The mighty Athabasca River runs through the sand formations in the huge Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Peter Pond was the European who explored the area. Local First Nations showed him how to patch his birch bark canoe with the bitumen contained in the sand river banks.

This mighty river continually erodes the sand banks bringing the sand and bitumen into the water as it flows north.

In case you don't know, the largest town in the municipality is called Fort McMurray.   The municipal structure governs Fort McMurray & the surrounding area.

I enjoy looking at the wood bison that live on the reclaimed mining area south of the main Syncrude oilsands plant.