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NDIT has provided funds for several local projects and events

Plus Kids’ TRYathlon postponed, beating the heat while driving, and more.
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The new gift shop at Historic Hat Creek is just one of several projects and events in the region to receive funding support from the Northern Development Initiative Trust. Barbara Roden

Kids’ TRYathlon postponed

The Kids’ TRYathlon that was to have taken place in Ashcroft on Saturday, July 15 has been postponed due to the fire.

The organizers are working out the details to try to possibly reschedule for Saturday, August 26. There are some really great shirts, medals, and fabulous prizes—including a new bike—to give away. Stay tuned for more details!

Historic Ashcroft

The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association featured Ashcroft’s new historic augmented reality tour in a recent newsletter. The walk starts at the visitor information centre on Railway Avenue and takes participants on a tour through Ashcroft’s past, with long-gone buildings visible via a free downloadable app; there are also trivia questions and geocaches along the route. For more information, and to download the app, go to http://www.questupon.com/.

Beat the heat while driving

With hot summer weather here, and anticipated for some time, ICBC is advising drivers on how they can stay safe while driving in hot weather, which can increase risks on the road.

Drivers should not get behind the wheel when they’re tired. This is true at all times; but heat and humidity can drain your energy, and affect your response time, judgement, and vision.

Make sure you check your emotions before you get behind the wheel. Sitting in traffic is never fun, and high temperatures can raise tempers. Plan ahead, leave plenty of time to get where you’re going, and be courteous to other drivers.

Don’t leave a child or pet alone in your vehicle; hot weather can raise temperatures within a vehicle to dangerous levels in minutes. And keep backseat passengers—especially children—cool with window shades.

Consider your travel times, and plan to drive in the morning or evening, when it’s cooler, where possible: it’s better for you, your passengers, and you car’s engine. Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water to stay alert, and take regular breaks so you and your passengers can stretch and recharge.

Check your tire pressure before setting out; using under-inflated tires in hot weather increases your chance of blowing out a tire (and make sure your spare tire is also properly inflated).

Visit www.drivebc.ca before setting out, to check on road construction, detours, and other potential delays.

NDIT news

The Northern Development Initiative Trust’s (NDIT) second quarter report for 2017 features a number of projects in the area that have received funding from NDIT. There are write-ups on funding for Historic Hat Creek ($200,000 for the new gift shop, and a further $200,000 approved for expansion of the campground at the site) and the 150th annual Clinton Ball, which received $2,500.

Other projects in the area that have received NDIT funding include $30,000 for upgrades at the Drylands Arena (Ashcroft); $12,000 for a fitness room (Clinton); and $2,500 each for the Lytton Block Party, the Spences Bridge Desert Daze Festival (August 11–12), the Lytton River Festival (September 1–3), and the Gold Country Geocache Event in Cache Creek/Ashcroft/Logan Lake in September.

To see the NDIT quarterly report, go to http://www.northerndevelopment.bc.ca/newsletter/april-june-2017/.

Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura (www.atlasobscura.com) is a website that bills itself as showcasing “Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations” from around the world. Now and then one of the sites is within striking distance of our region, so travellers might want to check them out next time they visit.

On January 26, 1700, a massive 9.0 earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean, ripping through the Pacific Northwest and creating a tsunami as far away as Japan. Scientists took years to understand the details of this earthquake, since the Native Americans who were the area’s only residents at the time kept only oral records of it. One clue, however, was a forest of ghostly grey dead trees standing along the Copalis River in Washington.

The enormous grove of red cedars, geologists Brian Atwater and David Yamaguchi discovered, was killed by an inundation of salt water. The 1700 Cascadia Earthquake, whose date was confirmed by reports from the Kwakwaka’wakw indigenous group of British Columbia and records kept from 18th century Japan, had caused the trees to die all at once, rather than over time as had been previously supposed.

The ghost forest can be reached by canoe or kayak from an informal launch site in the middle of the town of Copalis Beach, west of Olympia, Washington. http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ghost-forest-of-copalis.