Not@Home

2010-09-03T18:36:00.000-04:00

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Aug 27-28
And then we were back in Ontario where the friendly hills of the Canadian Shield and the forests felt comfortable. We had been ‘out of province’ for 78 days.
This time we did not take the by-pass but decided to visit Kenora, on the north shore of Lake of the Woods. It is far from Milton, but so much like it. “Smalltown Ontario” has the same feel no matter which one you visit. Kenora has the added advantage of sitting by Lake of the Woods, a beautiful, very large lake. Kenora is worthy as a holiday destination someday.
We camped near Sioux Narrows on Lake of the Woods, on the slightly longer (and more southerly) route to Thunder Bay via Fort Frances. At the Laughing Water campground, our trailer was 10 m. from the water – and we went swimming. Later that evening the loons called - ‘welcome back’.
Fort Frances was disappointing – a town in decline; right across the US border from International Falls, Minnesota. Many stores had closed on Main Street, though the outside of town was well kept. The parks – on a Saturday – were surprisingly empty.

Aug 29 This time we by-passed Thunder Bay; westbound we had stopped for three nights. It still surprises us that the Atlantic Watershed and the time zone change is just west of Thunder Bay; almost 500 km east of Manitoba. One stop at a small campground and the next day brought us to one of our favourite sites, Agawa Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park. Crystal clear water! And – warm enough to swim. It was just like our visit four years ago. (Lake Superior contains more water than the other four Great Lakes combined! ) Ontario provided four campgrounds with lakes for swimming, though these were the only times on the whole trip that we were in the water, except the feet in the Arctic Ocean and a dip in the hot springs.

On September 1st we arrived home; 1900 km from the Manitoba border to home. No injuries, accidents, tire punctures or other mishaps; only four windshield cracks to repair. We are very thankful. There is nothing we can add to the words of praise for Canada that you have read in this blog, and it is our sincere wish that you too can experience a trip like this at some time in your lives. We learned so much from and about the people who make up our land. We are different and yet we have the same love and pride in our country, and the First Nations people have much to teach us, if we could only learn to listen.

We are grateful to all with whom we shared great visits, to those of you kept in touch by e-mails and to all of you who travelled along with us on this blog!

Finally a few statistics:
• The car travelled 19,233 km (11,950 miles)
• The trailer covered 15,590 km (9,687 miles)
• Average fuel consumption 18.3 litres/100km; 15.4 mpg.
• Total fuel 3,520 litres; 774 Imp. Gallons; 930 US gallons.

Two interesting distances:
Milton ON to Nelson BC (all Canadian route) 3,750 km.
Nelson BC to Inuvik NWT (shortest route straight north) 3,880 km.
Just to give you an idea of how far north it is to Inuvik.

Latitudes and Longitudes:
• Milton, ON 43.51349; -79.88280
• Furthest north: Tuktoyaktuk (“Tuk”) 69.50
• Furthest west: Dawson City -139.405518

WE ARE THANKFUL AND HAVE BEEN SO VERY FORTUNATE !!

25 Ontario again

2010-08-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

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Aug 22-26 We drove from Brooks in Alberta to Moose Jaw in one day – about half-way across Saskatchewan. We enjoyed the incredible prairies as we drove along the Trans-Canada. They are not nearly as flat and boring as many have said, rather we found them interesting and beautiful. The landscape is rolling, and we crossed small valleys where rivers had carved out their path. Along this highway it is the eastern part of SK and Manitoba that are truly flat, but even there the colours of the wheat and prairies grass blend beautifully with the blue and white above. The huge farms are amazing as they sit on the horizon surrounded by fields as far as one can see. Tall silos and trees surround the homesteads and from the car some looked like tall skyscrapers of a new town. It is almost impossible to judge distances. And we saw many trains – whole trains. For those who have not travelled or lived here, imagine over 100 cars where the twin locomotives in front and the last car is visible at the same time. Sometimes there is an engine in the middle which we suspected was to help the extra long train around curves as they climbed hills, and most cars were stacked two containers high. It was amazing how many trains there were; a good sign we hope.

After an extra day in Moose Jaw for our third oil change since we left home, we continued east. The low pressure system north of us provided a tail wind of 40 km/h, gusting to 60 and the fuel consumption dropped significantly. One guy on a bicycle sat upright and rode the wind. He was going faster than he could have pedaled. Funny how on that day we saw almost no RV rigs going the other way! Their fuel consumption had to be more than twice ours. When we stopped to refuel before noon, the lady told us that a westbound motor-home had asked about the nearest campground; he was tired of using so much fuel. We made it all the way to Winnipeg that day. Aug 26th is our anniversary and we spent a relaxing day in Winnipeg, as we had two years ago when we stopped here on our train ride west to Vancouver.

24 Prairies

2010-08-23T16:55:00.000-04:00

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Aug 16 The Mountains to the Plains. As you know, we have been surrounded by mountains of all shapes and sizes for the last two months. On this Monday, we drove almost 500 km from Nelson BC to Fort MacLeod AB and the transitions in the landscape were dramatic. It started with the longest free ferry ride in the world across Kootenay Lake, just east of Nelson. 35 minutes on a modern ferry with views that rivaled the Norwegian fjords. Then south on highway 3A to Creston – a road considered by many to be the best place for a motorcycle trip. A winding road with great vistas. Then we travelled west through the east Kootenay mountains covered in evergreens with productive farm lands in wider valleys. As we approached Crowsnest Pass (less of a mountain pass than we had seen before), the last of the high sharp-peaked Rockies stood there to say ‘farewell’. Suddenly the high plains of Alberta (1000 metres) appeared with almost no trees. The transition was sudden and remarkable – please see pictures. Gently rolling hills felt very friendly and there were hundreds of windmills in this breezy landscape. That night we camped in Buffalo Plains RV park, just 4 km. from ‘Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump’.

Aug 17-21 Alberta history. Fort MacLeod, named after the first RCMP Commissioner there when the fort was established in 1873. We enjoyed the exhibit because it helped fill in so much of Canada’s early western history. There was much information about Crowfoot, his respect for MacLeod and the famous ‘Treaty number 7” which was to provide the natives with much protection. Sadly, Canada has not lived up to this bargain.
“Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump” – a terrible name, but easy to remember. With many days of planning, several tribes would collaborate in the fall to drive 100s of Buffalo (properly called Bison) being panicked over a 20 m. high cliff. The meat, skin, hides, bones and internal organs were all used and helped them survive the winter. Because of white man’s interference (especially Prime Minister John MacDonald) the Buffalo were eradicated by about 1875.

Drumheller is the location of the world-renowned Royal Tyrrell Museum of dinosaurs. Our pictures show only a small part of this wonderful place and any trip west should include this stop. It is fabulous for kids, though it can take a whole day to see everything. It is fascinating to know that the work continues with new discoveries every year in the ‘Badlands’ area. Anyone interested could spend a summer here. The larger Badlands area in Dinosaur Provincial Park is also worth seeing because this is where many of the discoveries are made.

22 Mountains to Plains

23 Alberta History

2010-08-15T22:57:00.000-04:00

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Aug 9 -15 This last week was so very pleasant that we forgot about the blog – and you. Westward from Lake Louise takes you through Yoho and Revelstoke National Parks with the famous Rogers Pass in between. Before the pass we saw the section of CP tracks and the spiral tunnels with two loops – one about 270 deg. the other almost 360 deg. By building the tunnels, the straight line hill with 4.5% grade (dangerous for trains) was reduced to 2.2%. There is much freight traffic on this line and that was obvious at our campgrounds in Golden and Canyon Hot Springs Revelstoke. One location had constant shunting of cars 300 metres away. The other campground had rails on a hill along two sides. As the engine increased power, pulling the squealing wheels of the long trains around the curve it was difficult to have a normal conversation. Luckily they did not run this stretch during he night. You have probably heard about Golden and Revelstoke as famous ski centres.

At Revelstoke we turned south and the drive was unusual as the road paralleled the Upper Arrow and Slocan Lakes. The views reminded us of Norwegian fjords and we even had a ferry ride providing excellent water-view.

Nelson was our goal because my good friend from high school in Smiths Falls, Gordon Gray, lives here with his wife Moe. We sat on their veranda high above Nelson with a view over the Kootenay River, walked the steep streets and shopped. Several good meals and much good company completed the visit. Just south of the campground we also visited Mark Cochrane and Yvonne. With their family they live in Ymir (‘whymir’) with their children. The mountains almost too close for us but it is a beautiful place nonetheless and it was great to see Mark and meet Yvonne. These were good times and very relaxing for us, and being able to leave the trailer in one location for 5 nights is always special. Kline’s RV Park is one of the nicest campgrounds we have visited on the whole trip. Not modern, well laid out or full of conveniences - actually none of these. Instead we backed on to a bedroom view of a good sized creek with crystal clear water. Power and sewer connection plus the water from the tap was clean enough to drink and good-tasting. We also had free cable TV and Wi-Fi. All for $20.00 per night!

From here we shall complete the circle and drive east to Alberta.

21 Lake Louise to Nelson

2010-08-08T19:19:00.000-04:00

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Sorry - we know this map is getting a bit cluttered. But it helps to zoom in a bit.

Aug 3-7 Mt Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, lies almost right beside Highway 16, also called the Yellowhead Highway. 3954 metres (12,970 ft). We stopped at the wayside rest to admire for a while.

Then Jasper National Park – The Whistlers Campground. No ‘hookups’ means that for these days we live off our water tank, solar panel and propane tanks. It works well and with a small inverter we charge computer and camera batteries. To save on water, Einar took showers in the community shower building where there are also electrical outlets for razors. One day, a young fellow sat on the bench between sinks and waited for his iPhone to charge! He was camped in a nearby tent with his family.

Mountains, mountains everywhere – and we could get a bit blasé – except one never tires. They all are magnificent, different and awe inspiring, especially when you come from Ontario. We hope some of our pictures demonstrate this and that you will enjoy them too.

One day we took the Jasper Tramway up towards the top of Whistlers Mountain. Jasper and our campground are at 1050m (3,400 ft), the tramway starts at 1200m (3.940 ft), tops at 2250m (7,380). From there (well above the tree line) one could hike to 2470m (8.105) at the top. It doesn’t sound like much more, but at that altitude the thinner air made it a struggle for us. Pausing every 50m or so we made it to about 2400m (7,875) - and threw a snow ball for fun. The rest of the way to the top was quite a distance away; we chose not to do it. It is easier going down - for the lungs - but tough on the ‘quads’. In some places the trail crested and then disappeared from view because it was so steep. (Have you discovered how difficult it is to illustrate steep inclines with a camera?) We were glad to have our hiking boots though care was needed because of the loose shale and pebble-like gravel. Low vegetation and many flowers blended beautifully with the rocks where it was almost impossible to see white-tailed ptarmigans resting 2 metres away. And then there was the view. Spectacular sharp topped peaks, one range behind the other, all with some snow and some with glaciers. We rested well that evening and think our pictures are worth a look.

Another day took us to Maligne (pronounced ‘Maleen’) Canyon. In some places the river was 50 metres below in a canyon which at its narrowed measure 3-4 metres wide. One could only capture this with a wide-angle lens and camera turned 90 degrees. It is amazing what water can do to limestone.

Aug 8 – The Athabasca Glacier is right beside the highway – that is the ‘Icefield Parkway’. It is an arm of the giant Columbia Ice field and is located about mid-way between Jasper and Lake Louise. The large welcome centre provides information and has an informative display about how glaciers are formed. We booked the tour and a normal bus took us to the edge where a special one with huge soft tires and lots more horsepower drove on to the glacier. Cracks and deep holes were everywhere but the bus negotiated a well prepared ‘road’. Walking on it wasn’t as special as we had expected because it was raining gently and the ice was very slippery. Good shoes kept us upright! The location is spectacular so please look at the pictures. There was lots of room in the parking lot so that’s where we spent the night at 1940m elevation. And then the morning view as the sun hit the top of the mountains !! What is so special about this drive is that most of the road lies between 1500 and 2000m, yet we are still looking up another 1500m to the mountain tops.
Onward to Golden, BC.

20 Jasper & Glaciers

2010-08-02T23:20:00.000-04:00

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July 24-27 We recovered in Whitehorse and so did the car. On the Monday we both had our haircuts, and the car had another oil change (last one in Yellowknife). By now it has travelled about 11,000 km since we left Milton. The whole rig got a well-deserved wash. First the car, where it took several dollars’ worth of coins to wash the grime from in and around the car wheels and wells. This stuff hardens like cement and in some areas had built up to 3-4mm in thickness. When we later washed the trailer, the same sticky mess stayed on after pressure washing. Only the foam brush worked.

July 28 – August 2nd . We have travelled from Whitehorse YT to Prince George BC in 6 days – and tomorrow we arrive in Jasper AB. That will be 2600 km in 7days. Talk about distances up here! One-night stops are not favourites, but we decided to give priority to Jasper National Park - to have time there. Sadly, we must also make sure we have enough time for the drive home.

Although we had driven much of the same part of the Alaska Highway on the way north, we were really glad to see it again, this time with sunshine. Our pictures are never perfect because Anne-Grethe takes most of them out the window as we drive, but you will see what we mean. The only unpleasant ‘event’ came from a truck roaring towards us, building up speed for his uphill run. We were at the bottom of the hill, the road curved left. He hit a gravel patch and sprayed our windshield with rocks. Two more marks plus a whole lot of minor cuts, and it will probably need replacement when we get home.

We were 2 ½ days in the mountains before we came to the plateau a few hours before Fort Nelson BC. On the second day, near Watson Lake, we discovered we could not have driven south on the ‘Cassiar’ Highway (#37) as we had first planned (shorter route to Bella Coola, Vancouver Island and Vancouver). It was closed due to forest fires. Another fire closed the area further south around Williams Lake where we had also planned to stop. Most of the province has been bone dry this summer, and a huge electrical storm passed through the week before. This was the same storm that had left so much rain in the mountains around the Dempster Highway. (See last week’s blog.)

But all’s well that ends well and so far the week has gone quite smoothly. On Saturday we had the challenge of meeting four hills with 10% grades – two up and two down and one of them 6 km long. It was the ‘scenic’ (!) route running parallel to the Peace River., close to Hudson’s Hope, north of Prince George. The Lynx RV park was charming and we rested an extra day and took time to see the Bennett and Peace Canyon Power Dams which supply 1/3 of the power for British Columbia.

Tomorrow to Jasper National park and some serious sightseeing.

19 Whitehorse to Prince George

2010-07-28T22:48:00.000-04:00

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July 23. Ridin’ the Dempster!
You know we stayed in Inuvik longer than planned, but it was worth it! Friday was our departure day southbound, and since we planned to drive half-way to Eagle Plains, we took it easy. 370 km even on a dirt road wouldn't be too bad. There were several photo and rest stops and we arrived at the hotel at about 4pm. Then - we learned about all the rain in the preceding 5 days south of us (sunny in Inuvik). The lady at the reception said there was talk that the highway was about to be washed out. The ‘geo-guys’ that had worked there were told to forget about taking the evening off and “get out of there”! The main river, Peel River, was expected to crest in 14 hours. One fellow arriving from the south said he had noticed about 1/4 of the road at km. 220 had already washed out. We had three choices:
- stay and be stuck in a second class place for 2-3 days
- drive on and hope to make it, or
- find out 2 hours further south that we couldn't get through!

We took the chance and just made it! One more car 30 minutes behind us also got through but was told he was the last. There were several tricky spots, but at the worst there was a grader to help. About ¼ of the road on the left (‘downstream’) side was gone. The new waterfall down the cliff on our right sent water about 6” deep across the road. The driver said “follow me closely” and we watched as he created a 50 cm high bank on the right which held the water just long enough for us to drive through – a least 40 metres (130 feet). (We have later reasoned that by then the road was closed to further traffic over a 150 km stretch.) It felt dramatic and exciting and yet Anne-Grethe was able to take some unusual pictures. Take a look!

The drive was 12 1/2 hours on a road that was considerably worse than when we went north. With the trailer it would have been a very tough, perhaps impossible, trip and we would not have made it for several more days. We slept were the trailer had been parked at km zero, and drove 5oo km to Whitehorse the next day where we planned a few days of rest. On Monday we saw on the internet that part of the section had been fixed for 5 km of one-way traffic and then Wednesday it was closed again! We consider ourselves very lucky – and the Whitehorse weather was a beautiful sunny 25C, with cool nights.

Because of the extra time we took both in Inuvik and before that in Dawson City, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot take the time to drive through Bella Coola to Vancouver Island and then Vancouver. We are disappointed in some ways but our decision to take the extra time here in the north was a good one. Over the next few days we shall decide which route to take home. It will likely include Jasper or Banff if we can get campground space.

18 Dempster return

2010-07-26T16:05:00.000-04:00

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July 20-23 Inuvik (‘vik’ means ‘the place of’) is a town of 3500 people. None wealthy, quite a bit of poverty, and everyone very friendly – saying ‘hi’ as we passed on the street. The town sits beside the Mackenzie Delta, and it is the east channel that serves the community. From here it is about 160 km to the Beaufort Sea and it widens to about 70 km at the sea. The Delta starts south of Inuvik. As in Dawson, all the buildings are built off the ground and here “utilidors“ (utility corridors) above ground contains water and other services (see pictures) to serve each house. It is not possible to place any infrastructure in the ground.

The ‘Igloo Church’ ( Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church) was built about 1920 by a man with grade 5 education, using no blue prints. Building lumber is not available here and was floated down Mackenzie River from a mission sawmill in Fort Smith NWT – 1600 km upriver. A remarkably beautiful place, and the whole structure rides on a concave concrete platform which sits on coarse gravel insulating the permafrost. The gravel was hauled from 80 km away. A local artist Mona Thrasher, deaf and almost blind, painted 24 inside murals in 13 months. We liked her work so much that we bought a print of her magnificent painting of an arctic wolf.

We spent extra time here to see the town and to fly north (45 minutes) to Tuktoyaktuk. Seeing the huge Delta from the air was special! And all the pingos. No they are no animals. They are perfectly circular mounds created on the permafrost by freezing of surface water. They form in recently drained lake basins or old drainage channels where hydrostatic pressures push water up and the unfrozen saturated sediment progressively freezes. There are over 1400 of them in the Delta and some are 50 metres high (pictures).

‘Tuk’ has a stable population of 1000 people. Sadly the hotel and restaurant is closed, but a B&B operates. We saw one of the old DEW line sites, a military radar post from the cold war. AND - we put our feet into the Beaufort Sea! It was surprisingly warm; we guessed 14C. A young gal on our tour had planned for this by dressing in a bikini under her clothes. She swam! You can also see some pictures of the local community ‘refrigerator – a series of tunnels and rooms 10 metres underground, hacked out of the frozen ground by hand, where the temperature in the permafrost is a constant -6 C.

The next day in Inuvik we went on a four hour boat tour of the Delta. Although the islands are low and flat, one cannot see over them, and so it felt as if we were touring a few of the hundreds of ‘rivers’ that link up to form the Delta. How easy it would be to get lost here, but our local guide Paton knew every bend. There was little wildlife to see at this time of year though we saw a seal, ducks with young ones and arctic terns. The main river, wide and fast, is the highway for all types of barges.

On July 23rd we started south and the beginning of the Dempster was fine. That was about to change!

17 Inuvik & Tuk

2010-07-21T22:33:00.000-04:00

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July 16-17. Dawson City – continued.
We stayed a few extra days to participate in the Dawson City Music Festival. None of the artists are known to us but the music was fun. We heard the Tr'onděk Hwěch'in singers chanting traditional songs with drums and two native guys with great voices singing modern folk music. It would be hard for anyone not to be affected by the ambiance, sitting outside with all the other enthusiastic people.

July 18 & 19 – ‘The Dempster’.
Early Sunday morning we drove 40 km back along the Klondike Highway to the junction where the Dempster starts, parked the trailer and took off. The 730 km drive had to be divided over two days because the road is all gravel and we knew we would stop many, many times. Some of the road was rough, some very steep and we were glad to have left the trailer. However, on the whole it was in better shape than expected. We over-nighted at Eagle Plains almost exactly half-way.

It is not possible to find all the adjectives to describe this drive. It is magnificent and almost indescribably beautiful and a wonderful feast for the eyes, surprising and yet somehow we expected it. But – not so much beauty all the time, constant and awe inspiring. With every turn of the road there was something new to see. Anne-Grethe would read from a guidebook, and I would regularly interrupted to say “look over there”.
We shall let our pictures tell the rest of this story. This without question the most interesting and fun drive either of have ever taken! It is our sincere hope that you too can experience this sometime.

We arrived in Inuvik about 7pm. More on this town later.

16 Dempster

2010-07-15T19:22:00.002-04:00

July 9 -15 Dawson City – full of history, fun places, phenomenal setting and much more.
We arrived late on July 8 at the downtown campground which means we are wall to wall with other rigs, but we can walk almost everywhere. As we arrived, the odometer on the car read 9,148 km (5684 miles) from Milton. The trailer has travelled 7,850 km (4878 miles) because of several side trips by car alone, including Fort Mac Murray, and soon “up the Dempster” to Inuvik.

The native people speak the Hăn language and belong to the Tr'onděk Hwěch'in tribe. Tr'onděk means ‘hammer stone’, used to pound the stakes in the river beds for salmon traps. Hwěch'in means people. Somehow the white people, trying to pronounce Tr'onděk, made it into Klondike. When a local native woman pronounced the name for us, it sounded a bit like Klondike (same intonation), so we can understand how this happened. They lived on the plain here by the river before the gold rush. They fished salmon and hunted caribou inland. When the rush of prospectors started coming in 1898, their chief realized that to protect their way of life the tribe must move. They settled 5 km downriver at Moosehide, a place that today is the site of a huge gathering every summer. They have adapted very well from their pre-contact subsistence to a successful self-governing body that owns many of the local businesses. Their pride is evident and to be admired.

The Gold Rush lasted only 1 or 2 years (1898/99), but the mining continued and prospered as large companies took over. Today there are 120 active gold mines in the Yukon, and the revenue from this activity is about $50 million annually. The Gold Rush story is so much more interesting than we had expected. To Skagway by boat, over the mountain passes with 1000 lbs of gear per prospector, building boats to carry them 500 miles downriver to Dawson. Of 100,000 that started, about 30,000 made it to Dawson area.

Did you know that Pierre Berton grew up in Dawson and that many of Robert Service’s poems are based on prospectors’ lives here and the beauty of the land? Joan gave us a wonderful book of Robert Service poems which takes on a whole new meaning as we learn about this land and its history! Dawson today has about 2000 permanent residents, but through the summer and especially during music fest, the population swells.

The buildings are from ‘that time’, and the new ones have the same design. The first buildings were put on the ground - frozen permafrost – and as the building warmed the soil, they moved and tipped. Two structures here have been left to illustrate this. Today buildings are placed on huge pressure-treated beams to leave space. The outer walls extend to the ground with ventilation to allow free flow of air. Many buildings have been restored and are in use while some are still in disrepair because the small population cannot afford to tackle it all at once. This adds to the charm and reality and provides great contrast and eye appeal.

We took a trip up to the Midnight Dome – a mountain top at 3000 feet with a phenomenal 360 degree view. We sat there for a few hours and enjoyed the peace and the view - there are some pictures to illustrate. The three of us panned for gold in Bonanza Creek and soaked up the atmosphere. No gold, though I imagined that some of the miniscule flakes left in the pan were actually gold – see picture. It could of course have been pyrite (fools’ gold) but the flakes were so small we could not save them. By swishing the sand and stones around in the pan, the gold (19 times heavier than water and much denser than any other material) will settle to the bottom. We learned the technique of washing the sand and rocks out of the pan – to leave any gold that might be there. We certainly have a small sense of what it could have been like to search for gold. To quote Robert Service:

There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder’,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

Joan flew out on Tuesday, and it was really great to share one week with her. Dawson International Airport is the smallest airport we have been to. The arrival/departure hall was about the size of a large living room, the customs hall was a 2.5m corridor and the check-in guy took the bags to the plane. We could park free in front of the terminal and concluded that the ‘long term parking’ on the other side of the road must be less expensive because it wasn’t paved.

Anne-Grethe and I went to the 10:30 cabaret at “Diamond Tooth Gertie’s” and walked home at 11:30 with sun shining on the mountains around us! The sky is still blue and there is still a midnight show, if we want it. I think we shall call it a day!

We apologize for all the pictures, but we would like you too, to share this amazing place.
We have 3 more days here.

15 Dawson

2010-07-10T19:42:00.000-04:00

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Note: Click on the line above to get a larger map.

July 8. The northern half of the Klondike Highway is spectacular. I don’t have the words, so please look at the pictures.
We made two very interesting stops at native village interpretive centres. The first just south of Carmacks was called “Tage Cho Hudan” meaning Big River People, referring to the Yukon river. We met a multi-generational family and one lady in particular was very willing to explain many aspects of their lives. We watched an aunt making a ceremonial vest of moose skin with many embroidered bead figures and fancy stitching. It is intended for an uncle in Regina who is marrying at the end of the month. Incredible work – and time consuming. Family relationships are defined differently. A young girl anxious to tell us about her things has multiple grandmothers, because your sister’s and brother’s grandchildren are also your grandchildren. Thus the family becomes larger, and all look after each other more closely.
The other village centre, the Northern Tuchone (teh-cho-né) people, was at Pelly’s Crossing. Their clan system is composed of two ‘moities’, the Wolf Clan and the Crow Clan. A matrilineal system, your clan affiliation is determined by what clan your mother is from. A Crow must marry a Wolf, or vice versa, according to traditional law.

There were many sections of highway under repair and thus lots of gravel, some dusty some muddy. Late afternoon as we arrived, the rig got a thorough wash again so we could be presentable at the campground in Dawson City where we shall be for about 10 days. The weather is perfect – mid 20s, sunshine and clear dry air. More about Dawson next time.

14 Klondike Highway

2010-07-08T00:17:00.000-04:00

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July 3 & 4. We arrived safely in Whitehorse, though fooled by information which suggested our camp was near town. But we are well settled and the extra 20 km do not matter. It is great to be in one place for 4 days. There’s time to clean, repair, grease – and still sightsee. Whitehorse is a really great place! Well to do with a core down area, wide streets and a warm feeling. The Yukon river curves past the city with small islands and some wide reaches. The backdrop is mountains, some high enough to have white streaks of snow. Up above the city is an elevated plateau where the highway runs and where the airport was built.

July 5 & 6. Joan Reid-Bicknell arrived in late afternoon ready to share the next 8 days of adventure with us. On the second day we saw the rest of the sights and nearly all the museums and ate a fabulous dinner at Klondike Rib & Salmon where there are line-ups every night. Look at the menu on in the pictures – and we were not disappointed. The “Frantic Follies” finished of our evening – a rip-roaring 90 minutes of laughter based on the old ‘follies’ format. We even learned how to pan for gold and walked away with some very tiny ‘nuggets’ – if you could call them that!

So many people from south have settled here. We met numerous young Ontario folks who wouldn’t think of leaving The Yukon. It is easy to see why, especially if the outdoors is your life.

July 7. On the way north to Dawson City, we stopped half-way at Carmacks, right beside the Yukon River. It flows fast - about 10 km/h here. A drink on the dock and BBQ with lamb chops went down very well. As we drove north, away from the Alaska Highway, the mountains became more rounded and the terrain less hilly. We expect this to continue tomorrow.

12 Alaska Highway

13 Whitehorse, Yukon

2010-07-03T01:21:00.001-04:00

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June 28. We had to fill up with water in downtown Yellowknife and got underway about 10. We were sorry to leave this pleasant town and decided it could be a great experience to come back in the winter. The Aurora Borealis alone would be worth it. The first 100 km on the way back (to Rae) is the worst of the road and I hit a few bumps the hard way and managed to dislodge one of the drawer rails in the kitchen (repaired the next day in Fort Simpson) – and cracked the beer shelf in the refrigerator door! Several other items moved around as well.

After we re-crossed the Mackenzie River we turned on to the “short cut” to Fort Nelson BC. This is 500+ km of gravel road – and the trailer has never been dirtier. We had to wash both vehicles and it cost $50 in Fort Simpson. Our alternative would have been to drive south to near Peace River and then northwest. Probably two days of hard driving, along a route we had already seen. We stayed overnight in Sambaa Deh Falls Park (means Trout River) about half way to Fort Simpson. The falls were spectacular.

Even though lakes and rivers are everywhere in NWT, water here is probably the most expensive in Canada. As the population lives scattered or in small communities, most houses have tanks and buy water that is trucked in when needed, only in the centre of the largest cities are there water mains.

Fort Simpson lies 63 km off the direct route on the gravel road – the only place to buy gasoline. Here we have another beautiful view of the Mackenzie River (1.2 km wide) and the friendliest hardware store (for the stuff needed to fix the drawer). But the ferry ride across the Liard River was treacherous. Steep gravel road down to and up from the river (between 15 and 20% grade we were told by the local transportation superintendent. We needed extra blocks under the wheels to prevent the back of the trailer digging in as we boarded and left the ferry (see pictures). The river can change 13 metres from low to high flow depending on season and weather (snow or rain up-river, south of here.)

The Mackenzie River is Canada’s longest river system, about 2,800 km, and Great Bear Lake (about 1000 km northwest of Great Slave Lake) is the largest lake entirely within Canada’s boundaries.

June 29. We stayed overnight in Fort Simpson and met Dene cousins on two different occasions whose last name is Norwegian! Yes “Norwegian’. One lady and her brother manages the campground and their cousin is involved with a power project using the Mackenzie River flow to generate electricity. He said his great, great grandfather had red hair and blue eyes. His father (name unknown) had travelled with the explorer Franklin in the early 1800s, and on his third visit, he decided to stay and marry a native girl. Later when the Jesuits began to take census, they asked about the light-haired, blue-eyed children and were told the father was Norwegian. That became the name for the family.

June 30. The ferry ride back across the Liard River was a bit easier, but the drive south on the Liard Trail was not. A gravel road being beat up by 20-30 large trucks a day does not stay in good shape and constantly needs repair. This is done by adding 6 inches of new sand/gravel mix and when you meet this topping before it is compacted, near the top of a steep hill, you are VERY glad the car has all wheel drive! We had several close calls and were told by one engineer we met that 3-4 weeks earlier we would not have made it through.

Canada Day! – and it rained all day. We had stopped in Fort Liard, 38 km north of the
BC border. An early start got us to the Alaska Highway in 3 hours. Thrilling but slow drive for another 4 hours with mountains (tops not visible), step hills and wildlife. We stopped at the Liard (yes same long river) Hot Springs and had a wonderful bath in 45 deg. C water with high concentration of Calcium Sulphate. It still rained when we walked back to the trailer, and we were ooh so relaxed.

July 2. The drive today was only 210 km because we wanted to stop in Watson Lake, Yukon Territories (YT) and see several museums and exhibits. We encountered a large caravan of 32 motor homes and trailers in Liard Hot Springs and they stopped here in Watson Lake as well (see picture). A sudden downpour coming home from the visitors centre meant our jeans and socks had to be hung in a variety of places in the trailer to dry. Optimistically, we purchased our Yukon fishing licenses. There has to be a fish waiting for our new baits somewhere in the next 2+ weeks!

10 Three days to Liard

11 To Watson Lake

2010-06-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

Yellowknife continued.
The name of the city is not taken from a native chief as I had thought. The yellow knife is based on a copper powder knife used in the mining industry. It was important for the dynamite suppliers to use a copper knife because opening the powder cases with a steel knife could cause a spark.

We tried fishing in the Yellowknife river yesterday. This was supposed to be a great spot for jackfish (pike). It turned out not to be so for us, but we had a great time, with our bug suits to make sure the mosquitoes also did not bite! You will notice that some of our pictures are a bit hazy. There is a huge forest fire in Saskatchewan and the smoke is drifting northwest all the way up here. Last night is smelled as if someone was having a small camping fire nearby, though that is unlikely because the fire hazard here is marked as ‘extreme’. Even the sun late yesterday was red.

Tomorrow, Jun 28, we start our drive toward Whitehorse, but it will take many days and there are two days of just gravel roads. It will be a while until the next internet connection.

Here are two sets of pictures - and we should now be up to date.

08 NWT

09 Yellowknife

2010-06-25T18:07:00.001-04:00

June 22. We crossed the 60th parallel as we entered Northwest Territories.
Two beautiful falls on the Hay River. We are camped by the Louise Falls – and met ‘Bulldogs’. They are flies as big as - and some bigger than - horse flies, and they swarm like bees.

June 23. Met a man from Alberta this morning who said he had just arrived but was going home. He had been delayed and now we are just at the beginning of the worst of the bug season. The mosquitoes and black flies are here and with the bulldogs we had to use netting gear. Then we saw the Mackenzie river! Wide, fast-flowing and beautiful. The bridge will be finished in 18 months so the ferry took us across in about 10 minutes.
And – just beside the highway as we left the ferry, there were two groups of male Wood Bison. This is the edge of their sanctuary and they apparently thrive in this environment. There are 100s of them in the park and the males weigh up to 1000kg; bigger than their prairie cousins.
We are still 320 km from Yellowknife and decided to camp at Fort Providence here by the river. Though our campground is beside the river, sadly there is no way to get down the 12 metre high/steep embankment to fish. We did get our licenses (free for those over 65).

June 24. The drive to Yellowknife took 5 almost hours; the road is less than perfect so we held speed to about 75-80 km/h max. About half the drive went through the Wood Bison Sanctuary and we have pictures of many families. The bulls are by themselves now and herds with calves and mothers also grazed and rested by the highway. We didn’t quite dare to stop because they can be aggressive and can reach 40-50 km/h in no time. Such dents would be hard to explain to the insurance company.

June 25-28 in Yellowknife. The city sits on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake. Here the rock formations suddenly changed to Ontario-like granite and the precambrian shield reaches up here too. The city has about 20,000 people (1/2 native), and 42,000 live in the Territories which has 11 official languages! NWT is the third largest producer of diamonds in the world (after Botswana and Russia), and the three mines have done great things for the local economy. The “Government Certified Canadian Diamond” is 100% mined, cut and polished in the Northwest Territories. Smart move!

The car has now travelled 6200 km from home and an oil change check was due. The rest of our first day went to general sightseeing and with Kyle. We found him courtesy of the info centre and he showed me how to get rid of the error messages that I have had on this blog. You are (I sincerely hope) now going to get words, map and pictures together. We still have 3 nights in YK as they call it here.

Here is the updated map.

View Cross Canada in a larger map

2010-06-22T13:31:00.002-04:00

Jun 17 & 18. Fort McMurray where we stayed overnight in a hotel. Arrived after lunch and toured the Oil Sands Discovery Centre to learn about equipment and processes. The oil sands are literally that – very fine grains of sand (hydrophilic = absorb water) coated with a micro layer of water and one of oil. By adding hot water and stirring, the bitumen separates and can be removed. Two barrels of hot water to make one barrel of oil; 90% of the water is recycled. The sand that remains is incredibly fine and is used in the tailing pond reclamation process. Interestingly, Suncor announced when we were there that no new tailing ponds will be built and the current number will be reduced. We saw their facility on a bus tour the following day, and I hope we can post some pictures for you to see as you read this. The two days were extremely interesting and well worth the long drive.
Correction to the last posting – Fort McMurray is at 56.5 deg. latitude. We shall be much further north when we reach Yellowknife; the border between Alberta and NWT is at latitude 60.

Jun 19. We left our campground in Plamondon and drove to Joussard at the west end of Lesser Slave Lake, which is only 78 km long. Terry and Debbie who manages the Lakeshore Campground are super friendly. The following morning was Father’s day and we were invited to a great local community breakfast. Then on a fishing trip and caught 4 walleye. Anne-Grethe caught the first one and our two fishing partners donated the other three. The weather is fantastic and we chose to stay an extra day and relax.
I mounted a big sheet of plywood as an extra stone guard at the front of the trailer and Terry gave me some silver paint, insisting that I paint it to match the trailer!

June 21. 470 km north to High Level. We are within 200 km of Northwest Territories and have decided to visit Hay River and then on to Yellowknife. We got our fishing licenses for NWT today so we hope to try Great Slave Lake for a few days.

2010-06-18T11:27:00.001-04:00

Jun15
Driving along highway 16 west of Saskatoon was a real eye-opener. Our GPS (which we named “Lorna” after a dear friend whose voice is similar) showed us to be 550 metres high on the plain. It felt like we were on top of the world with gently rolling landscape. Beside us we saw the Saskatchewan River valley, wide and beautiful with well cared for farms on the slopes to the river. There were no sharp edges to the land anywhere and we found it to be welcoming. Of interest to bird-lovers, we saw several magpies (‘skjære’ in Norwegian) which we had never before seen in Canada – at least east of Manitoba.

Battleford, about an hour west, is full of history. It was the capital of the Northwest Territories and thus Fort Battleford was the centre of activity for the Northwest Mounted Police (before they became RCMP). Large portions of the NWT were transferred to Saskatchewan when it joined Canada in 1905. Our treaty history with the local Cree Indians leaves much for us to be ashamed of.

June 16
Last night we stopped in Vermillion Alberta, about 60 km west of the border. Today we drove north through a beautiful landscape as we climbed still higher. The farms were large and well-to-do. Three hours to Plamondon, by a large lake called Lac la Biche and even the owner of the campground here is French. The trailer will stay for three nights. We shall not, because tomorrow night we drive the car to Fort McMurray (250 km straight north), centre of the oil sands projects. We have booked one night at a hotel and a tour on Friday. You don’t have to be a supporter of the oil sands to be fascinated by the scope of the place. Just imagine – it has greater oil reserves than any place on earth, except for the Saudi fields. I am skeptical about the dirty recovery process, but compared to the disaster in the Mexican Gulf - - ? More on our visit later.

Jun 17
Fort McMurray is a remarkable, modern, and friendly place. It is situated at the confluence of Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers, flowing north. We are at 58 degrees latitude and the evening sun lasts longer than at home. The drive north this morning was through rolling and some flat forest of mostly black spruce and aspen through 250 km. We saw the Oil Sands discovery Centre and tomorrow will tour one of the Suncor sites.

07 SK and AB

2010-06-14T21:32:00.002-04:00

Updated map

Riding Mountain National Park is near the western side of Manitoba - a. beautiful National Park and we were surprised at the height of the terrain (750m / 2400 ft) so far south in the province. We spent a couple of days to walk a bit and see some wildlife including black bear, lynx, moose along the road and bison on a fenced range. We were told that Bison and Buffalo differ in the number of ribs they have and that Buffalo existed only on Europe and Asia. What we have here in North America is Bison. This needs to be checked out.

June 14th we drove from the National Park to Saskatoon – about 580km. Highway 16, the “Yellowhead”, runs north of the really flat part of the prairies. We were amazed that we could drive almost an hour with turning the steering wheel and yet go up and down through small valleys and over hills. Quite beautiful country. The large amount of rain in May and early June has left its mark. Every field has small and larger ‘lakes’ (up to 7 feet deep) and huge tracts of land are still to be seeded. Farmers say that if they cannot plant seeds by the end of next week (Jun 23) they will have to return seeds and fertilizer to their distributors! This may be a major disaster for these farmers.

05 ON west to Portage MB

06 Riding Mountain MB

2010-06-10T09:09:00.009-04:00

Jun 7-14
The week went by in a hurry and we have had little opportunity to access the internet. During the three days in Thunder Bay we had lots of opportunities to learn about this city of 110,000 people. Fort William is not a fort but rather a key trading post for furs heading east and supplies going further west into the North-West Territories. And have you eaten old and extra old gouda? The only Ontario factory making this delicacy is here.

On the way to Bryden ON, we crossed the Arctic Watershed. Some distance west of Thunder Bay there was a ridge of hills that took almost an hour to cross. West of it all rivers flow to the Hudson Bay and Arctic Ocean. We also crossed a time zone - didn't know that the west part of Ontario was an hour earlier :-)

This is not a trip to visit the bigger cities of Canada. It is our dedication to Canada only and we plan to learn about smaller communities. So, we bypassed Winnipeg and stopped instead in Portage La Prairie, a great little prairie town, where we found a Toyota dealership/RV place who repaired our fresh water drain tap. It is a first class place for any RV repair. We spent two nights camping in the park on an island in the middle of town! $20 per night with hook ups.

Along Lake Superior

Fort William

2010-06-09T21:54:00.000-04:00

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=113267374780103436207.00048486e9783daaa0e1e&ll=50.243692,-91.669922&spn=1.735456,4.938354&z=8

This is the link to the map we wanted you to see. We are in Dryden tonight and will cross into Manitoba tomorrow. There are some pictures to show and I still need to work on how to do it.

Patience please!

Sudbury to Thunder Bay

2010-06-08T18:58:00.001-04:00

June 3 to 6
Sudbury to Thunder Bay.
Starting out on a trip like this seemed no different than any of our other excursions. We had been through northern Ontario before so the first several days were familiar. The big difference is that we have made no reservations and no promises to ourselves about how far we shall drive, if at all, in any one day. We have a very comfortable sense of freedom, and all we know is that we will be home around the beginning of September.

Did you know that Wawa is about half-way from Toronto to the Manitoba border? Just about 1000 km for each leg. Tim Horton’s place in Wawa was a busy place. Every fisherman with truck and boat on trailer stopped there for coffee and a donut. The entrance to the parking lot had a sign – only visible after we turned in - which said “No Trailers” ! Brilliant. Fortunately we were between waves of visiting fishermen and were just able to make a tight u-turn at the far end, park briefly, and then leave before the next group from Michigan arrived.

The drive west along the north shore of Lake Superior is beautiful, parts of it spectacular. The closer we got to Thunder Bay, the more we saw of that giant lake; it holds more water than the rest of the Great Lakes combined! There are hills that we think must provide great practice for what was to come later. We arrived Thunder Bay on Sunday and stopped at the tourist information, up on a hill with a view over the city of 118,000 people. The Terry Fox memorial is a magnificent tribute to his valiant fight which ended a few km. east of this location. He had completed 3300 km of his cross-country run from St. Johns, Newfoundland; more than half of the total 5800 km.

The bottom tap for our fresh water tank is leaking and I don’t know where. A call to our favourite dealer will tell us.

All is well.

Earlier Trips

2010-05-25T15:03:00.004-04:00

Earlier Trips

This is what our 'rig' looks like. We'll let you visit the inside later.

Earlier trips

Take the diagonal !

2010-05-08T09:45:00.003-04:00

This is where we plan to go. Hope you will get out a better map.

From Maps

Planning starts

2010-04-18T14:36:00.018-04:00

Approximately June 3rd, we shall start from home.
We have no schedule, no reservations. Our trip is about the freedom to explore.

Milton to the Sault