As part of the Eighth BC Paleontological Symposium, May 15-18, 2009, I led a field trip to the Cretaceous-Jurassic exposures near Harrison Lake, British Columbia.
 

To reach the west side of the Bowron Lake paddling route, we must first face several kilometres portaging muddy trails to meet up with the Isaac River and then paddle rapids to grade two.

The Paleontologist community in China and around the world are all aflutter over a recent find in the Erlian Basin of Inner Mongolia.   

Known more for its heavy oil potential and favorite export - pollution, northeastern China is the preferred stomping ground for the savvy petroleum geologist.

As a complete aside, it also boasts the prettiest portion of the gene pool, or so says one of my stomping friends having explored much of Asia. So, home to pretty women today and, as it would seem, an enormous bird-like dinosaur some 70 million years ago.

Fancy that.

Sunshine, salt air, the bark of seals and... fossils await for those lucky enough to beach comb the fossiliferous shores near the fishing community of Sooke on Vancouver Islands' southwestern edge.

The wind favours us now as we paddle the last of the Bowron Lake circuit. We'd rigged kayak sails on both the single and double kayaks and are excited to use them to add an extra knot of oomph to our efforts. 

Reaching the golden land of safety-in-numbers, we leap from our kayaks, happy to see the smiling faces of Mary and Adele, the new friends we'd met before running the river earlier in the trip.