Day 34 - May 24 FAREWELL TO A TERRITORIAL FRIEND

Today we said a very fond farewell to the Northwest Territories. It was the reason we undertook this adventure and we're so happy we did. The weather was pretty well the story of the day - and it wasn't a good story at all. It was a long drive of over 600 kilometres and it rained steadily for the first six and a half hours. After 29 days of perfect weather in the 34 so far that was a little depressing.

We'd seen quite a few Sandy Cranes up here but were never able to photograph one. This guy was a little more co-operative with his time but turned to takeoff as I arrived.

As I have mentioned before, one of the things I love most about wilderness road trips is the isolation. It was time to change drivers about 80 kilometres north of the border so all we did was stop and do it. No need to go to the side of the road...it was about 7:30AM and there was no one to be seen in any direction.

It truly was like saying goodbye to a friend. To add to the sadness we have only six days left before we fly home. NWT we leave with fond memories and adventures. I guess more people enter from this end of the highway (from Dawson Creek, BC) than where we entered on the west corner near Watson Lake, YT because the sign has the added 60th Parallel bonus.

Another exiting bear.

About half an hour before entering Peace River, Alberta the rains stopped and the sun came out bringing that gorgeous blue sky with it. A welcome sight indeed. We are here overnight only then headed south, exactly where we do not know. We'd like to land about half way between here and Calgary. Hang in there, we'll let you know.

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Day 33 - May 23 OUR NWT LAST HURRAH

Today is our final day in the Northwest Territories. It has been a glorious adventure and today is extraordinary for us because for once the weather is not clear blue sky perfect. As a matter of fact, it rained on and off through most of the day. The Car Play GPS was miserably wrong in locating the falls we were looking for, missed it by about 30 kilometres. We backtracked and located it pretty easily. A short hike in took us to a stunning view indeed.

Alexandra Falls is a 32 metre waterfall on the Hay River about 60 kilometres south of the town of Hay River. Two whitewater kayakers have successfully gone over the falls in kayaks though today would have added an extra challenge as the falls is excessively poopy from the silty winter melt.

Downstream the canyon is pretty remarkable too!

We were talking to a guy who had been a CBC cameraman for forty years. I thought that was very cool until I handed him my phone and asked him to take our photo. He confirmed with me that what he saw in the square viewfinder was what would be in the picture.  😅

The canyon opened up as we headed back to Hay River. Oddly we saw a few views we had missed yesterday on the way in, along this same road.

The original site of the town lies a few kilometres north. It is not officially acknowledged as Old Town but certain very interesting aspects lead me to believe it should be. In particular a couple of transportation relics remain in informal graveyards. Boats and planes lie in varying stages of ruin in their proper locations of shipyard and airport.

Finally, a mural, almost a bas relief on the outside facing of the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre was a fitting conclusion to our visit. Tomorrow is exactly one week away from our return to reality, just 6 more days of travel and adventure. Stay with us...it's not over yet.

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Day 31 and 32 – May 21 and 22 RETURN TO THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Sorry to be a day  and a few hours late. Both days were travel days, one by air and one by road.

May 21

Unfortunately our flight from Cambridge Bay back to Yellowknife was at 3:20PM. 

I'm not crazy about flying but do love the old prop planes...

And of course the view...

Who knew there was a desert just outside Yellowknife?

That left not enough time to do anything constructive in either location. It was 6 o'clock by the time we got back to the hotel in Yellowknife so we went out immediately to tie up some loose ends in Old Town, a couple of things we missed on our visit a few days ago.

Actress Margot Kidder, most famous for her role as Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve Superman films (1978 to 1987), was born in Yellowknife and raised in the Northwest Territories and several Canadian provinces. It's only fitting there should be tribute paid her in her birthplace.

Another local milestone was of even more interest to me. Ragged Ass Road is a quirky, unpaved street in Old Town, Yellowknife. Named by prospectors in the 1970s who had gone broke after a particularly bad mining season, it was immortalized by Canadian musician Tom Cochrane when he used the name to title his 1995 album.

The street was originally called Privy Road due to the large number of outhouses but was officially renamed after a local prospector joked that he and his buddies were “ragged ass broke” after the poor mining season. Street signs do not exist because they are stolen as soon as they go up so the best to be found are novelty signs like this one in front of a proud resident's house.

May 22

Today was a 500 kilometre drive from Yellowknife to Hay River. Unfortunately about 300 kilometres covered the exact same ground we covered on the way in a little over a week ago. Today was a little better because we saw several bison. There were also a few more vehicles but only in some spots - some were the exact opposite.

This is why I choose the places I do to visit. Most people ask, "Why do you want to go there? What is there to see or do?" In a lot of cases there is nothing to see or do but the isolation is worth everything. Since we left home we have not seen or heard any news and, trust me, that is a wonderful thing.

I find a town's welcome sign says a lot about them. The flashier and more colourful it is the better. Hay River gets very high marks from me.

We're here tomorrow as well then we head south with just one week left in this fabulous adventure!

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Day 30 - May 20 I SUPPOSE WE SHOULDN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT TRAFFIC AND UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES

A 2 hour tour with a local in a pickup (there are no other kind of locals) was a great way to end our visit to Nunavut. We did a lot of walking in beautiful weather yesterday so this was a welcome opportunity today. Sunny and relatively clear but around minus 17 with a very blustery wind made us happy to be under the cover of an old pickup.

After all the talk about the benefits the Inuit receive from the government, I had to laugh when Ryan showed us the first homes they were given to get them out of their igloos. Gee, thanks guys, this is nice. Not so much.

The cemetery looked striking up on a hill beside the road. Karen asked if the bodies were preserved for burial until the summer month (yes, it's singular) thinking that would be rather easy to do but was told they use a backhoe to break through the ice and snow instead.

Interestingly enough, there is an auto graveyard right next door.

The Redfish Art Studio has a wonderful slogan, "We make cool sh*t from junk." It was founded on the idea that Inuit youth (16 to 30+) can achieve great things and be inspired if they are given the opportunity and provided guidance and a safe place to express themselves. With the co-operation and support of the Redfish, the RCMP, Family Services and the Department of Justice, the program is intended to address the needs of the at-risk youth in the community.

The trip on the ice road was somewhat astounding. There's not a lot to see but ice and snow and you can't tell what's land and what's water but the most surprising thing to me is that the ice road is functional into July. Summer is most definitely the shortest season - not much more than a month.

Father Steinmann from northern Quebec built a stone church in 1954. Using seal oil and clay as mortar and broken rocks for the walls with caribou fur between the two layers of rock for insulation resulted in a beautiful stone church. In 2006 it was destroyed when set ablaze by vandals. A new roof and reconstructed walls renovated the church to its current condition. This photo was taken on my Sony camcorder from about a kilometre away. With my steady hand (NOT!) I'm surprised you can ever see it.

Tomorrow's a travel day with a late start. Back to Yellowknife for one night.

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Day 29 - May 19 LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN...A FAR NORTHERN TOWN

Cambridge Bay has less than 2,000 people and little visible industry or commercial activity so it's not always obvious what people do but they seem happy and that's important. As a visitor, it's a quirky little town. I can never get enough of in-town murals, especially when they're this well done. 

Certain things take a while to adjust to. For example, this messes my mind on May 19th!

As a visitor this just made me smile. This is "downtown" Cambridge Bay. A bank and a grocery store. How very convenient. You might just have to visit the bank before going to the grocery store. Generally speaking, prices are about 3 times what you're accustomed to with a few items being surprisingly close in price. Sorry, I haven't noticed anything that was cheaper.  😅

The Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) is a state of the art research facility. It has been designed and built to optimize innovation in Arctic science and technology. It can support a wide range of research needs from ecosystem monitoring to DNA analysis - and where Indigenous knowledge is recognized as fundamentally important to the co-creation of new knowledge.

The local sculptures and the artwork in the station are mesmerizing. So amazing.

It turned into a gorgeous day - only 2 degrees but we were dressed for it and there was very little wind. We really couldn't have ordered anything better.

Normally barking dogs annoy me a little but here it seems so right. I guess it truly is 

the call of the wild.

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Day 28 - May 18 - A DIFFERENT KIND OF VICTORIA DAY

 Happy Victoria Day everyone! Can't say that we've celebrated in this fashion before.

We were in Nunavut (Iqaluit) last spring so decided we needed to experience a different area of this amazing territory. It was cold in Yellowknife but it's a lot cooler here. Today was about minus 12 with the wind...and it's the middle of May!

The Yellowknife airport is different. It took us 10 minutes to get there in rush hour traffic. I must say I was a little concerned that we did not have to go through any security at any time to board the plane. Trust in your fellow man and hope he's good for it. Love the airport.

For some reason smaller prop planes don't bother me as much as larger jets. Even though the latter is more efficient and undoubtedly safer there's just something about prop planes I like. Based on today's experience the flight from Yellowknife, NT to Cambridge Bay, NU was only 1 hour and 45 minutes. That's fine and on Canadian North we even got a sandwich and a cookie.

It's pretty well still winter here in Nunavut. There are no clouds in this photo. That's all snow and ice. We were told it would be July before the ice is out of the ocean bays. Boating season is laughably short.

Welcome to Cambridge Bay. Mind your manners and behaviour because this young lady will take you down. She was escorting a prisoner in handcuffs to Yellowknife and definitely had things under control.

Andrew was called in to help with an electronic issue we had. He's a very high level COO  overseeing a number of organizations in Nunavut and offered to drive us around so we could familiarize ourselves a bit with our surroundings. It was unsuccessful - this is not a grid system or any other type of system. We'll get lost for sure.

It was incredibly interesting though. He confirmed what we have suspected for a long time now. Our travels to indigenous areas has always left us wondering how these people are able to afford $100,000 trucks and expensive ATVs and snowmobiles. The government pays the Inuit for children in their home and in addition pays the household a handsome fee for each individual. It is not unusual for a family to get over $100,000 a year. They are also paid if they do not show up for work for whatever reason. Taking off hunting for 2 weeks at a time is a common occurrence. We all agreed this was a real incentive for people not to work.

Driving the Ocean ice road we headed to the site on top of a hill. There is a fully operable, ongoing DEW Line establishment employing hundreds of people on the outskirts of town. The best thing about it is it is entirely paid for by the U.S. Wouldn't the orange menace be ticked if he knew this. Canada Rules!

The lodge we call home for the next 3 nights is not fancy (it's actually a B&B) but the decor is outstanding. I love this piece.

Tomorrow will be interesting. We brought plenty of cold and wet weather clothing but only a pair of running shoes for footwear. We're working on a solution for that but it's not going to happen on this trip.

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Day 27 - May 17 YELLOWKNIFE - PART 2

The sunrise was not anything out of the ordinary but the reflections afterward were soothing and encouraging. The temperature is zero degrees and was so for a lot of the day. Add a wind chill and it's a little chilly for mid-May. May be good practise for where we're headed.

Old Town is the original settlement where the city got its start in the 1930s and is located on the waterfront of Yellowknife Bay. The peninsula on which Old Town sits is known as The Rock due to its prominent hill. It was literally the foundation of Yellowknife, a solid mass of Precambrian rock. The lamp post banners offer a warm welcome, each featuring the work of a different local artist.

A staircase leads to the top of Pilot's Monument, a 1967 dedication to the bush pilots that helped open the north to exploration. Twin Otters and Cessnas on floats and skis remain part of the Old Town soundscape in both summer and winter. The view from the top of the hill is one of the best in Yellowknife. You can almost feel the cold in this photo.

An old float base building and lot provided a look at some vintage aircraft. Yellowknife experienced a very busy summer in 1946 when the post-war gold rush hit. Canadian Pacific Airlines (CPA) was the biggest charter and scheduled aviation company in the Northwest Territories at that time.

The Wildcat Cafe was opened in 1937. It was owned and operated by several different people over the next decade and a half until 1951. By that time Old Town was no longer the commercial centre of Yellowknife and the derelict log structure was scheduled for demolition. A group of concerned citizens stepped in to save the old cafe and it was restored and reopened in 1979.

As we continued our walking tour a few more murals were spotted.

As we crossed the causeway (trust me it's just a small bridge) we entered one of the nicer neighbourhoods in Yellowknife. The whole feeling was different. The speed limit throughout is 30 kph, many people were out walking their dogs and lots of children were at play in the playground. There were even several "libraries" at the ends of driveways. People have built wooden structures with doors where they place books to be taken by anyone who desires a book. Quite a different vibe from downtown.

I do not know the internet status where we're heading tomorrow. So it will be a surprise to us all. Stay with us...it ain't over yet!

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