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LETTER: Grateful to greet a new year here, in Squamish

A couple of days before Christmas my wife and I decided to go for a short walk. After a morning ski at Callaghan, we wanted a gentle stroll, so opted for our go-to, easy walk of the Mamquam Spawning Channel Trails.

A couple of days before Christmas my wife and I decided to go for a short walk. After a morning ski at Callaghan, we wanted a gentle stroll, so opted for our go-to, easy walk of the Mamquam Spawning Channel Trails.

Light was fading but the rain had stopped and a wispy ground fog made for a lovely ambiance. We always drop down from the dike onto the trail alongside the main spawning channel. 

The pool at the head of the channel had a number of the ever-present mallards and a couple of buffleheads.

As we watched the ducks in the eerily transparent water, I trod on the squishy carcass of a long-dead salmon. Their half-eaten remains were strewn everywhere in the bush providing that familiar and oddly pleasant stink. Just as we turned to continue the trail, a big, fat mama bear and her cub came out from behind some bushes at the pool edge, not more than four meters in front of us.  She was calm, clearly accustomed to trail users, and aware of our presence.  We slowly backed away and continued along the main dike trail, stopping once to watch mom head into the deeper bush with her cub, dragging a salmon carcass, following behind.

Not more than 150 metres down the dike we see another bear, maybe a two-year-old, wanting to cross the path ahead of us. The young bear saw us and courteously, slipped behind a tree to let us pass then continued on its way.

Every few minutes, we would hear the shrill, screech of an eagle. We saw at least four up in the trees and twice had birds swoop down low over our heads. 

We watched a juvenile eagle, hitting its wings on branches as it flew through the trees looking for a comfortable roost.

We marvelled at the power of the Mamquam, where the ever-changing river channel had washed away a good chunk of the dike (since repaired by the District), a reminder of just how fragile and transient so much of our flood plain is.

We looped back when we neared the highway and once alongside a quiet stretch of channel, we inadvertently spooked a flock of good-sized birds, that burst into flight, revealing bright white undersides to their wings before I could identify them. 

A little further along, as we crossed a bridge over the main channel, there below us was a stately great blue heron, calmly staring at us, until we slowly moved on.

As we finished our walk, I thought to myself, “How fortunate we are to live where we do!”

Happy New Year, Squamish.

Jim Harvey

Squamish

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