Champlain

This is the view from the Champlain Lookout in the Gatineau Park, looking north-west up the Ottawa River valley towards the Pontiac. Not so very long ago (well, 15,000 years or so) this would have been a sea view, looking from cliffs out over the Champlain Sea. During the last Ice Age this whole region was under two kilometres of ice. As the glaciers retreated, the earth underneath took millennia to decompress and rise to its current level. Initially it was below sea level and the Eardley escarpment of the Gatineau Hills (which is what you can see in this picture) marked the coastline.

As the first European explorer of the region, Samuel de Champlain gave his name to many of the landmarks around here.

Details: Nikon D70, 18-70mm @ 27mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO 200, ND grad. 11 October 2005, Gatineau Park, Quebec. Placemark.