Early Man - Bannock Point Petroforms

A Post from our Canada trip:

We were driving south from Lake Winnepeg along Highway 307 late in the afternoon, when we noticed a sign along the road for "petroforms." When I read the historical information kiosk a the parking lot, I knew I definitely wanted to take the hike over. Sadly, since it was late in the day, I didn't grab my camera, but I did head off at a brisk pace up the steps, through the forest and up the hill to see what I could see.

We were on the Canadian shield, precambrian rock that is the oldest in the world. While there is forest surrounding the petroforms, there is a big open space at the top of the walk. The sight of old lichen covered bedrock, depressions filled with grass and moss surrounded by the forest rewarded me for the hike uphill to get here.



At first it took some study to find the petroforms, the first ones seemed like random stacking of rocks amidst the moss. However, the more we walked along the bare rock paths, the more we found. Henry joined me and we wandered through the area amazed at the number and the variety of the shapes. Some of them are obviously very old - notice how the lichens and moss surround the rocks with matching lichens.



Henry had brought his small camera along and began photographing as we tried to make sense of who did these shapes and why did they make them. The photos in this post are his!

These petroforms are actually pretty large and are quite varied - snakes, turtles, people, even a newer cross. The initial sign said that the oldest date back 2500 years. I tried to picture people in North America during that era - these are primitive art, but none the less interesting. Were they telling a story? Were they leaving messages for one another perhaps like modern graffiti? Were they nomads who had just come to a new land? From having read so much science fiction - were they trying to signal someone in the sky?



I did some research, it is difficult to make an actual date for these petroforms because there is definitely a large space of time between the oldest through the newest. One dating method, based upon a campsite that was near two small petroforms, suggests 500 AD.

Native people in this area, the Anishinabe (also called Ojibway or Saulteaux) still consider these sites as sacred. They call this area the Manito Ahbee, the place where God sits. They believe that this is the site where the first Anishinabe was lowered from the sky to the ground by the Creator.

As a Christian, what is impressive about this place is that even before the good news of Christ came to this area, the people knew there was a Creator and wanted to communicate with Him. I think modern society often misses the importance of the spiritual elements of the human soul. Too many people have decided there is no God and what we have here in this life is all there is . . . I also believe that if we earnestly seek God, he will reveal Himself to us.

The petroform area fascinated me - I could have spent more time there and would love to have heard an interpreter describe the current ideas about what the individual forms mean.

For more information about the Petroforms and related topics:
From Manitoba's Provincial Park website: Teaching Places, Healing Places: the Petroforms of Manitoba


Wapedia: Wiki:Petroform

GoNanaimo.com Manitoba Bannock Point Petroforms

I also found these two links that relate to the petroforms - the similarity is amazing . . .
Midewewin Stages of Life vs
Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

Heart of the Healer

New River Gorge National River

As a country we have set aside a number of river areas as National Rivers. The Ozark National Scenic Riverways was the first, set aside in 1964. More have been added under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed in 1968:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Congress declares that the established national policy of dams and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes. (Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, October 2, 1968)

Some of these rivers are managed by the National Park Service, some by Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and others National Forest Service. There are a number that are in partnership with other state and local agencies, Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers.

When looking for something to visit on our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway, we chose the New River Gorge National River in southern West Virginia. I gave myself a day to scout out the area and I definitely would like to go back and spend more time exploring the area. It is a unique river in North America, because it flows north!

We woke up to a cloudy, somewhat wet morning.


We started at the Grandview area. The overlook of the gorge was obscured by the fog, but the forest was lovely in its partially obscured state. The foliage was past its peak, but the fallen leaves left a beautiful carpet underneath the trees.



We ate a picnic lunch by Glade Creek - sitting on rocks by the boat launch. There were these amazing insects that moved by the thousands along the water creating ripples. Along the road to the Glade Creek campground, I saw my first Downy woodpecker. It is one of the smallest woodpeckers - I would not have realized it was a woodpecker if I had not had the binoculars to see it more clearly.

New River Gorge has four visitor centers - Canyon Rim, Sandstone, Thurmon Depot, and Grand View. Canyon RIm and Sandstone are open year round. Canyon Rim is right near the beautiful New River Gorge Bridge, the world's second longest single arch bridge. We were not there for dramatic enough lighting for me to venture a photo (yes, I've gotten bad, if I can't get a good or great photo, I don't take one at all - silly me) The next day was going to be "Bridge Day." The bridge is closed to vehicular traffic and fills with pedestrians. Activities include Base jumping, rappelling, and high line, and rafting below. Naturally vendors supply food and refreshment as well as souvenir shirts, crafts, and photos, etc. While this might be a fun thing to attend another year, our time was limited and I was glad we happened by the day before rather than the day of the event.

We went from the falls area over to the Thurmon historic district. I had seen a backroads route that I wanted to explore. We found the beautiful Dunlap Creek:



Some parts of my backcountry route definitely fit in the "road less travelled' category, but it was a great road to be pretty much by yourself in a beautiful outdoor area. It was also a great place to create more of these artistic images that I have not come up with a great name for. I liked this one because of how the small tree shows up with its brilliant yellow foliage.



While I did not find that "perfect" place to photograph the New River, I did stop at the end of the day to get at least a few shots at the river level.




The next morning we went over to the Sandstone Visitor Center. This is a new, very beautiful Visitor Center - well worth the stop. We saw the Sandstone Falls from the road. It was a long hike down and it was a bright sunny day, so we continued our journey south following the foliage.

I would love to come back to this area and spend a week both exploring and trying to wait for those perfect lighting moments.

Charlie Duke and Apollo 16

This year we were privileged to attend Brentwood Oaks Christian School's Partnership Dinner. The guest speaker was Charles Duke, one of the astronauts that went to the moon. What a joy it was to hear him tell about his experiences! I was very impressed with how he described viewing the moon and the earth from space. He used two passages - I think I found one of them Isaiah 40:22 "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers." He talked about how the earth looked like a big circle suspended in the heavens. The other one may have been Psalms 102:19 " 19 "The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth." Both of these passages give a beautiful word picture of how God may see the earth. Certainly it was an incredible experience to see earth from the moon.

Another thing that resonated in my mind - both in space and during the moon walk, there was no night. Reminds me of the
Revelations 22:5 "There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light."



Henry and I were young when the space program began. We remember those first attempts to go into space. We remember the teachers with their radios listening live as the first astronauts flew in space. They brought TV's into our rooms (back when TV's were not part of the normal school day.) so we could see these historic flights. Henry and I were dating when the first Apollo mission went to the moon. We both remember sitting in his parents' garage room watching those first footsteps on the moon. This was exciting news. All the networks suspended programming so that everyone could see this marvel.

And while the space race began as part of the Cold War, it fed our imaginations - travel in space, living in space, traveling to far off galaxies - these felt real and possible.

But times change and priorities change. Our last human visit to the moon was in the 1970's. I would never have dreamed that we would not have gone back. Apparently there are plans to go back to the moon in the 2020's. But that seems a long way away.

Today, the US space program is relying on aging space shuttles and small rocket launches to put what needs to be up in orbit around the earth. I thought we would have a new design with more working shuttles by now.

Yes, we humans have plenty of problems and things that require money expenditures here on earth. But the money spent on the space program brought side benefits from the research.

I hope that something will happen to ignite that imagination and zeal for real space travel again. I would much rather spend money on new space technology for travel to the moon and planets than on new weapons and military spending to fight terrorism. (Yes, we do have to fight terrorism - I just wish that people could learn to live peacefully here on earth. Since that can't happen - yes, let's go to space to give everyone more room to live peacefully.)