When life gets chaotic, I often turn to one of my favourite meditations – “I am the rock in the river. The river flows over, around and past me. The river gives me no notice and continues its journey. I am still. The river is chaos.”
If you look at a map of British Columbia and trace the path of the 1,375 km long Fraser River, the longest river in the province, your finger will start at Blackrock Mountain in the eastern Rocky Mountain range. The river then meanders 625 km northwest, following the western flank of the Rockies to just past 54′ north latitude. It then descends into a broad valley, takes a sharp turn to the southwest near what became called the Giscome Portage, and then turns entirely south just north of Prince George as it begins its journey to the Pacific Ocean near Vancouver.
For 660 km, the river continues south until it meets Hope Mountain just south of Hope, British Columbia. Like the wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, the mountain quietly but firmly whispers to the river, “You shall not pass.” The river has met its match. A 1.8 km high rock that it can’t rush over. Exasperated and most likely quite disgruntled, it gives up, resigns to its fate, takes a sharp turn to the west, and continues to the Strait of Georgia 150 km away.
Hope Mountain is in the background of this photo taken on June 4th, 2022. The mountain that fought the mighty Fraser River and won.
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