Come take a listen to the weird, wild, and sometimes beautiful ways that our new normal of teaching over zoom warps students’ sounds and changes the way teachers and students have to interact!
Heart Creek Bunker
The second in what we could almost call our “Cave Series” is the Heart Creek Bunker goes by many names but they all lead to the same curious place. A manmade cave overlooking Lac des Arcs right in the side of Mt. McGillvray.
The origin of the Bunker was based around a plan to create a high-tech, secure storage location during the height of the Cold War. The plan was created by the Rocky Mountain Vaults & Archives, though digging began, the project was never completed for numerous reasons.
The cave is now there with easy access from the Heart Creek day use area. As you enter the cave both light and the sound from the nearby Trans-Canada quickly leaves you, the temperature drops, and you notice the smell that hangs in the air. Caves are interesting places to listen to, the darkness that encloses you opens your ears to the tiny sounds around you. Sounds that moments ago, outside the cave, would go completely unnoticed. They act as pin pricks of sound that pierces the silence, the same as light would pierce the inky dark around you.
Though the darkness is thick, a smell lingers, and the temperature drops, it is an interesting place for those looking for something different.
Learn more about the Cold War Bunker
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-cold-war-bunker-1.4781943
https://www.kristydavison.com/highline-magazine/2009/11/9/a-dark-secret-inside-albertas-nuclear-bunker
Learn more about the Kananaskis Region
https://www.kananaskis.org/who-we-are/kananaskis-parks-and-more/
https://kananaskis.com/
https://albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/kananaskis-country/
Recorded in Kananaskis Country on traditional Treaty 7 territory
https://www.treaty7.org/
Canyon Creek Ice Cave
The Canyon Creek Ice Cave, also known as the Moose Mountain Ice Cave is potentially one of the more popular caves in the Calgary area. Located on the Southern flank of Moose Mountain and accessible from Highway 66. Though the road leading to the base of Moose Mountain has been closed many cycle or hike their way in and ascend to the cave, around 7KM each way.
The cave was formed primarily by water enlarging fractures within the slightly soluble limestone, with its entrance considerably enlarged by large-scale frost wedging during freeze-thaw cycles, similar to the phreatic or vadose caves often found in Canada. Much of the cave has subsequently been sealed off by permanent ice, and during the winter months beautiful ice formations are sometimes seen near the entrance. The cave has large amounts of loose rock, and care should be taken when hiking to cave, as the approach slopes were the site of a fatality due to rockfall from careless hikers.
The cave has been subject to considerable vandalism and damage in its history, with spray paint markings and garbage left behind. Visitors should respect cave formations, and leave no garbage or human waste inside the cave.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_Creek_Ice_Cave
Canyon Creek Ice Cave is the first of our soundwalks exploring the geographical land that we call home in Alberta.
Learn more about the Kananaskis Region
https://www.kananaskis.org/who-we-are/kananaskis-parks-and-more/
https://kananaskis.com/
https://albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/kananaskis-country/
Recorded in Kananaskis Country on traditional Treaty 7 territory
https://www.treaty7.org/