Tag: Canada

  • Canada’s Dominion Land Survey Meridian

    One of my favorite activities and side-benefits on Twelve Mile Circle involves thoughtful correspondence. That happens when readers contact me offline, directly through the email link. We have opportunities to share experiences, discuss geo-oddities in a little more detail and develop story lines that sometimes result in full-blown articles. Casual readers may not realize the…

  • Great White North(ish)

    I came across another wonderful map as I reviewed the Dead Tree Media over the weekend. The City of Toronto bought a full-page advertisement hoping to entice tourists from the northeast United States to cross the border into Canada for a weekend or a few days. They presented several lighthearted graphics designed to attract the…

  • Mount Pearl Mystery

    Why do I get such a disproportional number of visitors from Mount Pearl? It’s just a random small city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. So is there something on Twelve Mile Circle that resonates with its 25,000 residents? Or does a small number of amazingly dedicated 12MC fans happen to live there? I am sure…

  • Shack at the End of the Road

    I strolled vicariously through Street View images leading to the northernmost coverage area of Canada, all the way to the town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. I pushed further north and further north at the tap of a trackpad until I could move no further on my laptop. Then I arrived right here at…

  • Closest Border Monuments — Found!

    I wrote recently about the many thousands of tiny segments that form the boundary between Canada and the United States. Fittingly, I called the article Canada-USA Border Segment Extremes. I’d been following up on a query from loyal reader “Greg”. Back then he asked if I knew where he could find the shortest of those…

  • Carolinian Canada

    Carolinian Canada? I know the Carolinas (North and South) and I’ve visited parts of Canada, but I’d never seen the two combined before into a single thought. I’d spied that unfamiliar phrase during my exhaustive search for the world’s best place to observe a sunrise and a sunset over water. Naturally it triggered my curiosity.…

  • Missisquoi Bay Exclave

    Often a question once answered leads to another question on Twelve Mile Circle. So I’d just analyzed the thousands of separate border segments between Canada and the United States. Then I stumbled upon a very small US exclave that I’d never noticed before. It’s located on Missisquoi Bay, an extension of Lake Champlain. Thus, it…

  • Southernmost Northern Permafrost

    Permafrost is defined as soil that maintains a temperature at or below freezing for two complete summers and an intervening winter. Actual “frost” doesn’t need to be present. Also the extent of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere varies dramatically. It depends on many factors including topography, seasonal weather patterns, and permanent climate change. There are…

  • Point Roberts – Stranded by an International Border

    Point Roberts, Washington cannot be reached by land from the rest of the United States. One must drive first into Canada, curve around Boundary Bay, and then cross the border again to re-enter the United States at this remote corner. The establishment of a border between the United States and Canada along the 49th parallel…

  • Smallest Largest Provincial Island in Canada

    You read that right. Perhaps I can rephrase it better: Each Canadian Province or Territory has a largest island. When considering that list, which one is the smallest? Today’s totally trivial topic comes courtesy of the confluence of many competing thoughts that pinged around my mind lately: I’m “-est” fixated (you know, things ending in…