Mike Pearson's Adventures on a Pale Blue Dot

Larsen Creek Bridge and Cut 6...This is the area that stirred up the  protesters the most. The wetlands and creek that the old hiking path skirted around. I walked the path before we started work on the project. It was easy to see why the locals were upset about plans to run the highway through this lush, tranquil forest... just minutes away from the hustle and bustle of West Vancouver. The project went ahead despite the epic struggle between protesters and the province. The only thing that could be done now, was to not make a huge mess, and do more damage than was totally necessary. Cut 6 was a large rock outcropping directly across from the wetlands. The blasting crew worked very hard to pull the shots away from the sensitive marsh area. Blasters do have reasonable control over the direction that a blast moves in, You need enough room to land a shot though...and we didn't have any extra here. We only had one shot that spilled some rocks over the fence when it all piled up....

Aerial photos of the Sea to Sky project thru-cut on Segment Two. Not sure on the spelling.."Doodson's Corner" or "Duteson's Corner"...maybe something else all together...I didn't work on this section and never saw the name spelled out...I just heard it mentioned in meetings and conversations. The job was a large thru -cut to straighten out a section of the Squamish highway that originally went around the huge rock outcropping. The blasters struggled at times with large slabs of rock tumbling to the highway and rails below...and destroying both at times. The railroad owners didn't think that this was very funny, and shut down blasting operations several times....telling ( not asking ) the contractor to come up with a new plan that didn't involve the destruction of their property. The helicopter work was done mostly by Robin MacGregor of Goldwing Helicopters, or Garret from the Sechelt base of Blackcomb Helicopters. The blasting superintendent wa...