August 11, 2004

Yellowknife to Fort Nelson









August 26:   Yellowknife was the northernmost point we would reach on this trip.   About 3 hours drive south after leaving there we bought what might have been the last gasoline available for 150 miles, viewed the old Catholic church at the village of New Providence,













cautiously photographed a buffalo bull so close we were ready to duck into an adjacent shed in case of belligerence, ferried across the MacKenzie one last time, and turned west on a long lonely dirt road, of excellent 60 mph quality.   On arrival at Fort Simpson for the night, we discovered why it had been easy to make a reservation at "The Only Full Service Hotel in Fort Simpson" (population 1237).   It was the only hotel, and the quality was not high.   The hotel restaurant and the Chinese restaurant had closed early that day.   The hotel's "Joe" suggested the adjacent grocery store might be open, but we convinced him to sell us soup and sandwiches.

August 27:   In the morning ice coated the car, and we told the clerk our room had been only a little warmer than the car.   He said that the previous year new thermostats had been installed:  backwards.  I think the wires could have been reversed at 5 minutes per thermostat, or spoken or posted notices could have been provided.   We had adjusted the thermostat without result.  Later the clerk admitted the heat hadn't been turned on at all.

We had come there for a charter flight to Nahanni National Park, a World Heritage Site, legendary to kayakers and hikers, but decided to leave the hotel and the town.  However, as we left we checked the airport, and found there were two seats available for the Nahanni flight about to leave, and there was a superb B&B near town. 

The Cessna 206 on floats held the Quebec pilot and Dick in front, Margery and a young Mountie next behind, and his mother in back.

 We crossed a hundred miles of swampy scrub and suddenly were in surroundings of such beauty that neither I nor Google nor pictures can make much progress in conveying its magnitude.   Morning fog had vanished, leaving clouds around 5,000 feet and new snow on the jagged peaks above 4000 feet.   The Cessna approximately followed the many twists of the Nahanni River below, banking so close over ridges that we could see mountain sheep below.   We came in low over Virginia Falls, which is twice as high as Niagara and spectacularly split by a buttress, and landed above the falls.


We walked about a mile on a boardwalk and difficult tundra where the boardwalk was soon to be extended, to the top of a cliff directly above the falls, and a little beyond. Wow ! On the way back to the plane Marge caught her foot on a root, and so injured her leg that it was difficult to walk.  I, Dick, have a very courageous partner.  Perhaps the fall was due to hurrying, because the weather was deteriorating.  The pilot took off and flew in light rain at 3000 feet descending to 2000 feet, more closely following the river, with the canyon walls high on both sides, and often with an apparent closed white wall ahead. This resulted in a longer flight path than our approach, so when we landed back at Fort Simpson one of the two gas tanks registered empty and the other below 1/4.  The Quebec pilot agreed that "Pas beaucoup d'essence" (not much gas). We asked and were given a $100 (Canadian) rebate because the worsening weather had prevented a scheduled landing at a promised beautiful lodge location. We had never seen a more beautiful place, and only regret that we couldn't travel it at 2 mph not 120 mph.

Our B&B back in Fort Simpson was at least as delightful as promised, an architect's dream, with the confluence of the Liard and MacKenzie rivers outside our bedroom window.

August 28:  Our breakfast tablemates were an Israeli couple, she working at Outward Bound in Asheville NC, he a lecturer on his Everest ascent and other adventures.  We visited the little local museum, featuring a spruce bark (not birch bark) canoe, and the ornate fur-lined Dene-made chair made for the Pope to occupy on a cancelled 1984 visit.  He actually used it when his plane was able to land there in 1987.


Then we ferried back across the Liard, drove 38 paved miles and 136 dirt miles.  Recent rain kept the dust down, but made mud and filled potholes.   We went about 50 miles without seeing a car or any structure except occasional "emergency shelters", each with a door, wood stove, and bench.

We saw many buffalo, alone and in groups.
Once when they blocked the road we got some good pictures-->



   We went 3 miles on a side road to Fort Liard, population 588 of mostly Dene.   We'd almost switched to that place for a bed and flight, so for curiosity went to check the details.   The Nova Scotian proprietor of the general store said that the town's only restaurant had closed, so although he had simple rooms for $135, we would have to bring our own food.   At the airport we found the pilot charged almost as much as we had paid for a flight to Nahanni Falls, and would be much shorter. There we saw our only bear so far on this trip, a black one.  So that was our last visit to Fort Liard.



We'd made no reservation at Fort Nelson, since the peak of tourist season was past, and booked 2 nights at the nearly new Super 8, one of the best motels we've ever used.   We were told that the town is mainly a support center for the mining and oil industries, that heavy truck traffic surges through late in the year when ice roads start to be usable, and AK Highway businesses that cater mostly to tourists are apt to shut down September 1.   And we were headed north !

Sunday August 29:   Marge washed laundry, and Dick washed much of the Northwest Territories from our car, turning it from brown back to silver.   We visited the local museum, a very informal display of artifacts worthy of a much larger town or city.   That's apparently the result of more enthusiastic support than money.   About 30 people were holding a supper, to which we were warmly invited.   So we ate, and met several very nice folks with stories to tell.   We met the founder and chairman, who sported an old-timers long beard and had contributed several of the 20 cars from the '20's and '30's.


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