Tuesday, August 21
Hard
to believe I haven’t written a new blog post for 12 days, so sit back and get
ready for a marathon if you have the time.
We
camped in Lamont, Alberta, on the 9th and enjoyed another
thunderstorm so typical of the prairies. From there we bootered north to
Athabasca and camped for the weekend at a lovely private campground called
Blueberry Hill. The town is situated on the banks of the Athabasca River and
reminded us a lot of towns along the Columbia River in Oregon: easy to bicycle,
easy to find your way around. We toured the university campus (closed for the
summer), shopped at the farmer’s market and thrift shop and took three whole
days to get a feel for the area.
On
Monday night we camped in the provincial park at Lesser Slave Lake and had a
great campfire in the pine trees while the sun set over the lake. The shoreline
was white sand with waves lapping along its length, driftwood and seagulls, and
a fabulous sunset. The results of the horrendous forest fire that burned one-third
of the town last summer are almost gone. The areas that burned have been
rebuilt and the only way to tell is that the landscaping is new, with young
trees and fewer gardens. Remarkable.
Tuesday
we were in Peace River at the Lions Club campground overlooking – what else? –
the mighty Peace. The campground is on a barren plateau that, until a few years
ago, was a lovely forested site. Then the pine beetles arrived and all the
trees had to be chopped down. Still, we enjoyed the open view and the many
trains that passed by all night, hooting their way out of town.
It
was at this point we made our final decision as to our destination. My cousin
Brian and his wife, Hazel, have lived in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories,
for the past 30-odd years and no one from the family has visited them despite
annual invitations. It meant a detour of about 2000 km (1200 miles) round-trip
but what the heck, who knows when we’d be back this way, right? So, we said see
you soon, Brian sent us directions – “turn right at Peace River, turn left at
Enterprise and drive to the end of the road.” So off we went. And here we are.
The Mackenzie Highway is blacktop or paved all the way and, except for the 50-mile
stretch
immediately before Yellowknife, it’s darn good, wide and easy driving.
We stopped
overnight in High Level, again in Hay River on the south shore of Great
Slave
Lake, and a third night in Ft. Providence (oh my, the black flies were
amazing)
before making the final 170-mile stretch to the city. Going from Hay
River to Ft. Providence we crossed the Mackenzie River on the ferry
while looking up at the new and not-so-popular Mackenzie Bridge now (and
forever, it seems) under construction. We had worried a little
about gas but it turns out it isn’t a problem, at least this time of
year. Gas
stations are located at least every 150 miles and that handles even old
rigs
like ours that get 8-9 mpg at the best of time. The highest price we
paid was
in Enterprise where a liter is $1.49 ($5.62/gallon in US dollars). We
were
warned to watch out for buffalo on the highway as we were traveling
through the
Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary, but saw nothing but a black bear, a wolf, a
sandhill
crane and oodles of Canada geese.
The
only road mishap we’ve had is a random rock smashing into our windshield just
north of Twin Lakes, courtesy of a passing truck. This is our 8th
summer RV trip without major window smacks so I guess we were due. On the way
back south we’ll stop in High Level where a new windshield will be installed.
Brian
and
Hazel have a lovely home at the edge of the old part of Yellowknife
and,
having lived here so many years, know the lay of the land intimately.
And they
shared it with us. We’ve had guided tours of the city, the old gold
mines, and
a special trip to – literally – the end of the road where there’s a
giant stop
sign and, unless you have a canoe in the summer or are prepared to
travel the
ice road in the winter, you go no farther. The ice roads lead to the
famous
diamond mines, located hundreds of miles from town. We’ve visited
incredible
northern lakes, viewed ice-cold waterfalls and rapids, and almost
reached the
northern tree line where the pines and firs are stunted and old. We've
seen gigantic jaw-dropping displays of the Northern Lights covering the
whole sky all night long. Yellowknife is the center of the Aurora
universe, boasting more displays per year than anywhere else on earth
and they're year-round when it's dark enough to see them.
Last
night we met their son Tim and his wife Laura for the first time. Tim is a
meat-cutter and treated us to huge Alberta beef steaks cooked to perfection.
Laura was born in Inuvik on the Arctic Ocean, which leads me to our Big News:
On
Thursday Hazel, Jim and I are flying to Inuvik and staying a night! Hazel works
for the airline that makes the daily flight and arranged our trip including the
hotel room and rental car. She has been there many times teaching quilting arts and
also in her previous capacity, head of the Girl Scouts in the Northwest Territories.
She’s the perfect tour guide for this trip-of-a-lifetime. So, on Thursday
night, you can picture us well above the Arctic Circle. In a week or so I’ll
post real pictures to this blog.
Meantime,
stay well and stay in touch.
Laura and Tim
Sunset over Lesser Slave Lake
Brian, Hazel, Jim and Laura
Jim and Brian atop the rock at the end of the road
Lady Evelyn Falls, south of the Mackenzie River in NWT
