6/12 Caught a 25″ northern pike which made a fine dinner, very mild and rather bony but quite nice. Hiked down to the Rapids of the Drowned, named for five employees of the Northwest Company who drowned in the rapids in 1786.
Who would believe pelicans! Yes pelicans frolicking in the rapids. Apparently, White Pelicans migrate to this area, the northern most nesting site known, and roost on the islands amid a cornucopia of fish to raise their young.
6/11 Tried my luck at fishing and hooked a good sized pickerel ( about 20″) worked it for a minute or so but then it threw the hook ( NWT requires that hooks be barbless, so I’ll blame the loss on that). Fished for another hr or so but no further action.
We drove to the Salt Plains, about 25 mi W of Fort Smith. Springs leach salt from subterranean salt deposits and percolate to the surface leaving vast salt sheets on the plain. Bear, wolf, buffalo and other wildlife tracks indicated that the salt is a large draw for animals, although none were visible this afternoon.
6/10 Leaving the campground, in the morning, we drove a short distance to the other twin falls, Alexandra Falls; again, no Niagra but worth the visit, and a bonus for Arlyne – no spiral stairway. Driving north along Hwy 1, the forests kept changing from mixed to stunted spruce and back again. Stopped for gas in Hay River and I asked the gas attendant what the winters were like. He said that historically there was lots of snow in November into January and then it became too cold ( -40 to -50° C) for snow, but that recently the winters have been getting warmer. Last winter was unusually warm, only getting down to -20 or so, and even then only for short periods; then the temperature would rise to around +10°C, for a day or two – just enough to ruin things for snow mobiling.
Leaving Hay River we drove along Rt 5, about 50 mi of which was hard packed gravel in good condition but quite dusty. Entered Wood Buffalo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is larger than Switzerland. The Park protects the world’s largest (over 5000) free roaming herd of wood buffalo and is also the world’s only natural whooping crane nesting site. We didn’t see any buffalo or cranes – perhaps on the way out.
Camped at Queen Elizabeth Territorial Park, Fort Smith, NWT.
6/9 A gray drizzly start to the day, although the temperature wasn’t too bad – high 50s. Heading north along Rt 35 from High Level was pretty but fairly boring because the road was straight as an arrow and the forest, which was a colorful mix of spruce, birch and aspen trees, lined the road so you couldn’t see beyond; it was like driving through a tunnel of trees. We passed a wooden railroad trestle which was steaming in the sun after a passing shower but other than that nothing of note came into view.
Wahoo! Finally reached the Northwest Territories. Had a most informative conversation with the park ranger at the Welcome Center; she told us about the prettiest places to go, where to get gas – there are probably not more than 10 gas stations in all of the NWT), the best places to camp and where to find food stores. She also explained a little of the history of the region.
Camped at Louise Falls Campground, Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park, Enterprise, NWT. Hiked down to Louise Falls, in the Hay River Gorge ; not Niagra but pretty enough and the sun broke thru so the hike was quite enjoyable, except for the spiral stairs which were not Arlyne’s cup of tea. The trail except for the stairs, of course, was that used by the Dene (the aboriginal people of the region) to portage their canoes around the Louise and Alexandra falls on their way to Great Slave Lake (Slave is the name for the Dene tribe who live in the area).
