for the town..
no body there... I guess on Sunday you only have to show up if you want to...
As I drive around town looking for an Internet connection (War Driving) I find only one and I only have time to upload my blog. Did not get to send e-mail and the connection was broken!!!
What do I think of Fort Smith? 
A contradiction of a town. Lots of very nice homes, a few not so nice, 1 out of 3 have a scrap yard in their front yard (even the nice ones) from the last 20 years.   Lot of commercials building are boarded up, other stores are in private house, like  Radio Shack, Saan, etc.

I go to the Truck Wash, which is outside, and remove 50 lbs of mud...

 

Now I can see true my back window.
I checked out the price of milk and a 4 litres of 2% cost $5.36  Not so bad compare to Cold Lake.
Back at the campground at 4 pm, supper and update to the blog.

 
When I woke up...it was raining !
I leave for Pine Lake which about 60 km away (south-west of Fort Smith).  I am back in Alberta right after I leave Fort Smith.  Here we go, gravel road for the next 55 km.
My first stop is at Salt River where there is a trail system.  I do the Karstland Trail first, a long 750m.



A nice little trail with some information panels explaining the formation of Karst. Really interesting. The Karst also creates caves and in those caves the Red-sided Garter Snake spend the winter.  This is as far north as any reptiles live. 
Guess what ?
It rains...  Next I did the Salt River Meadows trail. Pretty, lots of birds.  Sadly, no bison but lots of tracks.

I can not help it, ''do bear shit in the woods?''  Well! I have the answer! NO ! They shit on the trails,
so do the bison. 
And you know what?
Animals have a sense of humour! 
A fox had a shit on top of a bison poop. 
What did he mean by that?
OK, OK, enough of my very interesting observation of the animal kingdom.

On the next trail I could see rocks sitting in the middle of .. nothing. It is kind a look like moonscape. Those rocks were left behind form the last Ice Age.

 

Me and my ''Bear Bell''.


 
Back on the road towards Pine Lake.  36 campsites, and I have the choice, I am the only one here.  It is nice, $14 no services or showers. 




Pine Lake is a water-filed ''uvala'', formed by a series of sinkholes (Karst). This is what gives it its aquamarine waters.


 
Alright! I am taking my bike and doing the Lakeside Trail... but... I have a flat tire.  Lesson for Denis, when you place your bike on the stand, do not place the valve at the bottom because rocks will get to it and break it.  I fixed my flat, there is even sand in my tire. 
Lesson number 2, remove wheel when traveling, because rocks from the road does a wonderful job on the wheel part.  I will go to bed a lot smarter tonight.
OK! the trail is 6.4km, not easy on bike because bison use the trail and ''dig'' and make all the roots show up.  Oh well! At the end I have a choice to come back the same way or take the road. I take the road, this gives me a little ride of about 16 km.

It is very windy at the site and it allows me to stay outside because there is no bugs!  I even make a fire...it is not raining!
Their are some tracks of bison and bears, sure hope to see one tonight or tomorrow morning.

Speaking of morning, I will be on my way to Hay River for a top up of fuel and then down to Enterprise and Highway 1 to Kakisa.
 
Before I am done with Wood Buffalo Park, here are a few bits and pieces...
Wood Buffalo is part of a World Heritage since 1983.
Originally created to protect the bison, later it became a vital part in the recovery of the Wooping Crane.
The Peace-Athabasca delta, one of the largest fresh water delta in the world.
So many other little things.....A great place!!!
 
It is now 9 pm and it is...raining

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6 June 2006

I am in Kakisa after 500km.
OK, let go back to this morning.
My wheels got turning at 10 am.  A small, 60km stretch of gravel.  At Fort Smith I treat myself to coffee and on the way to Hay River and Kakisa.  Out of Fort Smith I have an other 120km of gravel.   And it rains, the road is getting pretty bad, would even say stressing.  Ah! I saw 2 more bison today.





There are many patches of dirt on the side of the road. 



These patches are created by the bison as the roll around to get covered in dirt to protect themselves for bugs.
There is more truck traffic.  When I hit the pavement, a big, mean truck showers me with rocks (lots of rocks) and one broke my windshield.  Tabarnak!  Oh well! it was bound to happen.  I still can not see throue my rear window (mud).

First stop is Hay River, I fill up, do some laundry and wash the motorhome.  I can see thru my rear window.  The motorhome must weight at least 100lbs more just in mud.  I leave Hay River at around 230 pm, direction Kakisa.  I am now back on highway 1, what a nice road!  In Enterprise there is a sign on the road that states ‘’Fort Providence is Overflow’’  ???  what does that mean?   We'll see when I get there.
Next stop is McNallie Falls. Nice little falls.



The story of the falls is a special one.  The name comes from a Foreman who was working on the construction of the first road (highway1).  When he crossed the river on a canoe he missed judge the current and was taken downstream toward the falls.  He managed to get to shire but not his canoe.  His crew named (un-officially)  the small creek with is name. Latter on, the president of the company officially ask the government to name the creek  in honour of McNallie.
In Kakisa, I find myself a camping site. Nice Park.  $15 including showers.  Back to the '' I find myself a camping site''  An other lesson.  I always get out and look before I back up in a site.  Well, this time it looked OK from inside the motorhome,  I back up... and a tree jumped and hit my cargo carrier.



Good thing I removed my bike wheel before I left this morning.  On the plate for tomorrow, biking the trails around Lady Evelyn falls.  Here is a little price info, 24 cans of beer, $47.89 in Hay River.

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7 June 2006
 
Brrr ! A little chilly last night, a nice 0 C.  Super campsite, you can hear the falls in the background.  The washrooms are very clean.  A little picture taken at 1130 pm, still daylight.



I do the Lady Evelyn Falls trail.  A small 2km.  The falls themselves are at the same level as the camping but the trail take you lower then the falls.  The water level in the river is very high and you can not walk on the river's shore.  With the rain from the past 5 or 6 days, no wonder.  The trail goes upstream and comes up to a very nice small fall.



The Lady Evelyn falls are 15 meter high and very nice with the rainbow.



A little further upstream there is almost another set of falls, only 1 or 2 meters high.



10 am, back on the road, on my way to Kakisa.  a very nice looking Native village, nice houses, not poor at all.  I have to say that all the Native villages are very clean and not poor looking.  On Highway 1 at the junction of highway 1 and 3 there is a barricade that says the highway is closed??? No explanation!  Oh well! I turn onto highway 3 towards Yellowknife.  21km later I come to the ferry Merv Hardie for the crossing of the MacKenzie.  Chocolate, it is a big river...



Out of the ferry, there is a sign that warns us about bison on the highway.



Not even a 100 meters and...a bison.



At Fort Providence I fill up.  Onward for 200km towards Yellowknife. Nice road, lots of water in the ditches.



Remember I said it rained.  Impressive the number of bison on the highway.  Some males and some cows with little one.   Sometimes they just cross the highway just as you get there... Stupid animals!!!



I was thinking, I has not seen any bears since I started my trip. Well, a sow and 2 cubs crossed the road in front of me not 10km later.



Yellowknife,



I get a campsite for 3 days. Nice campground but located by the highway and just across the airport, a little noisy.  at 5 pm I take off with my bike for the BIG city.  I take a trail system end... chocolate,,, I have to come back because there is so much water and mud.  Back on the road, into downtown.  I am not visiting anything just checking the hours for the info centre and the Prince of Wales museum... chocolate... the museum is closed until august... Who closes a museum in the summer???  Back at the campground after a little 16km ride.  supper at 8pm and making plans for tomorrow...

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8 June 2006
 
I hade a good sleep, but ...man it really does not get dark here!   That is why I have a second pillow, I use it to cover the head.  930 am and I am on my way to the city.  I stop at the info centre.  The guy that works there is awesome. I get to connect to the internet and update may pages again and do some emails.   After that I visit the info centre and find it to be very interesting, lot to see.  Even an elevator that is like a small airplane interior with a TV and the take you for a tour of the Yellowknife/NWT area.  Really neat way of presenting the area.  By the way, Yellowknife got its name not from the gold but from an explorer, Samuel Hearne,  who, when he saw the Dene with there knives made out of almost pure copper, called the Natives, Yellowknifes.  Now you know the rest of the story...
I leave my bike at the info centre and take a walk downtown.  I come across the ''bad side'' of town,  lots of people, poor ones, sad to say but mostly natives, drunk by noon.  I know it is only a minority but it sure is visible now!  I found a small café  with free internet, tomorrow I will treat myself to a good coffee and surfing for a while.  I also visited the Diavik Corp. who exploit the Diavik diamond mine.  WOW ! What a nice info centre. The Diavik and 2 other mine will give, in there lifetime (20 Years) about 40 billions $$ worth of diamonds.  That is a sh*t load of money!  Canada is the 3rd larges producer of diamonds in the world.
Back at the info centre I pick up my bike and travel to the Old Town.  Lots of colours, even the garbage cans are painted.  Some of the building are ''kept'' in a state of ''old'' for the tourists.  On recommendation from the info centre, I decide to have lunch at the Bullock restaurant.  A little while back, the Reader's Digest ask/did a survey to find the 10 best place to have a Fish&Chips.  This place is one of them.   Really cool place, only 5 tables, a counter and about 5 outside tables.







All the walls and ceilings have writing on them from the people who were there before.  It gives a style to the place.







A little note on the wall before you enter,  ''In keeping with the pioneer spirit on which Yellowknife was founded, we encourage you to enjoy the intimate nature of this place by joining another table''.  This sure reminded me of Germany.  Back to the food.  I had Arctic Char, WOW! the size of the plate !  The taste !  Man I am gona have a hard time biking this afternoon!  Chocolate it is good.  A nice beer with that, it was worth the (high) price.  I recommend this place at least once (or more) in your life.
I continue my visit of the Old Town with a climb to Pilot's Monument  which commemorates the Bush Pilots from past  years.   It gives you a nice panoramic view of the Old Town and Latham Island.



We can see some of the floating houses on the bay.









I will ask some info about these houses from the info centre.  I visit Latham Island which is also a Indians Reserve for the D'Dilo, they are Dene.  Before I leave the Old Town, I have a little beverage (beer) at the Wild Cat Café.



The Wild Cat Café was build in 1937.  Some time later it became the first Chinese restaurant in YK.  The Wild Cat Café closed its door in the early 50's.  In the 70's, there was talks about destroying the Wild Cat.  A group got together to save and renovate the Wild Cat Café.  In 1979 it was re-open for the summer time.  What was that saying again? Now you know the rest of the story... Again...





Same rules apply at the Wild Cat Café, stranger can sit at your table.  Another nice place, small, cozy, love it.
On the menu for tomorrow, spend some time at the internet cafe.  There is also some guided visits of the Legislature building of the NWT.  A special place.
OK! Here are some pictures of my camping site here is YK.





A good supper!



To finish on a good news, the road to Fort Simpson is now open.

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9 June 2006

 
Wake up at 8 am and.... it rains! Really ! Still ! Chocolate ! Oh well!
This is my day to take it easy.  I take a couple of coffee while reading the local papers. The paper talk about the same problems as in Cold Lake.  Because of the rain, I take the motorhome to go in town.
I fill up, Hummm ! Only $1.134 per litres WOW!  I still get about 26 L / 100 km (or about 11 miles per gallon)
I empty my used water reservoirs and fill up with fresh water.
I took the guided tour of the Legislative Assembly Building at 1030 am.  WOW ! Really good tour!  The girl giving the tour is very knowledgeable about the building and the working of the NWT Legislative Assembly.  There is no political party here, every one is a independent and then they vote a ''Premier''  who in turn assign portfolio to ''minister'' and the rest are the ''opposition''.  This government work on a consensus system.  I would recommend a visit of the building.
For lunch I go downtown at the Javaroma where the internet is free. I treat myself with a really good coffee and a Santa Fe Bagel.  I surf for a while, do emails but can not update my pages. I look outside at people on the street and watch the rain (still) coming down.
I go back to the info centre and watch a few videos about the NWT.
I purchased a few souvenir, a UnuksuK.


 
And a book  titled ''Yellowknife Tales''  60 years of stories from Yellowknife
Back at the campground at 330 pm.
I started to read until 7 pm, I have a nice diner, work on my page and continue reading for the rest of the evening.

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10 June 2006
 
Easy day today!
And... it is not raining!
I go to the info centre to watch a diamond cutter.  I get there a little early to update my pages.  I check the weather for Yellowknife, rain, Fort Providence, sunny for the next week, something for Fort Simpson.
Back to the diamond cutter, he is from... France, really, Olivier came to Yellowknife at 18 (1998) because he wanted to live with the native in the wild country.  He had to go back in France because his visa expired.  Back in Yellowknife, he studies in diamond cutting until he can get his Canadian citizenship.  OK back to diamond cutting, I am the only one here! This is super! We talked about the cutting of stones, how is a diamond is build, composed of, I can touch and manipulate the diamond.  The salary of a diamond cutter is about $17 per hour but with bonuses it can easel y double or even triple.  My nose is even closer then is nose when he is cutting the diamond.  He cuts and we talk for the next 2 hours. The information I got about diamonds.  WOW!
Around noon, I got on the ''Ingraham Trail''.  That's a road to ''cottage country'' for Yellowknife.  Beautiful road with a maximum speed of 70 km.  There is group cleaning the ditches and to warn us there is a spot check and they give you a little collapsible bucket.

 

I make a stop at the Prelude Lake Territorial Park and do a small trail of 4 km with my bike, mostly on rocks. On the way out I continue on Highway 4 (68.9 km long) but the road is in gravel, for the next 3km I make great tries but I have to turn around because of the washboard.  Even my Styrofoam plates, my carpet made noise.  I turned around, I am even thinking this will make my motorhome fall apart.  The highest speed I got was 15 km.  I have never seen such a bad road.
Back in Yellowknife, I decide to stay at the same campground for one more night and leave tomorrow morning for Fort Providence.
The next picture is from around Yellowknife.


 
Slow night reading  by the fire.  Ah ! I would like to talk about bugs... compare to Cold Lake, Shawbridge or any other place... Chocolate there is a lot here.  The nice ''Skinsosoft'' is good for about 10 minutes, you need ''OFF Deep woods''  And put it on thick.  Here they call it the ''perfume of the north''.
Can't way to get back on the road...

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11 June 2006
 
This morning,  I leave for Fort Providence. It is 830 am and I am on highway n.3 southbound.  Yes! I am going back on my tracks!  I see some (lots) of bison, some I think I remember.



I get to Fort Providence at 1 pm.  Nothing here!  I decide to carry on until Sambaa Deh Falls.  About 150 km away,  I saw a bear, a baby bear with no mama! A little fox and a little I do not knot what. 
Before I take the ferry I fill up.  $126.16 for 103.495 litres at $1.219 for average of 26 L / 100 km. ( 11 miles to the gallon).
The sun is out and I can tell the temperature is going up, it is getting warm inside the motorhome.  Forecast is for +25 today.
back on highway 1, westbound, on gravel.  When I say gravel I mean hard pack dirt.



My first stop is at  Wallace Creek where there is a trial that leads to a small fall,  The water is very high so the fall is pretty good.. It is worth the stop.



After 575 km, 5 pm, I get to Sambaa Deh Park.



Pfiouuu !
The gravel road was not so bad, I can drive about 80 km without too much ''sacking''.  Not much traffic on this road, I meet on the average one car every 45 minutes.
Nice camping but no electricity but free showers, at $15 it is OK. I have the hood open just to let some of the heat escape that way so it does not seep in the motorhome.



I take the trail to the Coral Falls which is about 1 km to the south off here.



The falls are named this way because at the base you can get fossils from the shores but the river is so high it is not possible at this time.  Back at the campground, I cross the highway and get tot the Sambaa Deh Falls ( in another book it is call Wittaker falls???)  WOW! Awesome falls,



I took  the west side of the canyon of the Sambaa Deh river (in English, tout river). There is even an other small fall on the East side.



Back to the bridge I did the east side trail that goes along the river.  Dam ! it is beautiful l!







Sun is there, it is +28, almost no bugs (well, less then 25 around you) what do you need more ???
I forgot, my cracked windshield is now a  form of a .... T



Back to the campground, a beer, a shower, a nice diner and update my page and at about 12,  sleep!