Hello Campers!   I've got some pictures for you - and not just any pictures, either.  These photos are a visual record of the effect of time on different places we've visited. There are only a few photos right now, but I promise you that more will be added.  I hope you enjoy them...

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Nk'Mip Campground: Last of the Canadian Pocket Desert

1997: open trail just up the road from the registration building

 

West end of the campground:




2007: Across from the registration building:

 

West end of the campground:

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In the ten years since we first visited Nk'Mip Campground, in Osooyoos, BC:

• a new Cultural Center has been built at the top of what used to be open desert

• the trail is no longer accessible to the public; to access it, you have to go to the Cultural Center during business hours and purchase a pass.

• the "overflow" camping area used to be completely open - no vehicles, no tents, no nothing; it was just a hill across from the registration building.  As you can see, though, it's now a kind of catch-all for everything from RV units and fifth-wheel trailer homes, to people who are just using sleeping bags and no tents.

• the west end of the campground has been completely developed. It used to be open desert, too - in fact, there was so much scrub brush there that even just laying down a sleeping bag was challenging.  Now, there are campsites, as well as a shower building which includes flush toilets.

In our opinion, it's nice to see that the campground is so busy. When we were first there in 1997, it didn't seem to be doing too well. On the other hand, however, it saddens us deeply that so much rare desert life is being sacrificed for the sake of the almighty dollar.

For example, more endangered desert land has been ripped up for the development of a huge condominium project next to the Cultural Center.  For the Cultural Center, an enormous amount of desert land was torn up so they could build a parking lot.  We're going back to Nk'Mip this summer, and I'll make sure to take pictures so that you can get an idea of just how much land is being destroyed for the pursuit of money and high living...

Nk'Mip Campground holds less than a thousand acres of true desert. There are species of plants and animals living there that are found nowhere else in the world.  And it's all being slowly but steadily eaten up by developers caring more about making money than about the consequences of forcing extinctions with their over-development.

To get an idea about just how much construction is going on, click this link.

To see more of what's already been developed, click this link.

Then, read about why this is so disheartening. Click this link and explore the sight. You'll be quite surprised at what you learn...

Thanks for dropping in.  Stay tuned for more pictures of the past and the present, including photos of the Crowfoot and Columbia Glaciers as they were ten years ago, and as they are now.  Have a great weekend, everyone!