Listening to Silence

A few days ago I had the opportunity to sit for awhile along Canyon Road, several kilometres above Enderby. For half an hour, all I listened to was silence. I heard the occasional rustle of a leaf in the breeze, and a few lone birds. Once or twice a car went by and punctuated the quiet, but most of the time, silence was all I heard.

When I lived at Gardom Lake, I was surrounded by silence. Now, living in the heart of a city, I wonder how we can create more outdoor opportunities for quiet. It should not be necessary to drive or cycle out of town to find a few moments of peaceful solitude in nature.

Since 1972, urban noise has been considered a pollutant by the World Health Organization because of its effects on human health. Apparently cities have become so much noisier that sirens have had to become louder by 40 decibels in order to be heard!

Are we as a society getting more used to noise? Many people seem to accept using hand dryers in washrooms, which can be as loud as 90 decibels (dB)! To put this in context, a whisper is about 30 dB, normal conversation is about 60 dB, and a motorcycle engine running is about 95 dB. Noise above 85 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to ears. (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html)

Hand dryers in washrooms can be as loud as 90 decibels!

Finding, and creating, quiet places is a health issue, as well as one of aesthetics and quality of life. I have heard people say, "Well, I just close the windows and doors and stay inside!" That does not feel right to me, being forced to retreat indoors to find stillness.

Surely we can design outdoor spaces in our cities where nature, and quiet, are both part of the experience?

Those who live in detached suburban houses may be able to create quiet retreats in their patios or back yards. But for the rest of us who live in denser forms of development such as apartments and townhouses, we look to public and semi-public spaces to help provide respite from the din of the city.

Unfortunately for Salmon Arm, both the Trans Canada Highway and the railway are sources of significant noise. The city is laid out with Mount Ida as a backdrop which echoes the sound back to us.

It is very hard to escape the roar of the highway in any of our parks. I walked around McGuire Lake recently and was hard-pressed to have a conversation with my friend, because of the jackhammer-like rumbles of semi-trucks, gearing down to either ascend or descend the hill.

Early spring at McGuire Lake. Such an attractive setting - park benches, a burbling creek with covered bridge, canopy trees and flower gardens. The only detraction from a peaceful experience at McGuire Lake is the noisy highway immediately behind.

Though a little further away from the highway than McGuire Lake, other city parks, such as Peter Jannink, Fletcher and Marine, still suffer from the constant thunder of vehicles streaming in the distance.

Finding innovative ways to create quiet outdoor spaces is a challenge in Salmon Arm - but one that is critical.

One obvious idea is to focus attention upon areas that are a distance from noise generating sources like the highway.

Nancy Clark garden at Okanagan College. The nearby gazebo is a peaceful place to contemplate nature. The highway can still be heard, but it is a muted distant presence.

Another view of the Nancy Clark garden 

This cool idea from Okanagan College recognizes the importance of quiet time in nature. Where might these chairs be taken in Salmon Arm to find the solitude referred to in the poster? 

A fountain or other water feature provides soothing sound, while masking more annoying ones such as highway noise. As the video below illustrates, the fountain at the wharf does a good job of covering other sounds - except for the lone chirping of a young osprey.

Here are a few ideas that might work for Salmon Arm to add quiet outdoor spaces to our city:

Take advantage of the sound-baffling function of buildings and walls. 

Buildings can act as a barrier to sound transmission. For example, the mass of the CSRD Building and Lakeside Manor block the sound of both the railway and the highway. Consequently, the walkway which goes along Shuswap Lake on the north side of these buildings is relatively quiet. A "pullout" with benches was created on this walkway; the benches are quiet havens from noise. Opportunities like this need to be taken advantage of whenever they are presented.

A quiet space where buildings have blocked highway and railway noise

We need to pay attention to the role that the "back" of a building can play. Any time a public or semi-public building faces away from a busy road, let's ask the question of the designer and architect - "are there ways this building can be used to create a public quiet area outside"?

These chairs in front of Askews can be relatively quiet, despite the local street sounds. The buildings across the street block highway noise, and the building behind can block some of the noise from the railway (although unfortunately it can bounce back from across the street).

These benches at Fletcher Park are protected from highway noise by the building behind them, and the restroom building (below).

The restrooms at Fletcher Park help reduce highway noise for users of these benches.

There are multiple opportunities in the downtown area to create small sitting areas using building walls to help muffle sound. Here are a few thoughts.

Physiotherapy offices recently moved into this building, revamping the parking lot and installing a ramp. There is protected space tucked against the building which could be converted into a pleasant outdoor sitting area free of highway noise, with container plantings of trees and shrubs adding to the atmosphere.

The north side of the SASCU building, while it faces the tracks, is protected from highway noise. The oversized parking lot could sacrifice a few stalls to create an outdoor space without causing a parking problem.

In many cases the most protected spaces between buildings are occupied by parking lots. As we look at ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels, and create a sustainable, pedestrian-oriented community, these parking lots could provide quiet outdoor spaces free from both highway and railway noise.

This parking lot, on the north side of the tracks, is nestled between two buildings and offers potential for a small quiet space in a corner, using a few stalls.

Use trees and shrubbery to reduce sound. 

Plants have the ability to baffle sound. One source I found indicated that a row of plants 25 feet deep, reaching to the ground and composed of mixed species of shrubs and trees (conifers and broad-leafed) can reduce sound levels by up to 10 decibels. Perhaps that is an idea for the slope below the highway, between it and McGuire Lake. A dense buffer of vegetation could muffle sound below it.

A thick border of plants along the south side of City Hall. The space beside them is devoted to grass. There is an opportunity for a sitting area here.

A small but thick planting along Harbourfront Drive. Many more plantings like this would help muffle noise in the urban environment.

Attractive landscaping at the Credit Union building. Some thicker shrubs or conifers would add to the ability of this area to create a quiet space.

This attractive sitting area along Lakeshore Drive seems to be underutilized. I wonder if having only one entrance is a barrier. Do people feel more comfortable going into an enclosed space if there is a second exit?

This fenceline between Fletcher Park and Okanagan Avenue presents an opportunity for a planting of dense shrubs. These could replace the grass, and would muffle highway noise for park users. 

I have written in other posts about the many benefits of planting trees. Dampening urban noise is another reason to do so! Plus, trees and shrubs give us nature sounds to focus upon such as rustling leaves, the swoosh of bird wings, and their songs and chirps.

Create water features. 

I have mentioned the fountain at the wharf. The one at McGuire Lake is attractive, but the highway is just too close and too noisy to be adequately muffled by the fountain.

The fountain at Ross Street Plaza helps mask highway noise - as well as creating an attractive focal point in the downtown.

A water feature at the new Shoreline development near the Prestige Hotel. The bubbling of this miniature fountain is enjoyed by passersby on the walkway.

I suspect there are many opportunities to use water on private properties. Garden centres sell a variety of small pumps and fountains of different sizes.

Of course, the best water feature is a natural one! Here is Turner Creek, heard along the Turner Creek trail between the Hilltop Hotel and Okanagan College.

I encourage readers to think of ways we can create more quiet spaces in our city, especially the urban core. As humans, we need silence in nature. It's part of our genetic make-up!

Cycling Spallumcheen

On Saturday I almost caused Ken to go down on his road bike. He only stayed vertical on the road because of his years of cycling experience.

We were on the return leg of a long hot ride. I was in front, with him behind me, close on my wheel. We were switching the lead back and forth, in order to keep our speed up. The one behind gets a bit of a rest in the draft of the rider in front.

Our route took us along Heywood-Armstrong Road, which joins Salmon River Road at Glenemma. We were a few kilometres east of the bridge at Glenemma, and travelling at a good clip on shiny new asphalt, when I rounded a corner and saw a large black animal crossing the road in front of me.

Initially I assumed it was a very large dog. It took a few seconds to register that I was looking at a full-sized black bear. Without thinking, I yelled "Bear!" - and slammed on my brakes at the same time.

It was me slamming on the brakes without warning that was the problem. My yell spooked the bear and it ran off across the road into the forest. But my braking so suddenly caused a very close call for Ken as he was forced to both brake and keep himself from running into my rear wheel.

He skidded left, then right, on the slippery, hot pavement, then came within an inch of my wheel. He told me after he was convinced he was going to go down. However, he managed both to stay up and to avoid crashing into me.

While I have seen bears while cycling in the Cariboo, and in northern BC, this was my closest encounter with one while riding the roads accessible from Salmon Arm. I should not have been so surprised. After all, I do live in bear country, and I have seen a lot of other wildlife from the bike, including a fox carrying freshly caught prey in its mouth, moose and deer, turkey vultures, hawks, eagles, many songbirds and woodpeckers, and small mammals like squirrels, voles and chipmunks.

The roads around Enderby and Armstrong have become some of our favorite local area cycling routes.

The country that we ride through varies from the cedar and fir forests of Canyon Road near Enderby, to Ponderosa pine country along Salmon River Road. The roads are quiet, compared to the much busier back roads of Shuswap Lake country. Farming is the primary activity.

Along Canyon Road, just after the 3 km climb out of Enderby. The sign makes the area's priority clear. Cornfields such as this one dot the landscape throughout Spallumcheen.

Parkinson Road, between Enderby and Armstrong. Forested hills like those in the background provide an ever-present, and ever-changing vista for the cyclist.

Seen from Parkinson Road, looking towards the southern toe of Mount Ida. The gravel road is a private drive; the roads we cycle on are paved. 

Looking north from the top of Hallam Road, a short but steep climb up from Salmon River Road below

Lansdowne Road heading north towards Hulcar Road. We don't see too many tractors on the road, but if one is in sight, Ken will try to catch it so he can draft it. Tractors in "road gear" go very fast!

The varied fragrances along roadsides are one of the things I enjoy about cycling. In spring it is blossoms and wild roses. By August, many roadside weeds are in flower, and I have been surprised at how fragrant some of them are. The sun in the Douglas fir forests releases their scent and that wafts across the pavement as I ride. In farming country, hay fields are always intoxicating after the hay has been freshly cut.

Heywood-Armstrong Road looking north with Canada Goldenrod in the foreground.  

The roads around Spallumcheen are invigorating for many reasons. The undulating terrain means that the cyclist winds around curves, ascends hills that vary in steepness, then drops, then climbs again. There is a challenge in doing the hard work that can push legs and lungs to the limit of their endurance. But there are rewards -- the exhilarating rush against the wind, the intensity of living in the moment, the need for complete focus and being in "the zone" that makes the sense of time disappear.

Along Heywood-Armstrong Road looking west. This is the beginning of the descent to the Salmon River bridge at Glenemma.

Yankee Flats Road looking north towards Mt Ida. The Salmon River lies in the valley to the east (right of the photo). Plastic wrapped hay bales are in the background.

Lansdowne Road looking north

Looking north east from the same spot as the above photo on Lansdowne Road 

Along Parkinson Road looking south-west

Along Parkinson Road

Bee hives at Wild Mountain Honey Farm on Hallam Road.

Highland Park Road, looking north towards Schubert Road.

Along Hallam Road looking east towards the Highway 97 valley. Spallumcheen has many larger operations with big barns for dairy cows, pigs and chickens.

From open fields planted to corn or hay, to pastures for cows and horses, large barns for livestock, and small scale operations ... agriculture in Spallumcheen reflects a real diversity. The variety is made even more so by the pockets of undeveloped forest land interspersed with agricultural operations. The mix creates many opportunities for wildlife to survive alongside their domesticated counterparts.

I constantly hear bird song as I cycle -  the cries of hawks overhead, the chitter of kingbirds on wires above me, the whistles of flickers, the chirps of chickadees, and the melancholic drones of nuthatches. But sometimes the only sound I hear is the whoosh of the bicycle against the wind, tires singing against the pavement. .

Forests and farmland 

Lansdowne Road. The open road beckons!

Your author on the aptly named Sleepy Hollow Road; wooded and quiet, it is a great road for cycling.

I have shown images of some of the roads between Enderby and Armstrong. There are more wonderful cycling roads to the south-west of Armstrong -- Otter Lake, Grandview Flats, Corkscrew Road and St. Anne's Road are a few. The country is much more open in this area, less wooded.

In summer, Shuswap area roads can be very busy with holidayers and their vehicles pulling campers, trailers and boats. These can pose a hazard to the cyclist. Comparatively speaking, the Armstrong area is much more pleasant for road cycling...even including the possibility of bears. Now that I know that one can amble out onto the road when I least expect it, I will be more prepared on future rides.

The open road will always call me!