Sunday, July 31, 2005

Grand River



We live about 10 km from the Grand River not far from Brantford, Ontario. The Grand River system drains the largest part of southern Ontario and flows for 298 kilometres (185 miles) on it way to Lake Erie. There is a brief history of human habitation along the Grand River here, but for today I just wanted to post this photo.



The photo is taken from a pedestrian bridge that goes across the Grand River about 8 km upstream from Brant's ford, the location of a river ford named for Chief Joseph Brant who was one of the natives of the Six Nations from the Finger Lakes area of what is now New York State. (I have been both amazed and surprised to find Joseph Brant's portrait hanging in museums in Stuttgart, Germany and Nairobi, Kenya. See the history note from above and/or the Chief Joseph Brant link to understand how natives from south of the present border came to be in the Grand River area.) The bridge is part of a 16 km (10 mile) loop biking/walking/running trail that extends on both sides of the river between two pedestrian bridges. As part of my physical "recreation," I run that loop almost every week during the warmer months. Fleur-Ange and I biked it today and brought along the camera for the photo. If you look closely, you can see two canoes in the river downstream.

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