that width was 4 units to the height of 3 units. Theatres used to use a different ratio. They used 16:9. A width of 16 units by a height of 9 units. When the movie was later made for video release so people at home could watch it on their own 4:3 tvs the sides were cut off and the movie filled the entire screen.

Today all you can buy for tvs in the a/v store are wide screen tvs at approximately 16:10 ratio. So whats the problem with this? All of our content we get at the video store and through our cable company is still at 4:3 ratio. Unless you have blue ray or some fancy premium HD service which is available in a select few channels (more all the time). Thats all ok. When you’re not watching HD content using the full screen your remote has a button to make it display the content in the centre tv, and show black on the sides. Thats great! There is even a setting on some tv’s so the tv makes the adjustment on it’s own! Perfect! The problem is the people. Every time I see people watching the tv they have 4:3 content horrendously stretched out to to fit their tv! Everything on the screen is now much wider and looks ugly as shit. People all look fat, cars look low and wide, balls look oval, and so on. This is a massive distraction for me and I can’t stand it. Why the hell can’t people just watch the content as it was intended to be watched?

Now I have several friends who may jump up and say I’m complaining about them and how they watch their own tv. Just relax, It’s not about you, it’s about society as a whole. Almost everyone does this and I do not mean to target my roommates specifically although they are guilty, and have a tv that is capable of automatically choosing the proper viewing ratio. Just remember, the cars are not shaped like pancakes.

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Halifax Road Users

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Douglas Smith
Point Pleasant Park by Douglas M Smith
Point Pleasant Park, a photo by Douglas M Smith on Flickr.

This occurs a lot to me. The road has rules. If everyone follows the rules the city would be safe and smooth. I come up to a stop sign on my bicycle and wait for traffic to clear so I can cross and continue to the other side. But wait, a car stops in the middle of the road. Are they waiting for me to cross? I’m not a pedestrian at the crosswalk! I’m a road user who does NOT have the right of way. Don’t stop for me! You have the right of way and you should use it! (you, being the car). You’re not being nice by letting me in. You’re being annoying and obstructing traffic. You’re not allowing the road to function as the rules do.

But then what is even worse, are the fucking bicyclists who don’t follow the rules! I’m a bicyclists. I don’t pass cars when it’s unsafe. I stop at red lights and stop signs an look. I give the proper right-a-way to other road users at 4-way stops. I use my signals and have lights and reflectors (if I get hit, the hitter is going to have to find a damn good excuse for not seeing me). I don’t ride on the sidewalk. Car drivers are angry, frustrated, ignorant, safety hazards. Some of these descriptions could be eliminated by cyclists following the rules of the road. Then we could have their support for cycling infrastructure, because drivers would think we would use it properly and not waste the cities money. The biggest complain I get from drivers who do not cycle are about the lack of cyclists following the rules. And I have no argument against it. I see it all the time. Cyclists bombing through red lights, down one way streets the wrong way and so on.

I have a dream that all road uses follow the rules of the road so we can all have better respect for each other. And I know I’m pretty close to perfect (except when I’m on a multi-purpose trail that crosses the road. I ride across. It’s a multi-purpose trail, why the hell not?).

Next up, my wide screen tv rant!

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Break time at end of pockwalk lake. 35.7km in.

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Douglas Smith

Went for a nice long ride today to get my muscles aching like mad. Worked to. I cycled from my home in Halifax, to Bedfor, up the water pipeline to Pockwalk. Bushwhacked around their fence, and onto the logging road. Then around the lake, onto the property traverse to Bowater, down to St Margarets Bay. From there all rails to Trails back into Halifax.

Total distance of 87km in a time of 5 hours and 11 minutes. Man do I hurt right now!

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Rail Trail

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Douglas Smith

Some time ago I was asked to join a team to do a race in October. It involves 150km of mountain biking, 60km of canoeing, and 30km of hiking all in a 24 hour period. This is great except this year I have been a bit down in the miles on the bike. I’ve got a month to get my shit together. Today I rode my mountain bike 40km, which is one of the longest rides this year amazingly enough. But far from where I need to be. Must get on with the exercise which is going to be very hard given the fact that school is slowly going to get out of control in the next little while along with jobs and things.

Todays ride took me up the Chain of Lakes Trail and the Beechville Lakeside Timberlea Trail. Its an old rail down the South Shore. Although I didn’t go too far.

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This is Fundy

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Douglas Smith
This is Fundy by Douglas M Smith
This is Fundy, a photo by Douglas M Smith on Flickr.

Last weekend we hit every Maritime province in a little road trip with two coworkers and friends from Keji, Sarah Walton and Chantal Vien. Starting form Kejimkujik National Park we headed to Fundy National Park with a slight detour through PEI to visit Charlottetown and Prince Edward Island National Park very briefly and over the Confederation Bridge to move on to Fundy where we stayed for the night in park housing in Alma, NB. Park housing are houses owned by the park and are rented out to temporary park employees like summer students.

Sarah and I were planning to tent behind the house and Chantal to take the sofa. Turned out that I left my tent poles and pegs in Port Mouton and Sarah had a poorly designed tent not rain ready. I used a sofa and Sarah got wet.

Our morning in Fundy included all the coastal attractions and walking on the sea floor over rocks and through mud. Our afternoon included a more gruelling (to a small degree) day hike along Moosehorn and Laverty Falls in the rain. I wanted to see waterfalls and did water ever fall on us! Oh, and the waterfalls were very cool too. This trail was challenging in the rain. It was a wet trail with plenty of mud and steep descents to the river. Followed by rock hounding along the edge of the river. At the first waterfall we saw I climbed over the wet rocks and stood under its spray to rinse away the sweat. From then on it rained and there was no staying dry but it was a beautiful hike full of beautiful waterfalls.

We headed back to the house and partied hard for the rest of the night with pretty much the entire Fundy staff base. The next morning we headed up to a look off to conclude our Fundy visit. On our way home we stopped at Hopewell Rocks where our entry was free!

A great trip was had with friends.

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