Nature News from the Ghost Horse Hills: Opal Wildfire Update #20

"Eventually all things merge into one -- and a river runs through it. The river was cut out by the world's great flood. Its waters run over rock dug out of the basement of time. I am haunted by waters."

- from the movie A River Runs Through It

Before their move to San Diego my youngest son Luke and his wife Clara wrote movie reviews -- a 'he said, she said' column for See magazine. Everyone in our family enjoys a good movie although our tastes vary greatly. Being that Luke gets paid for his opinions about movies, he thinks that his taste should be more developed than say mine. For example, my all-time favorite movie is A River Runs Through It directed by Robert Redford. This is a choice that Luke has trouble appreciating; I think that may be because he is not yet old enough to have experienced many rivers in his life. On the other hand, I have been blessed with an appreciation of three extraordinary waterways -- the Sturgeon, Redwater and Tawatinaw Rivers.

These rivers do not carry great volumes of water nor are they long in their length but their effect on the country that they pass through is enormous. The Sturgeon enters the county that bears its name from the west. It bends to the southeast at Battenburg Crossing before it enters the big river across from the city of Fort Saskatchewan. The Redwater River's northern arm begins at Bridge Lakes. It winds its way south by southeast before it too empties into the North Saskatchewan. Just six miles north of the Bridge Lakes, the Tawatinaw River has its beginnings in the Rochester Everglades. The waters move south out of the everglades by way of Stony Creek. At the Tawatinaw ski hill this waterway becomes the Tawatinaw River. It flows straight north for the next 40 miles until it enters into the Athabasca River.

The Athabasca Landing Trail travels almost straight north from where the Sturgeon River meets the Saskatchewan. For the next hundred miles the old trail zigzags its way up to the town of Athabasca never very far from one of these three rivers.

Along the banks and within the basins of these rivers are thousands of acres of untouched lands -- Natural Areas, bogs, muskegs, crown and undeveloped private land. These natural spaces provide filtered water to these rivers and the result is spectacular.

Last week I set out to investigate a story I had heard about long lost gold coins on the banks of the Redwater River. My detective work took me to a farm where I asked for permission to walk out to the back of their quarter section.

Before I knew it I had forgotten why I was there, distracted by rows of peas and carrots and by wild raspberries, saskatoons and other tastie goodies. I watched as the field workers steadily and quietly went about their job. A small creek had been dammed by a beaver and had created a beautiful pond. A big fat beaver came swimming my way. When he noticed me he slapped his tail and submerged. He repeated this performance twice more before disappearing into his lodge. Mourning doves sprang up from the tall grass their wings squeaking as they made their getaway. At an old long-abandoned building site, seed pods from the caragana hedges were making popping sounds as they exploded in the heat of the day. As I approached the old barn a rock dove hooted a warning and flew off clapping his wings over his back. The smell of the clover and sage was heavy in the air.

I was in paradise. All of the tastes, sounds, sights and smells merged into one, creating an incredible feeling of peace and well-being . . . and yes, the Redwater River runs through it.

Thank you.

Richard