It’s not hump day it’s Hay River. Yes length of stay here was increased due to changing plans and road conditions. This is ok though because we had an opportunity to experience a fish market, the Great Slave Lake beach, spent time at the visitor center and visited the museum. Roy and I did drive to the town of Enterprise to see a Jamboree and then of course up and down roads looking for animals.
Hay River called the hub of the North https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_River,_Northwest_Territories is the terminus for the Railroad from here on up it travels on barges to reach the surrounding communities on the lake. So it does have a port, and an airport. 
I would say that it is a well rounded hard working town. We had just missed the train and some of the barges leaving that carried diesel fuel for the northern communities in the summer the barges transport enough fuel to keep all of the towns warm. This year might be a challenge as one of the railroad trestles had burned this summer and had just reopened. The fact that the town lays on water they also have 
a Coast Guard Station and Rescue boats.
Everyone in town was so friendly and helpful that I could imagine me living here (ok if I was 20 years younger). The visitor center told us the best place in town to have the local whitefish that come out of the lake is at Back Eddy, I can tell you they have real good ribs. We got there and ready to order and was told no fish the fisherman was out of town. The restaurant is on the second floor of a building with an elevator so Roy decided he would ride down in it. I don’t think it had been used in awhile because the waitresses had to find the keys then figure out how to use it and see if it worked. (BTW it was a little bigger then a closet). It worked when they opened the door I told Roy he could ride down in the elevator I walked. The funny part was we could hear them laughing all the way down. So I still wasn’t going for a ride.
Another suggestion from the center was the fisherman market, Roy had it on the agenda. 
I did thanked them for the suggestion and let them think it was their idea. We did go back when it was going on Saturday. I even got some homemade fudge exactly like my mom used to make reminded me of her and the holidays. The market had a few food vendors selling breakfast which we ate before we came silly us. 
A few crafters of yarn and soaps, a couple of veggie sellers, and the fudge lady who also made some homemade pies. Roy and I enjoyed the lemon meringue pie. It is a meeting place for the whole community.
After the market we drove around the corner to visit the Hay River Heritage Center. 
This is where I heard from a book of course the whooping crane call. This is so I can recognize it in the wild. The grounds featured an ice cream shop did not stop in as it was 60 too cold for ice cream. 
A few old boats, plus an old fire truck.
The tanker cars in the background are not part of the museum but they do carry some of the diesel up to the north as I mentioned earlier. In the Territories and I think through most of Canada there is much emphasis put on preserving the culture of the Indigenous People.
The part of this adventure I am enjoying is one place you go leads to another place to explore. So we visited the public beach on our way to the jamboree in Enterprise. Great Slave Lake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Slave_Lake has sandy beaches here in Hay River 
seeing the vastness of the lake is awe inspiring. I was told that the beaches on the other side of the lake near Yellowknife are rocky I’m looking forward to comparing the two. 
So we decide to head to a jamboree sounds interesting I have noticed people still love to get together for any reason to enjoy music food and good times. 
You also never know what you will see decorating a driveway when you go exploring. 
Please can someone show Roy where the Ketchup is he found the Muster sign.
I was amazed when the sound matched the force of the water.
I met two locals ok from Yellowknife and told them I’m here to photograph the northern lights. Back to the Falls. 
The locals did tell me that the water was a little low but should increase due to all the rain. These falls are on the Hay River and was a short side trip from Hay River. The water drops 109 feet over the cliff to create the roar. Alexandra Falls does have a twin on this river it is called Louise Falls, 
I did get a look from the first over look before it started to rain again. Unfortunately you do not get the full few from the top look out.
The next morning we get up going stop at the only restaurant in 80 miles. After breakfast we leave and run into things headed across the road we slow down and discover this. 
No they were not running wild it was a modern day cattle drive. (with ATVs). So we fell in behind and alongside to enjoy the craziness. 
The tractor was carrying a huge round bale of hay which I assume is the feed. We watch them cross the road and split up the herd.
These pictures are just the outskirts of the forest, there are over 80,000 signs now. While I was taken the pictures of the sign post forest Roy was taking pictures of ravens eating lunch. 
I am so glad we have seen a few more animals now, 
I am not a big ravens fan (football team either).
still getting along with each other. Yes I know it looks like they are biting each other but they are just playing :). It was cool seeing two of the same type of animal at the same time. A little further down the road we were treated to about sixty wood bison on the road, 
the side of the road,
and a few playing in the dust bowl. I know there even seemed to be some romance possibly in the dust hole. Judge for yourself 
I know there was sniffing. I was enjoying stopping and watching then moving on just to see some more bison about ten miles down the road. Here we had some scratching, and standing in the middle of the road. The cutest thing was we had pulled over near the shoulder of the road and a calf who was just growing some horns was trying to sound tough by snorting and looking at us like hey you scared you better be because I’m tough. 
Check the look out on his face. I was amazed at how many calves were spread between the two groups of animals. I think in all the times we’ve seen bison or buffalos that between the two groups it is the largest number.
We will be crossing it again when we leave the Northwest Territories after Yellowknife. We did not see anymore animals until we got to Toad River Lodge 
where we set up camp in site 14 which has an awesome view of the lake. Here I was treated to a family of swans. Even though the cygnets are grey these guys were still regel. 
The male swan, called the cob, helps the female, known as a pen, to look after their babies, called cygnets until they are a year old. 
The young don’t spend more than one day in the nest once they hatch. 
Mike who is the other half of Cindy a couple from Fort Collins CO we met at Toad River had to go to Fort Nelson and he told a very similar story. So I think it might have been the same one. Speaking of Cindy and Mike The first night we were in Toad River I start talking to the couple at the next table and ask where they are from and which way they are headed. I could tell that this was their first trip to Alaska and they were headed home. You get the I’m hooked look in the eyes. They were stuck in Toad for a few days because they had an issue with the steering on the truck, so explains why Mike had to go to town. The cool thing was is there are still people out there ready to lend a hand so they were able to get it fixed. I enjoyed hearing about what they liked about Alaska and how they had to see everything. I hope they return and stay longer in spots they enjoyed. I also got the opportunity to show Cindy some of my pictures including the mega moose from a couple of years ago. (They said they haven’t seen any large moose.) Speaking of moose that is one animal we have yet to see this trip. We saw elk and a few deer today but were not able to get a picture. I am hoping that we do see one so keep sending your good animal vibes.
The spot we were at today is the lowest point of the divide the water shed is separated by just a small hump of sand and gravel. Could you imagine being a stick that broke and one half ends up in the Arctic Ocean and the other half ended up in the Pacific Ocean (Bering Sea), you would never cross paths again. Yes, sometimes I have random thoughts like that. 
Today is probably the last day for cell phones and internet for about a week or two as we are headed to Toad River Lodge in BC Canada 
Our last night in Alaska we stayed at Tok River State Recreational Area right outside of Tok. River front property very quiet park, great end to this part of the trip. 
This was the case with the 141st Meridian 
and to eat at “Klondike Ribs & Salmon” 
One booth that held an interest for me was the CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society) which is a group striving to promote and protect Canada’s wild animals. 
The funny thing is we always have enough left over for at least one or sometimes two more meals. 
On a side note we also because of being off the beaten path have been using the kitchen in our Lance more.
This is another place we visited a few times while in Fairbanks. North Pole does have a Chinese restaurant I even liked called Pagoda we ate there twice and had enough for 4 more meals. Enough about food, back to Christmas. Since we were here last they still do not have the RV Park up and running again it looks like that is something that will never come back. 
They did add on to the building which is a good thing because it was cramped, now you can really begin to want to shop instead of just taking a quick look and run.
Enough shopping onto sight seeing. The Post Office gets in on all the sugar sweetness of candy canes outside of the building. 
If you look closely you will see there is snow on the Police Car lettering. 
I enjoy visiting the North Pole and sharing some Christmas Spirit with everyone. BTW Christmas is less then 5 months away if you are counting.
that would be fascinating to hear all of the barking dogs and excitement. The other excitement that the locals look to is the ice break up on the Tanana river. Lots of money can be won if you can guess the exact day – hour – minute – second this happens. They are already selling tickets for the ice break-up in 2020. 
That black and white metal stanchion has a clock which stops when the ice breaks. I had to include a picture of the gift store in town because it is ‘The Road Less Traveled’ which is the unofficial theme of this year’s trip. 
because winter travel in these would have been an adventure. 
ia.org/wiki/Osprey We came back a second time to get these pictures.
ost of the pictures are from behind as I thought I could get closer with my camera on the other side of the nest. It was about this time that the second bird decided to fly in with a fish. Watching the osprey feeding the chick was impressive. 
ks like it might be opening soon a lot of remodeling there was some old mining equipment on the grounds check it out. 
It’s funny what you can find on a dirt road. I need to be more trusting when Roy takes those dirt and gravel roads. 
pull off that shows the inside of the pipeline with what they call a pig that travels through 
the pipeline and keeps it clean.
I also did not know some of the facts on the information board, the pipeline has 12 pumping stations and is 800 miles long just to name two facts.
or see babies (6 born this year). https://
Even though they seem like docile animals there is always a chance the switch could flip in the animal’s brain and they start to act like the wild animals that they are. So she does stress that some distance is very wise. At the end of the tour she shows a stantion that is damaged due to an incident where the switch was flipped. The person who was in the stantion was not hurt.
is the warming chambers inside the nose Another adaptation these animals have for winter survival is the fact that under the hair is a soft down called qiviut or underwool. 
On a side note I did buy a t-shirt and a headband, neither of which were made of qiviut.
or an unicorn impersonator.
You have to be if you want to be king of the hill during rutting season. Even though the males do not have to rut to be king of the hill because the station is in charge of saying who gets to be king of the hill and who is in whose harem. That was a rabbit hole I went on because of a male’s hard head.
The inteesting thing about antlers is they fall off every year unlike the horns on the muskox. These reindeer are being feed just like the muskox were, on my first visit the reindeer were all up in the guides back going give me the treats now. The second visit she basically had to ignore them after she put the fireweed in the fence. I guess they are not trained. Here you can see she is ignoring 
the reindeer and she is trying to get the guides attention. The second tour once the reindeer realized there were good treats at the fence they gladly ate the fireweed. 
On the Road with Buki-6 