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The two RV Gypsies had trouble finding this park. At first they drove right by it and went a long way on a dirt road before they turned around and figured out that they had driven past the park. The small parking lot just off the road access was full of cars with bicycles on them. Then the two RV Gypsies walked across a small wooden bridge that crossed Driftwood Creek. The bridge was not in the best of shapes, because the part people walk on had dips that made Karen Duquette trip. |
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A short interpretive trail gave glimpses of Driftwood Creek and led to a cliff-face exposure of Eocene shales that were deposited in an inter-montane lake. |
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After a short walk, the two RV Gypsies came to the end of the trail and a big hill that was blocked off. The hill of shales was interbedded with volcanic ash beds, the result of area volcanoes that were erupting throughout the life of the Eocene lake that produced the shales. Preserved within the shale formations were plant, animal and insect species that inhabited the area over 50 million years ago. Pieces were laid out on a railing for examination by visitors. |
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The BC Parks management plan for Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park
lists these conservation attributes: internationally-significant Eocene
fossil beds: most northerly site in North America with fossilized Eocene
insects; fossils also include ancestral salmon, trout and suckers, including
Eosalmo driftwoodens, a site of ongoing paleontological research.
Limited personal fossil collecting was originally permitted in Driftwood Canyon Park, and the site is listed in several tourism and rock collection guides as a place to visit for this activity.
However, this activity is no longer allowed here. |