Continued along Rt 1 stopping at several rapids and falls along the way. Smokey haze from forest fires made taking distance shots chancy. Whirlpool Canyon, Laird River Rapids and Rancheria Falls. Buffalo all over the place along with a small Grizzly bear and later, a Black bear. Stopped at Watson Lake to view the signpost forest and put up a sign. The Alaska Highway Museum, in the Visitor’s Center, is really worth viewing, it gives one a good appreciation of what was involved in building the highway . Camped at Dawson Peaks Campground, Teslin, YK; very nice view of Teslin Lake and only 2 other campers.
Pitzed around Fort Nelson looking for diesel oil and a bug screen for the truck’s radiator, check on the oil but no go on the bug screen; so I’ll make one from window screening. Driving Rt 97 west from Fort Nelson is a fun drive; it’s all twisty-turney and upsy-downzy with steep inclines going through the mountains; it would be a dream in a Porsche or a Ferrari. The major problem with the road is that the scenery is incredibly gorgeous so we kept stopping for photos, even in the rain. Saw mama bear and cubs, stone sheep, and a wood buffalo herd. Finally arived at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. Set up the camper and soaked in the springs – Ahhhh!
Drove back down Rt 1 and then onto Rt 7; landscape along the way is mostly muskeg, basically bog. Rt 7 is mostly gravel, which means everything gets covered with a fine layer of rock dust, we’ll be cleaning it out of the camper for the next year. Stopped at Blackstone Territorial Park which has a spectacularly beautiful setting on the Laird River, another campground it would be wonderful to spend time exploring. Stopped at Fort Liard to gas up; a nice little town (population 500). Camped at Triple G campground, Fort Nelson, BC. – felt like a sardine but it was late and the only place to camp
6/21 We flew to Nahanni National Park on a Simpson Air Cessna 185 floatplane. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising more than 7 million acres and is a pristine example of Canadian wilderness. It is representative of the Mackenzie mountain range region as it was when it was the exclusive domain of the Dene, before the Europeans arrived. The South Nahanni river, which cuts through the length of the park, has created spectacular canyons, some of which are 3000 – 4000 ft deep, and awe-inspiring rapids and waterfalls. We landed on the river just above Virginia Falls which is twice the height of Niagra and hiked to the top of the falls.
Imagine Waking Up to This – View of Little Doctor’s Lake from Nahanni Mountain Lodge
Virginia Falls
The violence of the rapids leading to the falls was amazing; unfortunately time did allow us to take the 2 hour hike to the bottom, so we didn’t get a view of it’s true magnificence. On the way back to Fort Simpson we landed on Little Doctor’s Lake to see the Nahanni Mountain Lodge, owned and run by Ted Grant the owner of Simpson Air and had an enjoyable time talking with a group of men who had rented the Lodge for the week. What a gorgeous place to get away from it all and just relax and fish. The trip was well worth it both for the scenery and the enjoyment of meeting new people. However, Arlyne did find the flight to be extremely bumpy and nauseating, and vowed never to fly in a small plane again. I, however, totally enjoyed the trip, perhaps because I love sailing, with it’s constant interaction with the wind, and found the flight quite delightful.
6/20 Went to the Fort Simpson Visitor Center, which had an interesting exhibit of local history, and used their internet; it wasn’t fast but did allow us to make some phone calls. As we left the Center a flock of Sandhill Cranes stalked across an adjacent field looking for food. We then went to watch the Hand Games. The games, a traditional Dene sport, are actually quite subtle and complicated but a simplistic explanation is as follows: There are two teams each with 4-10 players and 10 – 20 supporters with hide drums. Each member of the team that is up has a pebble which he, or she (although the teams we saw were only men) shows to the opposing team and then hides in his hands. The hands are then placed under a sheet and the pebble is passed back and forth between the hands, to the accompaniment of banging drums. During the drumming the opposing team’s captain, using hand signals, directs certain players to show their hands. Eventually, the captain bets, using sticks, on which hand a certain player has hidden the pebble. A game may last all day or until one team has won all the sticks. It was fun the watch but difficult to pick up the signals. After watching the games we went the vendor’s field and feasted on scrumptious moose stew. Up here moose, caribou, beaver and bear, among other wildlife, appear on local menus quite frequently.
6/19 Left Ft Providence early since we didn’t know what conditions on the 70 mi gravel part of Rt 1 would be; as it turned out, very good but dusty and dirty. Stopped at Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park to view the falls. Had a delightful conversation with Ranger Ray who filled us in on the trails, fossils and morel hunting in and around the park. He also clued us in to the goings on in Ft Simpson – this weekend is the 3rd Annual Łĺĺdļļ Kųę First Nation Traditional Spring Gathering which has many games, dances and free BBQs. Walked, with the dogs down to the falls; Tat sprained his paw so I had to carry him back, so we never made it to the falls. Samba Deh is a beautiful park and would be a delightful place to camp and spend several days hiking and enjoying, unfortunately, we can’t dally, Alaska beckons. Left the park and continued; about 5mi further on we encountered a black bear strolling down the road towards us. About 50 mi down the road we had a free ferry ride across the Liard River and several miles after we reached Fort Simpson where we camped at the Fort Simpson Territorial Park.
6/18 Started towards Fort Simpson, retracing Rt 3 – no buffalo this time. Drove through the town of Fort Providence, a simple one general store town on the banks of the Mackenzie River. Surprisingly, the town also had a fairly large medical clinic; how a town of 450 people, in the middle of nowhere, can support the clinic is a mystery. Camped at Fort Providence Territorial Park and caught a nice sized northern pike for dinner. Saw several bald eagles soaring over the river.
6/15 – 6/17 Yellowknife is a relaxed city of about 24,000, which is almost half of the population of the entire NWT. The uptown section contains the usual architecture of any modern city, including skyscrapers, while Old Town consists of original one room log “shacks” sitting side by side with modern houses on irregular lots which gives the area a picturesque character. Out in the bay are houseboats which decidedly live up to their name. First stop was the Yellowknife Visitor Center where James gave us the lowdown on things to do and places to see; he also gave us a parking sticker so we wouldn’t have to feed the meters. Lunch at the Wildcat Café, in Old Town. The Café is one of the oldest buildings in Yellowknife and exudes the history of the area. The food was delectably delicious and up to the standards of any 4 star restaurant.
Wild Cat Cafe
Delegate’s Meeting Room
Next stop was the NWT Legislative Assembly Building. The building is unique, among legislatures we have seen in that it is flooded by natural light giving the rooms a warm, congenial feeling. The government is also unique in that there are no political parties and the 13 representatives govern by consensus which assures that the concerns of each member is given full consideration.
The following day we went to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum which was incredibly well done. It contained a profusion of information about the NWT, its people, culture and industry. It also housed an exquisite collection of sculptures by Abraham Anghik Ruben a Inuvialuit artist. These works are the finest examples of Inuit sculpture we have seen.
Appeasing Sedna
Had dinner at Bullocks Bistro with a very nice couple from Calgary. Bullocks serves fish caught in Great Slave Lake; it’s unfortunate that transportation to and from Yellowknife is so arduous, otherwise the lake could support a reasonable sized fishing industry. As it is, the only market is local so there is no real commercial fishery.
Continued on Rt 1 and then branched off on Rt 3 to Yellowknife. Crossed over the Mackenzie River; the Deh Cho Bridge (deh cho is Dene and means “big river”) is a marvel. It was built in 4 years – the crews continued to work through extreme weather conditions. The state-of-the-art deck system is one continuous structure running the entire length of the superstructure, the longest such bridge in North America, and cut the mass of concrete required by 30%. The further north we went the more scraggly the spruce trees appeared, probably due to the extreme winter conditions and poor soil. There was more and more exposed bedrock as we proceeded towards Yellowknife; the land reminded us of Newfoundland which is basically a big rock covered by a dusting of soil ( the Yellowknife Golf Club issues players a square of astro turf to place the ball on when taking shots since the fairways are mostly sand and rock, and the greens are pure astro turf; also, if your ball gets stolen by a raven there is no penalty to replace it). Wood buffalo all over the place, the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary, which Rt 3 cuts through, hosts a herd of about the same size as that in Wood Buffalo National Park.
Lots of Buffalo
Buffalo and Calves
Walking Is Such Hard Work
And Thirsty Work
Slow Down Ma
We passed numerous camps of morel mushroom hunters. Extensive forest fires last year have given rise to an abundant crop of the mushrooms which bring $10 – $20 per pound. Tempted to stop and try our luck but the hunters would probably not look kindly on it since it is their livelihood and not ours. Camped at Fred Henne Territorial Park in Yellowknife. Good strong cell signal so the Rogers hotspot works fine.
6/13 Left Fort Smith and retraced our steps to Hay River. We saw ravens ingeniously nesting in well protected transmission towers and finally some wood buffalo but no whooping cranes. Headed NW from Hay River, along Rt.1. Stopped at McNallie Falls, a pretty falls named after A. McNallie who was a foreman for Western Construction and Lumber Co who in 1957, attempted to cross a rather placid appearing creek in a canoe. Once launched he realized that the current was much stronger and was rushing him toward a treacherous falls. After furious effort he managed to reach the opposite shore and fling himself onshore but the canoe was lost over the falls. Camped at Lady Evelyn Falls Territorial Park, about 1 hr NW of Hay River on Rt 1. The park is very nice but loop A campsites are much, much nicer and less buggy than those in loop B where we were. From the park website diagrams loop B looked better – oh well. A comment on the NWT black flies: they seem to come in two sizes, midgets and giants one or two giants could probably carry away a small child. The only saving grace is that it takes them forever to decide to land and take a bite, which if they do will leave behind a major crater otherwise they just mill around and try to invade every orifice.
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.
