Yellowknife, NWT

I spent 4 days in Yellowknife.  The name Yellowknife originated from a local Dene tribe known as the Yellowknives Dene, who used copper-bladed or yellow knives.  Yellowknife became the capital of the NWT in 1967.  Ironically, Yellowknife is the diamond capital of North America.

Continuing the odd weather this year, according to the rangers and locals I've spoken with, it has rained every day for a month and it never rains this time of year.  Which really put a damper on my aurora viewing.

I drove the Ingraham Trail Highway 4 one night to the very end where the ice road starts in winter, to try to see the Northern Lights.  That was my first viewing.  There wasn't much to see on the way out, or back, but the full moon was pretty.  Unfortunately, the only picture of the lights I was able to get looked like static.








I had dinner one night at the Bullocks Bistro, famous for their fresh fish from the Great Slave Lake  Side note - Yellowknife has such a large Asian tourist population, this restaurant had the menu in at least 6 different Asian languages.

Ragged Ass Road - A short, unpaved residential street in Yellowknife's Old Town, was named by the late Lou Rocher, who owned property along it at the time.  A poor prospecting season left Rocher and friends "ragged ass broke" and the street name was born.

Fireweed Studio:  Once a blacksmith shop at the Giant Mine site, this small cabin was constructed in 1938 and designated a historic building in 1996.

 Built in 1937, the Wildcat Cafe thrived on the business of bush pilots, prospectors and other early settlers of the Yellowknife area.  By 1939, it became the city's first ice cream emporium.

I did a little grocery shopping while I was here.  The market had a surprisingly huge produce department; nice produce; some overpriced, some not so bad.

Here is something I thought was funny - I saw this sign and pondered what it meant -

It was a cattle guard in the road!

Northwest Territories

Definitely a change in the terrain as you approach the Northwest Territories; shorter trees, more scrub.  This is actually my second venture into the Northwest Territories this trip.

The first stop after crossing the border with Alberta was stop at the 60th Parallel Visitor Information Center.  They actually gave me a certificate.

At Kilometre 72 (Mile 45) I found Alexandra Falls, a powerful 105-foot waterfall on the Hay River.

The highway takes me into the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary for 50 miles.  Bison look slow and docile, but they can move with amazing speed and aggression.

After a stop at Fort Providence for diesel, I did something wrong.  I can hear all of you screaming at me right now ... but it turned out fine.  I picked up a couple of backpackers hitchhiking to Yellowknife.  I have never picked up a hitchhiker before, but it always seems such a waist to be driving this huge coach by myself, so i took a chance.

As it turned out, they were a couple from Montreal on holiday, canoeing the Mackenzie River.  He is an ER doctor and she an optometrist.  It made the 4 hour drive to Yellowknife delightful, and he was nice to add some DEF to my tank for me and save my wrist.  And we did see some bison on the way.

We made a pit stop here ... the North Arm Territorial Park Day Use Area.

I don't know that I'll ever pick up another hitchhiker, but it turned out good.

Alberta, Canada

Located in western Canada, the province of Alberta is bordered by the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the west and vast prairies and badlands to the east.  To the north lie the Northwest Territories.  The state of Montana is the southern border.

Alberta scenery is much different than that in BC.  In a lot of ways it is prettier, some ways boring.  Instead of the mountains and lakes, you get rolling hills with fields and cattle and some sheep.  The roads may not be in as good a shape, but there are divided highways with higher speed limits and the towns have a more modern feel to them with more of the chain stores and fast food.

I thought it was very cool that the TransCanada Highway goes right through Jasper National Park on its way to Edmonton.  The smoke was terrible, but I bet the scenery was outstanding, if you could see it. There was a herd of caribou having dinner beside the road, creating quite a traffic jam.  Rather than contributing to the mess, I didn’t stop for pictures .. but it was cool to see.

Because of the smoke I decided to cancel my reservations at Jasper and head north.  There were actually two reasons, besides the terrible smoke, that I opted to take this detour; because of the short summer season, I don't know when I will be able to get back up into the Northwest Territories again ... and they were so convenient to my current location.  The other reason was the Auora Borelias.  I arrived a little too late for a viewing in April and wanted to see the Northern Lights before I went back south.  The Northwest Territories is suppose to be the very best place, so ....

The first stop on my way was in Peace River for the night and another trip to the tire repair.  That one tire is going to be the death of me on this trip.  I have since found out that the problem is not in the tire or the stem, but in the tire monitoring sensor.  So I took it off and all seems to be fine .... except that I worry myself to death about it.

While at Kal Tire, I had an interesting conversation with Chris about the Manning Moose.  He grew up in Manning and, when I told him I was going there to photograph the moose, he laughed.  Apparently, the moose used to be a piece of  plywood and the townspeople (youth?) kept stealing parts of the moose so the city finally replaced it with a large metal one.  The only problem is that the body of the “moose” is a horse and they added antlers.

The next stop was High Level and a visit and stay at the Mackenzie Crossroads Museum.

From here you head north on the Mackenzie Highway, the only road in/out of the NWT from Alberta to Yellowknife. 

And as you approach the border to the NWT, there is just mile after mile of the same … it may have been the most boring drive so far but the good news is I got 10 miles per gallon vs my normal 8.5 mpg, which is good considering the price of diesel up here.

Port Rupert

I can't believe how far behind I am in these blogs ... almost a month has gone by since I had the adequate internet to write these.  As I mentioned before, it is really a pain going back that far to recreate these memories and to find the pictures.  Bare with me ...

In listening to the news reports, there was a tanker spill at Frasier Lake and another fire; that air quality between the smell and the smoke, they were asking people to stay away, so when I left Hyder/Seward, I took a detour to Prince Rupert at the western end of the TransCanada highway#16 to buy some more time.  Highway 16, also known as the Yellowhead Highway, has the lowest grade of any highway that crosses the Rocky Mountains and the Coast Range.  It follows the route of the Hudson Bay Company fur traders in the early 1800s.

North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site – It was established in 1889 and is the oldest remaining salmon cannery on the West Coast of North America and ran continuously for almost a 100 years.

 

 This train ran across the front of the cannery.  Note there are no guard rails or anything blocking the rails and train from the public!  Nope, we're not in California anymore.

Heading east toward Frasier Lake, there are a lot of emergency vehicles … fire trucks, water transport, EMT …. heading “back.”  I hope that means the oil spill and fire are contained.

 Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Vanderhoof is the geographical center of BC.

I don’t know why I take it personally, but I get embarrassed when an RV is holding up a line of vehicles and won’t let them pass even after ample opportunity, or if someone in front of me is holding up the line and the cars behind me think it is me.  If I’m the cause, and the car behind me can’t safely pass, I pull over, even if it is only one vehicle.  There is a trend of inconsiderate (younger generation?) RVers that give the RV population a bad name, not just by blocking traffic, but by being inconsiderate and thoughtless in general; leaving trash, abusing parking privileges, and a host of other offenses. It reflects badly.  OK, that rant is over.

Hyder/Stewart

Cassier Stewart Highway

Can you tell I finally have access to some internet?  ha.

Hyder/Stewart was a surprise.  Hyder is, of course, in the US, so you “cross” the border from Canada.  Hyder, however, is about 1 mile long, so when I went to get gas in the Jeep before driving out the gravel/dirt road to Salmon Glacier, I had to cross the border back into Canada and forgot to grab my passport.  I keep it by the driver side in the coach and it didn’t occur to me until I was at the border inspection that I didn’t have it with me.  Fortunately, there was a very nice Canadian official that let me cross with the promise I wouldn’t forget it the next time. 

One of the recommended places to eat in Hyder was The Bus.  For over 20 years, this very nice lady has been cooking her husband and son’s daily catch in this converted school bus.  I ate there twice and the fresh halibut was soooo yummy.  Once I had it sauté with garlic and the other it was breaded.

The converted school bus/restaurant is a popular idea.  I think there was at least one in every place I stopped and they were usually on the recommended list. 

The 27-mile drive to the glacier was good – no flat tires, no injuries – ha.  I am always surprised at the cars that speed past on these gravel roads like they have a mission.  I always expect to find them pulled over with a flat, but apparently, that only happens to me.

You know those signs that say “Beware of falling rock”?

 

I spent my two nights in a turnout facing the Portland Canal, a 70-mile-long ocean fjord that forms a natural boundary between Canada and Alaska..  For those of you non-RV readers, the “rule” is you can stay in a turnout along the road as long as it is not signed that you can’t and you are a minimum 10feet from the road at all times.  There is not as much road noise as you would think on these highways and the views are often spectacular, and the price is always right.  When I was getting ready to leave here, a man with a delightful accent offered me half of his morning’s salmon catch.  Unfortunately, I had to decline because of 1. I don’t clean fish and 2. I don’t have any freezer room.  But it was a nice gesture, and he was very complimentary about my coach. 

My coach is really in bad shape, between the body damage, the neglect and the dirt, that it is an embarrassment to me right now.  I feel anxious to get back to the “states” so I can clean it up and make it pretty again.  It looks really bad.

When I crossed the border out of Hyder into Stewart, I asked the Customs official what was the procedure if you needed to cross during non-working hours.  Of course, I also asked what would happen if you just drove up the US side of the road instead of using the Canadian side (there is no border check going into Hyder) ….. it is a $1,000 fine the first time; you don’t get a second time.

I basically had the road to myself again as I headed west, except for a black bear cub playing alongside the road.  I think the black bears are cuter than the brown bears.

I am surprised as I drive these roads how many of the mountains have blue ice at the top.  I bet it was spectacular before the glaciers started to melt.