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The world's smallest desert is in Canada

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Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#41

Post by Gibbon1 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #34
shirro wrote: post #32

When visiting New Zealand I was driving through Rangipo "Desert" and it gets 1500-2500mm of rain a year. Just bad soils and volcanic desolation. I live in an area where people grow crops on around 250mm of rain a year. Though a bit of bad land management and drought can turn land to sand dunes pretty fast. We probably have hundreds of smaller deserts throughout the region if semi-arid conditions and sand dunes are th…

The article does expain how it fits the semi-arid definition as it gets 250-500mm, nowhere near 2500. Snow doesnt count, which is why antarctica is technically a dessert. Sand isnt part of the standard.

I think snow counts, Antarctica's average equivalent precipitation is 160mm a year (6 inches or some such).

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#42

Post by ars »

vintagedave wrote: post #39
52-6F-62 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god. NWT/Yukon, Dawson City, and Nahanni National Park have been on my list for years! Did you drink the toe?

Drink - the toe? For those of us thousands of kilometers away, can you explain what strange and probably amazing Canadian tradition this is, please?

An alcoholic drink with the toe of some famous dead person in it.

You don't eat/drink the toe - you give it back after you are done with the drink.

Google "Sourtoe Cocktail" for more info (or maybe don't :)

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#43

Post by victor106 »

stickfigure wrote: post #29
thisacctforreal wrote: post #20

Carcross is cute, it's an hour from the capital city, Whitehorse Yukon. Carcross recently built about 6 or so small buildings, mostly occupied by art shops and one cozy cafe. The new plaza is across from the semi-restored frame of the SS Tutshi, but if steam boats are your thing you'll want to check out the SS Klondike. It has a historic general store, complete with old trapping equipment. Trapping is still practiced…

Also, if you make it that far, don't miss out on Dawson City! It's an old gold mining boomtown with dirt streets, saloons with swinging doors and dancing girls, and brothels converted into bed & breakfasts. Super cute and feels like the set of a movie, only it's "the real deal" (albeit now mining tourists). Dawson is also where Robert Service wrote much of his work, including The Cremation of Sam McGee . My wife and…

Slightly out of context but I want say that Canadians are the most friendly people I have ever met.

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#44

Post by goldenkey »

ars wrote: post #42
vintagedave wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drink - the toe? For those of us thousands of kilometers away, can you explain what strange and probably amazing Canadian tradition this is, please?

An alcoholic drink with the toe of some famous dead person in it. You don't eat/drink the toe - you give it back after you are done with the drink. Google "Sourtoe Cocktail" for more info (or maybe don't :)

From what I searched, it seems to be the toe of a random person who donates it. Not quite the same allure but still a cool idea.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sourtoe-cocktail

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#45

Post by jcranmer »

sandworm101 wrote: post #34
shirro wrote: post #32

When visiting New Zealand I was driving through Rangipo "Desert" and it gets 1500-2500mm of rain a year. Just bad soils and volcanic desolation. I live in an area where people grow crops on around 250mm of rain a year. Though a bit of bad land management and drought can turn land to sand dunes pretty fast. We probably have hundreds of smaller deserts throughout the region if semi-arid conditions and sand dunes are th…

The article does expain how it fits the semi-arid definition as it gets 250-500mm, nowhere near 2500. Snow doesnt count, which is why antarctica is technically a dessert. Sand isnt part of the standard.

Snow does count, although I assume it's tracked as water equivalent instead of snowfall depth (10mm of snow is generally equivalent to 1mm of rain). Antarctica gets very little precipitation, particularly on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#46

Post by japhyr »

wk_end wrote: post #36
japhyr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you at, if you don't mind my asking? I'm in Sitka, and I'm always curious to see people from the far northwest on HN. I did the Klondike relay a few times in the mid 2000s, and I really miss getting up that way. I hope to do that race again in the next few years, and to spend more time in the Yukon.

What do you do in Sitka? I've thought and still think about moving up to northern BC (Prince Rupert/Terrace) or the Yukon, but I can't square it with the lack of tech work up there...

I've been a high school math and science teacher most of my life, but I've also been a programmer on the side all my life. I few years ago I wrote a Python book that's doing well, so I'm slowly transitioning away from classroom teaching and into more technical work.

There are definitely not many programmers in small towns up here. But I'm not sure how many people are doing remote work, that's really hard to tell. It would be hard to get established in tech up here, but once you've got enough experience to work remote you can figure something out. Travel isn't cheap though, and it does take a bit longer to get most places. But living next to true wilderness is just amazing.

My contact info is in my profile if you've got any more specific questions.

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#47

Post by msravi »

Now all it needs is a legend!

Reminds me of Talakadu (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talakadu), a deserty patch along the Kaveri riverbank, about 130km from Bangalore. It even comes with its own legend in which a queen cursed the ruler of Mysore. The curse:

ತಲಕಾಡು ಮರಳಾಗಿ; ಮಾಲಿಂಗಿ ಮಡುವಾಗಿ, ಮೈಸೂರು ದೊರೆಗೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳಾಗದೆ ಹೋಗಲಿ!

Let Talakadu be filled with sand; Let Malangi turn into a whirlpool; Let the King of Mysore never have kids.

Coincidentally, the Mysore royal family does not have heirs born into the family to this day. For the last several generations, they have adopted an heir - who might beget a kid - but a kid born into the family has not had heirs.

The temples in Talakadu have to be constantly cleared of sand. I remember visiting as a kid and there were whole temples buried underneath the sand. I'm not sure if that charm and mystery still exists, but it certainly was a fascinating place!

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#48

Post by doctorwho »

goldenkey wrote: post #44
ars wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An alcoholic drink with the toe of some famous dead person in it. You don't eat/drink the toe - you give it back after you are done with the drink. Google "Sourtoe Cocktail" for more info (or maybe don't :)

From what I searched, it seems to be the toe of a random person who donates it. Not quite the same allure but still a cool idea. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sourtoe-cocktail

Toes have been stolen or swallowed (yup) over the years and replacements have been donated. There's now a hefty fine for anyone who wants to swallow the toe.

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#49

Post by ficklepickle »

huhtenberg wrote: post #18

There's also Osoyos "desert" of a similar nature (that is, more of a sandy dry patch). It's 400 km to the East from Vancouver, in the Okanagan valley with its vineyards, wineries and whatnots. Wineries are quite nice; the desert - not so much :) https://www.google.com/search?q=osoyos+desert

C'mon, there are also rattlesnakes, coyotes, big-horn sheep, tumbleweed, sagebrush, cactus and even the odd scorpion.

It is an amazing and unique climate in Canada and almost always defies the average foreign tourists' idea of what Canada "is".

About 20km north of Osoyoos is MacIntyre bluff, a shear cliff face formed near the end of the last ice age.

Okanagan lake, over 100km long and 400m deep, is home to a mythical giant serpent-type creature known as Ogopogo.

It is a gorgeous place to visit, especially in the summer, although forest fire season can suck.

Re: The world's smallest desert is in Canada

#50

Post by lb1lf »

There's also a tiny, semi-arid desert in Norway (!) of all places - Kvitsanden (The White Sands) by Røros. (62 degrees 34 minutes North, 11 degrees 22 minutes East).

Semi-arid - annual precipitation at Røros (on a highland plain, far from the sea) is some 550mm or so, but some 150-200mm or so of this comes as snow.

The 'desert' itself is approx. a square kilometer (0.4 square miles) - large enough for desert-like phenomena like shifting dunes to occur, small enough that there aren't (to my knowledge) any wildlife there which you wouldn't also find in the surrounding area.

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