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).
