Seen in the picture are the smoking hills near the community of Paulatuk (”Place of Soot”) and the Horton River. They actually smoke.. As the hills erode, lignite is exposed to oxygen which causes it spontaneously combust and form smoke. Pretty neat. The smoke is quite acidic and dramatically effects the landscape behind the hills.
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"Smoking Hills" is filed under photoblog. It was published in July 2007.
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Interesting.
It’s so weird how these amazing sights are in the middle of nowhere and so few get to enjoy them…
Hey, hey, hey! Is that what the locals told you? If you look closely, you’ll see all the little local kids puffing on their cigs where their parents can’t find them. Makes a great tourist story.
Nice!
What the hell is lignite (although even the NAME sounds flamable)? Looks like you’re having an amazing time buddy! You live enough for everyone! Congrats on dreams made real.
I take great offence to the comment left by “Dad”. As a resident of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada, I know that we have our share of problems. However, these are no more nor less than the problems that everyone else has in their own community whether in the States or in Canada. Unfortunately, it is people like “Dad” who leave comments such as these who further the stereotype and reputation that Americans are rude and ignorant.
The smoking hills by Paulatuk are gorgeous and beautiful. To the photographer: You have wonderfully captured this scene!
Wikipedia has more information at the following site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_hills
Dear Leslie,
1. If this spot had been located in Southern Ontario, dad would have said the same thing about it, so there was no cultural degradation inferred.
2. Being defensive here isn’t cool - because it means you’re assuming the worst about someone else (see number 3)
3. Good for you for living in YK but it doesn’t give you the right to charge him with ignorance based on one comment.
Oddly, as it turns out, you were the one stereotyping. Spend less time being offended and more time giving others the benefit of the doubt.
I live in Paulatuk and I agree with Leslie’s comment it was rude and sterotypical, get your facts straight .
Thanks Becky. Couldn’t have said it better myself. You know I am one of the first to make dumb comments about me. However, there are some folks out there that take these things serious and I guess I should be a little more cognizant of their feelings.
My apologies to Leslie.
PS: I live in Burlington Ontario. I have no idea where the US flag beside my name comes from but I am 100% Canadian. So, I don’t mind what was said about me - but I think Leslie and Pat might owe an apology to our American friends who are neither rude, nor ignorant as they seem to feel. In fact, I find them to be very nice people. Obviously much nicer than me.
PS: Lee, the picture IS beautiful, like all of the others you have taken of your new home.
Wow, quite the dialogue. Nowhere did Dad make reference to kids from Paulatuk, or even children from the north for that matter…. kids hide from their parents and smoke in every city, town and suburb regardless of its size or its cultural or social fabric. Good for you Dad to be imaginative in the way you see photographs, and way to go Becky- I agree, lets all demonstrate less defensiveness, and just enjoy Lee’s beautiful shot.
Hi folks!
Nice to see someone took some amazing pictures, from the site, I initiated the article on Wikipedia about two years ago, when our professor in “atmosphere and climate” told us about that amazing site. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_Hills) .
If you wouldn’t mind upload your photos to Wikicommons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Upload) that would be really nice! If you want you can also just sent them to my Gmail adress “jonas.haller” and I’ll do the rest. (respecting your rights on the photos and so on) =)
Thank you very much and have a good weekend,
Saippuakauppias
That picture of those endlessly smouldering and smoking hills is incredible! I wonder if weather affects the speed of incineration, such as wind or precipitation, which the latter I imagine is snow most of the year, due to its location relative to the Arctic Circle. I wonder if anyone ever tried to get “warmed up” nare there in the sub-zero “dead” of winter? I am going try to discover more info about the hills, and whether the smoke is toxic or harmful to breathe? Can there be flames fanned by the wind or just glowing “embers” of lignite?
Maybe the top post that I have read this month??
Bonita