posted on June 9, 2001 06:00:51 PM new
So tonight my 11 year old is doing a school report on Canada geography. The DH's job is proofreader. DH finds an error: Canada has 2 MILLION lakes. Son whips out internet info sheet & right there clear as day states "Canada has 2,000,000 lakes". DH is now walking around muttering "2,000,000 lakes?". DH is a fishing enthusiast and a big fan of cold temperatures. I FEAR he'll be calling real estate agents tomorrow to sell the house & pack us up & move us to Canada! (Not that I have ANYTHING against Canada, but I was dreamin' of someday movin' to a much warmer climate!).
Can any of the Canadians here verify this information? Or at least tell me that 1,999,000 of these lakes are in such remote areas that no one could ever hope to visit them, let alone fish in them???
posted on June 9, 2001 06:26:08 PM new
Can't speak for Canada but in Alaska deep inside the arctic circle there is almost as much water as there is land. The lakes freeze solid in the winter, I do mean solid. In the summer they are sterile ponds for the most part, no streams feeding them or leaving them. Most would be surprised to see what the tundra actually looks like. There are no trees, no hills (actually there are some mounds called Pingos made from frost heaves). The term "God forsaken" came to my mind many times.
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Oh, I almost forgot, there is one thing in those ponds. Mosquitos larvae. If the wind isn't blowing you have to wear a mosquito net (like a beekeeper's outfit.) They swarm around you in a cloud. With insect repellant they might not bite but you'll find it annoying when you inhale them. I don't exaggerate when I say a cloud.
posted on June 9, 2001 08:00:08 PM new
And yes most of them are only accessable if they are big enough to land on in a float plane. You can have a cabin if you can afford to take all your supplies in by air - and continue to get all your groceries etc. that way.
posted on June 9, 2001 08:25:07 PM new
If you've ever flown to Europe from the west coast, you've seen at least 100,000 of them.
Imagine a land devoid of trees, but with plants. It's about 50-50 water and not-water. The land part rises maybe 2 feet higher then the water part.
This land goes on for a thousand miles or so north-south, and well more than a thousand east-west.
South and west of that there's a huge band of short trees, many hundred miles n-s, and a couple of thousand mostly e-w. It's slightly more hilly, and somewhat less than 50% water, but it is still very very watery, containing for example the Great Slave Lake and Lake Manitoba. This is the territory usually used for float plane fishing. It's generally uninhabited, but there do exist a few places separated by hundreds of miles where one can buy gasoline and diesel.
South of that lies the inhabited part of Canada, which is also quite watery and has tens of thousands of wonderful,useful lakes. However, of those millions of lakes, the vast majority are not particularly enjoyable by humans.
posted on June 10, 2001 04:46:16 AM new
I remember the first time I had the thought to see how far North into Canada from Michigan I could drive and when I got out the road map I was shocked to see how very soon there were no roads further north into Canada. I thought there would be some sort of unimproved dirt tracks - but there is nothing. You have a train that goes directly North from Sault Ste. Marie that takes you as far as you could go roundabout by road. As it goes along there are occasional stops where people get off in the middle of nowhere to stay for a week or two fishing and then will flag down another train to go home. One group getting off caused a lot of hooting and catcalls from the other passengers because for 6 people when they unloaded their stuff from the baggage car the principle thing visable beside their canoe was a mountain size stack of cases of beer. I think they must have had 36 or 40 cases of beer to carry them over!
posted on June 10, 2001 09:55:10 AM new
Well, Thank You All!...Not ONLY have your wonderfully visual descriptions saved my homestead, but we found them to be so enlightening & interesting that we will be printing a copy of your responses, (sans the beer reference) credit given to your AW IDs and including a copy with my son's report. When the class uses an atlas to study the countries geography they learn the facts, when they read your posts they will get a real image of the terrain of the land.
posted on June 10, 2001 02:39:16 PM new
rancher24---well if I'm getting a small but significant credit in his report---I wish to have my full name used
posted on June 10, 2001 04:13:36 PM new
jlpiece...Agreed, but I always forget if it was the 52nd or 53rd state!
Zazzie the Dragon (forever insearch of Crunchies) - your "official" full name has been duly noted & you will be credited as such!...My son is a huge dragon fan & will actually find it fun to have a "Dragon" quoted in his paper! Agin' Thanx!
posted on June 10, 2001 04:20:06 PM new
I have had a 'dragon's eye' view of the country---there are nice crunchy fish in most of those 2 million lakes.
My land dwelling hubby with his fishing rods surgically attached can also attest to this fact
posted on June 10, 2001 05:26:14 PM new
There are more than 3 million lakes in Alaska. According to the US Geological Survey. I doubt you'll find a fraction of life in them compared to the bayous of Louisiana though. Besides, Louisiana has what is arguably the best food of all 50 states.
posted on June 10, 2001 06:56:47 PM new
One day, I will fish all of the mentioned lakes, espically the ones in my home provence of Quebec. My all-time favorite "lake" is the one on my uncle's farm, 3 miles North East of Shirebrook. Quiet, tranquility and BIG FISH!!!
Rick
In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth.
posted on June 10, 2001 07:03:25 PM new
I should mention that many of those lakes in Alaska are frozen from late August till mid June, at least those above the Brooks range. Even around Anchorage they aren't lakes much of the year by my definition. In the summer it takes awhile to drive around Big Lake near Wasilla, in the winter you just drive across it. One winter on a snowmachine ride we found a field with a small mound in the middle of it we used to get airborn, in the summer we went back there and found it was a lake, the mount was a beaver lodge. I wonder the beavers thought when we were using it for a jumping ramp.
posted on June 10, 2001 07:37:11 PM new
Sorry to be adding corrupting referances to beer in the report. You can't legally drink a beer in Canada in public view - like on your front porch. So it was probably some of those US holligans getting off there instead of proper Canadians or they would have had the cases wrapped in plain brown paper. { )
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