Still Heading North

We left Yellowknife with relatively clear skies after a day of mostly drizzle.  It was  a great drive with mostly good roads - especially on the pavement.  We stopped at Fort Providence for fuel and as we were fuelling the owner of the cardlock came along to chat once he saw our licence plates.  It turns out that he went to the same high school that I went to - just a few years later.  Another example of the small world we live in!!

Lily pads

Ready to race

After 315 kms of pavement, we opted for 450 kms of gravel.  This was done rather than the pavement route which would have been an extra 1,000 km.  The first part of the road was rather rough but the rest of it was fairly decent.  We did see several herds of wood bison along this road - in fact I thought one wanted to race us!!  Since the weather forecast predicted rain for three days plus (and yes, the predictions were pretty close), I did some driving and we chose to cover the entire distance.  We stayed at a great little municipal campground which was a great price - free.  That meant we only have 30 or so km to drive in wet soupy gravel.

We discovered Yukon's territorial campgrounds - $12.00 a night with no services except wood, bathrooms and sometimes water.  Some of them are very nice, some could use some improvement in the sites  as they could be very muddy.  We stayed at a couple of them which were quite nice and enjoyable.  As we travelled on the Yukon roads we crossed the BC/Yukon border six times.  As we passed through northern BC we decided that maybe we would top up with fuel - that is until we saw the price was 1.95-1.99 per litre but we did put some in at

A waterfall created by the rain

1.85/litre.  

I'm glad this is not my camp in the rain

Since it was raining we decided that we would stop at a little roadside café for lunch.  The soup of the day was clam chowder which was perfect.  Well we had a bowl of $10.00 clam chowder made with mainly potatoes and corn - not sure if there was any clams or not!!

Along the way, we haven't seen much wildlife which we put down to the wet weather.  I know I would rather hunker down instead of going out into the wet elements.

We stopped at Watson Lake, YT which is the home of the Sign Post Forest where there is a pole with directional signs.  As well, folks that have travelled through have put up their own signs resulting in well over 80,000 signs.

We stopped in Whitehorse to top up any groceries I thought we might need, then at the junction of the Klondike and Campbell highways is a little café that has been advertised as the best burgers so this made a lunch stop.  And yes, the burgers were excellent.

As we came towards the burger place, this slowed us down - looks pretty authentic to start.

Finally - some bears!!

A sample of the better roads

Then it was time to head up the Dempster Highway towards Tuktoyaktuk, NT.  This road is mainly gravel (some of it is dirt) for a distance of 900 kms. We head out and shortly thereafter, it starts to rain, drizzle, mist which creates some very interesting roads.  We got as far as Eagle Plains which is halfway where we filled with fuel and got a camping spot.  Many folks that came through recommended no travel further north but we decided to sleep on it and see what the next day brings.  Well the next day brought more drizzle so we made a choice.  We had already driven 5,000 kms to go up to Tuktoyaktuk so it would be a shame to turn around now.  Instead we made arrangements to get a room for a couple of nights in Inuvik, NT, we found a spot to park the trailer and off we went with just the truck - good choice it was.

Since I will be without internet for the next few days, I am  poslting this early (also I have to make up for posting late last week).  Thanks for stopping by and more of our venture north next week!!

On the Road Again!!

Here we are  back on the road again!  This time we are headed north to tour northern Canada and hopefully catch some of Alaska.

We started out a week ago on June 17 and spent the night at Allan at my brother's place where we had a great visit, terrific supper, and a doggy bag as well - it doesn't get much better I must say.  This was our first, and only sighting of moose as we saw a couple of young ones run across the  field as we were leaving.

Since we had to leave the province on the 18th for insurance purposes, we hit the pedal and got just past Cold Lake, AB.  We came across a community hall that had a sign "Camper Parking" and an arrow showing where to park so that is where we stopped and set up camp.  It wasn't long before someone came along and told us that was only for parking for events at the hall.  As we always say, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, which we did, and got to spend the night.

Destruction of a Forest Fire

Then it was on to Peace River, AB where they have a great little campground (free) next to the municipal building and near the community park - another terrific spot.  We decided this would be a good place to top off our propane.  Since there wasn't much to top off, the nice your fellow did it for free!!

Here we are at the 60th parallel - the border of the Northwest Territories!!









As we travelled north, we stayed at a territorial park near a couple of waterfalls and took a short hike to scenic viewpoints. 

Louise Falls

Evelyn Falls

Alexandra Falls

We were careful on our hike - there was no ice!

On our way to Yellowknife, we decided that since it was national  Aboriginal Day, we would stop at Behchoko which is a Dene community.  We parked and within minutes a young fellow came and welcomed us and invited us to the festivities which was very interesting - especially the duck plucking and the hand games.  We were very intrigued with the hand games and after watching for a few hours, and asking lots of questions, we did get some idea of how it was played.  Teams play as in a tournament and the games can last quite long.  When we left at 10, they still had 8 games to play so we have no idea how late they went.

The ducks are hunted- up to two weeks prior to the event

The plucking contest begins

The birds are then roasted

6 man canoe races - men, women, and mixed

Hand Games - very competitive

Then it was off to Yellowknife for a couple of days where we had a great visit with cousins, Dennis & Annette, and did some touring.  At Old Town there is a monument dedicated to the bush pilots as they basically opened up the north.  There are a number of house boats in the harbor where people live year round.  Apparently, when it freezes over during the winter, the ice sometimes freezes them crooked and that is how they stay until spring.  Spring and fall also creates some interesting means of travel as they try to maneuver through the partially frozen or partially broken ice.

Wood Bison roam freely

An interesting picnic bench made from mine equipment

The Wildcat Cafe is a vintage log cabin structure that represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife.

A true Canadian

Whirlygigs line the fence behind a house on Ragged Ass Rd.

Love how they decorate the garbage bins

 The trip is going great.  We have found that their is no discrimination - they don't care of your size or gender or race or religion - the mosquitoes love us all!!  Thanks for checking in and until next week........