Things always look different from above. When Joan and I first started hanging around McBride, looking for property, during a slow time and needing a distraction, someone suggested that we drive up McBride Peak. We bumped our way up the rocky road and stopped at the “Halfway” where there was an old log hut used long ago by the forest fire lookout man.
As we peered over the edge of the slope we were surprised to see that sitting beside the Village of McBride was a U-shaped body of water. It was close to the Fraser River which curved and snaked its way through the Robson Valley. Upon inquiring, we learned the obvious; the lake was called Horseshoe Lake.
I have always been interested in geology, the rugged mountains were one of the things that attracted us to McBride. During a geology class I remember the instructor talking about how old rivers aren’t straight, they meander and curve. After a while, at the inside of sharp curves, erosion starts eating the banks away and eventually they can cut new channels, leaving the old channel isolated and forming a lake. The lake that is formed is called an oxbow lake because of its U-shape. Our oxbow lake is called Horseshoe Lake.
When you stand beside it, it just looks like any other lake. You can detect a bit of a curve in the distance, but until you see it from above, you can’t really tell that it is an oxbow lake. There are many other oxbow lakes formed by the Fraser in the Robson Valley, but none of them look so much like a horseshoe.
My paintings can be viewed at: www.davidmarchant.ca
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