Posted in Adventures, Bancroft gemboree, Buy The Book, Canada, Education, Family Stuff, Interesting, Life, My Book, Photography, Rocks & Gems, Travel, articles, beading, books, collecting rocks near Bancroft, crystals, culture, environment, gemology, gems, gemstones, geography, looking for gems, my life, ontario, photos, picture of, rock collecting, rockhounding, rockhounding in Ontario, rocks in Ontario, trade, travel writing, tagged Add new tag, Bancroft, Bancroft gemboree, festivals, gems, ontario, rockhounding, rockhounding in Ontario on July 31, 2008 | 2 Comments »
An experience of the northern rockhound culture
gemboree1 008, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Ontario rockhounds look forward to the Bancroft Gemboree, it is the biggest rock and gem show in Canada. I have taken a week off work to attend the gemboree and visit various rock collecting sites up in that area.
In my book (as of yet unpublished [...]
Posted in Adventures, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, Life, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, articles, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, hiking, my life, nature, ontario, photos, picture of, rockhounding in Ontario, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, searching for caves, sports, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario, wierd, tagged caving, Travel, hiking, ontario, outdoors on July 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Dangerous Ontario cave
IMG_7591, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
The thing with Marmora is that you need to get a feeling for the sinking and resurging channels. Here we are walking up a section of stream bed where the water resurges strongly in the spring from a blind valley. The valley is fed by a number of tunnels. [...]
Posted in Canada, Caves, Education, Interesting, Life, My Book, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, ontario, picture of, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, strange places, underground, underground Ontario, wierd on July 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Rimstone dams and other natural wonders
IMG_7528, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Another picture of the shelves to either side of the main tunnel of Spanky’s Paradise. The rimstone dams are especially white and pure. It would appear that they have formed in shallow troughs that once held flows of water that are a lot more vigerous than [...]
Posted in Adventures, Buy The Book, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, Life, My Book, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Rocks & Gems, Travel, adventure in Ontario, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, photos, picture of, rockhounding, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, strange places, travel writing, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario, wierd on July 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Spanky’s Paradise – beneath Marmora’s rocky table
IMG_7552, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
There is a lot of calcium precipitation in this area of Spanky’s Paradise – little soda straws forming, rimstone dams etc. One caver who had crawled somewhere that maybe they should not hae said that he had seen cave pearls and another claimed to see [...]
Posted in Adventures, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, My Book, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, ontario, people, photos, picture of, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario, wierd on July 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Marmora Caves
IMG_7567, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
As mentioned yesterday, we had hoped to connect the joints under the escarpment by following across a wide/low shelf that was clear of formations. I followed along in the shelf, aligned more-or-less with a shallow v-shaped trough where my belly fit just right (you can see the trough in the [...]
Posted in Adventures, Buy The Book, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, Life, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, bizzare, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, hiking, history, magical, my life, mystery, nature, ontario, photos, picture of, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, sports, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario, wierd on July 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Looks like something from the innards of a cow
IMG_7576, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
The cave that we already knew of – lets call it “Spanky’s Paradise” as a working name (subject to change, but convenient for discussion), was new to Jeff and so we wandered around a bit, photographed and generally absorbed the bone numbing cold [...]
Posted in Adventures, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, backpacking, bizzare, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, ontario, people, photos, picture of, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, sports, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario, wierd on July 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Approaching the tunnels through the mist and water.
IMG_7518, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Our intention today was to push one of the tunnels in the area that I knew might go on to other unexplored passages. Most promising is a low escarpment into which burrows several joints. There are three joints that can be followed (the narrower [...]
Posted in Adventures, Buy The Book, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Education, Interesting, Life, My Book, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Photography, Toronto Cave Group, Travel, adventure in Ontario, backpacking, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, ontario, photos, picture of, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, science, searching for caves, sports, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario on July 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A certain saturated beauty
IMG_7515, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Caving in Ontario can be a rewarding experience if you are willing to put the time in and enjoy the entire experience.
As mentioned, I had planned a trip this Saturday and rain or shine I was intent on going. Sadly it rained very heavily at times and the [...]
Posted in Adventures, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Interesting, Life, Nature/Outdoors, Ontario's geology, Personal, Photography, Travel, adventure in Ontario, books, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, mystery, nature, ontario, photos, picture of, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, searching for caves, sports, strange places, tunnels, underground, underground Ontario on July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Swallowed by a whale?
IMG_5012, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Looks like the gullet of a whale or something like that – poor old Jona being stuck down there after having been swallowed.
Actually, its another picture of the Marmora’s underground. This tunnel stretches under an island that has a sometimes sinking stream on one side and a large [...]
Posted in Adventures, Canada, Caves, Caving in Ontario, Interesting, Life, Nature/Outdoors, Photography, Rocks & Gems, Travel, adventure in Ontario, bizzare, cave digging, cave formation, caves in Ontario, caving, environment, exploration, extreme sports, geography, geology, my life, nature, ontario, people, photos, picture of, rockhounding in Ontario, rocks in Ontario, rockwatching, searching for caves, sports, tunnels, underground Ontario on July 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
You start here and then go underground
IMG_5002, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
The trip is on! I hope to be able to report on something new with reference to this amazing Ontario caving area soon.
I had taken this picture two years ago on a trip. In this particular area joints have been enlargened and they take [...]
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