The Top Five Canadian Lesser-known Wonders
By pirate_republic 17 Comments
This 270 kilometre long, straight sided, bathtub-shaped bay has the worlds highest tides: there is a whopping 16 metre difference between the higher and low tide marks. 100 billion tonnes of water rush in and out twice a day, an amount equal to the daily discharge of the entire worlds freshwater rivers.
http://wayfaring.info/images/hopewell_rocks1.jpg
The water goes from the bottom, up until the tree line.
Fun fact: the weight of the water causes Nova Scotia's countryside to tilt slightly.
Location: between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
4) Iceberg Alley
Icebergs, 10 000 years old or older, break off from Greenland and float by Newfoundland. They usually get trapped in bays and melt or continue on. Dozens of them can be seen at any given time, sometimes right by the shore, sometimes kilometres off it. It's the only place in the world that icebergs can be seen without going hella north.
http://www.hicker.de/data/media/65/eisberg_4058.jpg
Fun fact: this is where the Titanic met it's downfall. Great idea, Titanic, floating into iceberg alley. Real smooth.
Location: eastern shore of Newfoundland and Labrador.
3) Athabasca Sand Dunes
A 100 kilometre stretch of sand, as tall as a ten story building. It formed 8500 years ago, when rushing rivers deposited sand at the end of lakes formed by melting glaciers. Eventually, the waters backed away from the shore, leaving behind massive amounts of sand. After being ravaged by the wind, dunes formed.
http://wc-zope.emergence.com:8080/WildernessCommittee_Org/campaigns/wildlands/boreal/saskatchewan/images/western_august.jpg
Fun fact: 10 plants, found nowhere else in the world, flourish here. On a pile of sand. ?
Location: the southern shore of Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan.
2) Pingualuit Crater
It's named "where the land rises" by the Inuktitut people for a reason: the sides of this crater rise 160 metres above the surrounding tundra. It formed when a massive meteroite hit, 1.4 million years ago. It's a 267 metre deep lake, with no rivers running in or out.
http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/pingualuit/CraterLakeRF2.jpg
Fun fact: It's in Quebec. As in french people. LOL.
Location: northern Quebec.
1) Burgess Shale
Containing millions of prestine fossils of ancient creatures from the times of dinosaurs. Heading up there, it's hard NOT to find some fossils. It formed in a huge underwater land slide, millions of years ago, that trapped and preserved the creatures. People kept taking the fossils so now you need a guide to accompany you.
http://www.trilobites.info/walcottquarry.jpg
Fun fact: a while after it's discovery, the Smithsonian museum in Washington went up to Canada and jacked about half of the fossils to put on display. Go Canada.
Location: Field, British Colombia.
Honorable mentions:
- giant nickel (Sudbury, ON)
- giant whale head (South Dildo, NL)
- giant brick (Dartmouth, NS)
- giant lobster (Shediac, NB)
- giant pitchfork (Regina, SK)
- giant easter egg (Vegreville, AB)
- giant western boot (Edmonton, AB)
- giant hockey stick (Duncan, BC)
- giant potato (PEI)
- giant blueberry (NS)
- Magnetic Hill:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Magnetic_Hill.jpg/450px-Magnetic_Hill.jpg
It's an optical illusion: this hill is going upwards. (NB)