After 830 miles, 14-1/2 hours, 41 gallons of gas, 1 (at least) gallon of coffee, 1 pound of Spitz sunflower seeds, 1 package of beef jerky, and 1/2 a pizza, I made it to Edmonton. It was a good drive, the weather was great, and the roads were bare and dry. Even Mt. Robson cooperated and was out of the clouds for a change. And the elk were out in force in Jasper.
But all is not totally idyllic in BC. You can see the dead and dying trees in one of the pictures above. In large swaths of the BC interior, if the pine bark beetle doesn't kill the trees, forest fires will. This appears to one of those less-thought-of consequences of global warming. The cold winters used to kill off the beetle larvae, so they were never much more than a nuisance, but for the last 20 or so years, the average winter temperatures have risen to the point where the bugs survive. Then the dead trees burn or rot, adding CO2 to the atmosphere to heat things up even more.
I'm not in the mood for a political rant right now (breakfast is ready), so I'll leave it there for now.
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