Heading North

After a great weekend at the ArtsWells Festival we were once again anxious to get on the road and back on the trail of the pipeline. With the van fully stocked with supplies we headed north into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains where the pipeline is proposed to cross into BC from Alberta and the Tar Sands beyond. Our first destination sent us down the Heritage Highway 52 from Tumbler Ridge. A bit of a misnomer as the highway was really just miles and miles of dirt road. At this point the pipeline route crosses through the rolling terrain of the front ranges of the Rockies. It was good to finally get out of the van after many hard fought miles and start to paint once more.

Rat Lake Basin (8x10) oil on panel, Peter Corbett

From here the plans were to head to Monkman Provincial Park but the logging road we hoped would take us there had been deactivated and was impassable, forcing us to take the long way around back up to Tumbler Ridge and then south again. The pipeline route is proposed to pass just north of Monkman Park, crossing the Murray River and then heading into the Hart Range.

The Hart Range (8x10) oil on panel, Glenn Clark

The route now begins its steep ascent up towards the continental divide crossing through the steep rugged mountainous terrain of the Northern Rockies. This is a very remote and wild part of the country with limited access and were stymied again by numerous deactivated roads and washouts. This would be very challenging terrain to build a pipeline through and even more challenging in the event of an oil spill. After 5 days of painting in the area and exhausting all possible road access options it was time to try to find a way into the west side of the Rockies through a maze of logging roads starting at Bear Lake north of Prince George. The adventure has once again truly begun and we are in our glory.

Up Valley Towards the Divide (8x10) oil on panel, Peter Corbett