{"id":66468,"date":"2018-10-19T23:58:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-20T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=66468"},"modified":"2018-10-19T23:58:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T05:58:09","slug":"the-canadian-rockies-and-old-fossils-an-autobiographical-note-and-a-wish-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/the-canadian-rockies-and-old-fossils-an-autobiographical-note-and-a-wish-list.html","title":{"rendered":"The Canadian Rockies and Old Fossils: An Autobiographical Note and a Wish List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>
Moraine Lake, in Banff National Park \u00a0 \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many people love beaches and tropical islands. \u00a0I love them, too. \u00a0I grew up, after all, in southern California, and I made my first visit to Hawaii at the age of five. \u00a0(I have no idea how many times I\u2019ve been back since.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I have to admit that the terrestrial landscapes that resonate with me the most powerfully, that stir me most deeply, are alpine. \u00a0I hiked the John Muir Trail through California\u2019s Sierra Nevada Mountains when I was eleven. \u00a0I fell in love with Switzerland and the Alps on my first visit to Europe just out of high school, and I was absolutely ecstatic to be called to serve in Switzerland thereafter as a missionary. \u00a0Similarly, I love the fjords and the lakes and the mountainous valleys of my grandmother\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also very, very high on my list of favorite places, though, are the Canadian Rockies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lake<\/a>
Lake Louise, in Banff National Park \u00a0 \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t seen them as often \u2014 I think that I\u2019ve only been to Alberta three times, maybe four, and, until today, not for quite a while \u2014 but Banff National Park is, to me, one of the most stirringly beautiful and evocative places on Earth. \u00a0It\u2019s a place for the gods.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this context, I think of C. S. Lewis\u2019s notion of Sehnsucht<\/em>, and of what he called \u201cpure northernness.\u201d \u00a0And I\u2019ve written about it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJoy found in stabs of \u2018divine homesickness'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This short trip, alas, won\u2019t provide an opportunity to spend any time in the Canadian Rockies. \u00a0Anyway, it\u2019s not really an ideal time of the year for that, and my wife isn\u2019t with me this time \u2014 and it just wouldn\u2019t be nearly as satisfying without her. \u00a0Flying up, though, I was struck by how easy it is to get here from Utah, by how short the flight is, and I began thinking \u201cI need to do this again, with my wife.\u201d \u00a0(I also was struck, at certain points, by the strangely linear north-south orientation of the mountains over which we were cruising. \u00a0I need to learn more about their geology.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last time we were here, I think, we took our kids to the Calgary Stampede. \u00a0That was a lot of fun. \u00a0Next time we come, I would (of course) like to spend considerable time in and around Banff and Jasper National Parks. \u00a0But I also enjoyed the amusingly-named Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump<\/a>, and would like to see that again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, next time, I really, really want to visit\u00a0Dinosaur Provincial Park<\/a>, which is about 2.5 hours east of Calgary, and Drumheller<\/a>, which is about 68 miles to Calgary\u2019s northeast and which likes to call itself the \u201cDinosaur Capital of the World.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DPP,<\/a>
In Alberta\u2019s Dinosaur Provincial Park (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alberta has preserved a remarkably great and diverse abundance of Late Cretaceous\u00a0dinosaur fossils \u2014 that is, fossils ranging from the period between roughly 100 million years and 66 million years before the present. \u00a0In fact, it\u2019s arguably the best place for such fossils in the entire world. \u00a0And I want to see more of it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next time!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Calgary, Alberta, Canada<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Many people love beaches and tropical islands. \u00a0I love them, too. \u00a0I grew up, after all, in southern California, and I made my first visit to Hawaii at the age of five. \u00a0(I have no idea how many times I\u2019ve been back since.) \u00a0 But I have to admit that the terrestrial landscapes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Canadian Rockies and Old Fossils: An Autobiographical Note and a Wish List<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Many people love beaches and tropical islands. \u00a0I love them, too. \u00a0I grew up, after all, in southern California, and I made my first visit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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