Yellowknife NWT is the perfect location for the northern lights, diamonds, ice road in winter, the seat of government of NWT, and old town.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowknife The whole area is built on rock or what is known as the Canadian Shield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Shield It was funny knowing that the road will not be completely smooth and the rolls are not frost heaves.  We did get to drive to the edge of the ice road made famous in the first season of Ice Road Truckers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Road_Truckers  we wanted to see where it would start in the winter. I do not think that’s a road I would want to travel although as kids we did drive on the ice on Lake Winnebago (ok I was young and crazy then).  I am also glad Roy decided not to go for a swim with this picture you have to wonder how many did go for a swim.  This is one time when stop means stop.  There was construction on the way out to the end of the road at 4 trucks every 20 minutes the road into Yellowknife after getting off the ice can cause wear and tear.  Here is an article about ice road trucking there is a 70% turn over in drivers http://www.go-explore-trans.org/post.cfm?ID=19059

Yellowknife down town area is like any urban city that is the seat of government.  On a side note we were in Yellowknife on August 22nd which is the day that A&W Canada donates $2 of every teen burger to fight MS. https://mssociety.ca/resources/news/article/christine-sinclair-aw-canada-and-the-ms-society-of-canada-score-a-big-win-on-burgers-to-beat-ms-day  Can you guess where we had lunch that day in Yellowknife?  We do try to arrange the part of our trip that we will be in Canada during August, because of the day and they take donations all month.

One thing we did learn is the visitor center or so I say the old center is sinking into the water so trying to find the new one we passed by the legislative building of the NWT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Assembly_of_the_Northwest_Territories We explored the downtown area and came across this park with this UN tank.   We did find the visitors center and found out that there was also a farmer’s market while we were going to be in town so of course we went.

This trip we have tried to buy local produce at the markets this one had entertainment, booths was in the park by City Hall.  It did last for only two hours which was surprising.  I was able to get a photo of Roy yakking it up.

I enjoyed walking around the booths and seeing the interactions of the locals.

It was interesting to see the variety of people in Yellowknife  First Nations, people who are embracing a simpler life, then a hodge-podge of older people who call Yellowknife home. There is also a strong Oriental presence in their tourism industry, and local workforce.  I don’t want to keep coming back to food but food this trip has been very good.  Especially if you can get a total of 3 meals out of a dinner.

Some background on where most of the restaurants are located they are in old town. https://spectacularnwt.com/attraction/yellowknifes-old-town  Remember I mentioned that Yellowknife is built on rock check out the link it gives a birds eye picture of old town.  I would have to say that the area is condensed so parking is at a premium we did luck out though.  Bullock’s Bistro https://extraordinaryyk.com/member-information/bullocks-bistro I have to say it is quirky there is writing all over the doors and the patio I don’t know when that started but I am now forever engraved on a piece of the door. (Thanks Roy).  The food here is local seafood and good meat.  Roy had Arctic Char it was cooked perfectly and I went with a bison steak extremely tender and yes we had leftovers.  We also made it to a newer restaurant also on the suggestion of some locals we met when we stayed at Lady Evelyn Falls Territorial Park this one was a brewery the Woodyard https://www.nwtbrewingco.com/  from the website I thought would be too spicy I am glad Roy decided to try it anyways.  It had flavor not hot spice is the only thing you taste. I was able to get a craft root beer which tasted better then A&W it was bottled and brewed in Canada not at the local brewery.  The art outside the building was a cool photo-op

Roy had the bison short ribs I had a burger,  we also had smoked fish potato salad the fish was smoked local inconnu fish and fried capers just to name a few ingredients almost worth a trip back to Yellowknife just to get some more.

Old town is also home to the Aurora Lighthouses these are little houses with beacons on top of them and will shine when the auroras are to be active.  This one is located outside a gift store in old town notice the painting next to the lighthouse.  Speaking of houses old town also hosts houseboat bay.  It is a true off the grid experience. I was reminded of either a beach town in California or a town seaside town in Maine in this case the town is in the bay at least. https://spectacularnwt.com/attraction/houseboat-bay-0 Paddle to your front door in summer skate to the front door in winter.  I don’t think any of the house were painted the same or were the same size.  Old town has so much personality packed into just a few blocks.  Check out the painting on this can and the big bug I found .

I have to say that being able to see the Northern Lights for so many nights of the year brings magic to this town.

 

My quest to see and photograph the northern lights happened Thursday August 22nd.  I am so glad I am able to share these pictures with you. I have to say the dance they put on were watched by Roy, me and a few others at the turn-out we chose to stop and watch, just check out the picture. The other thing I wanted to share is this is my 300th post.  I think I’ve grown in this journey, I also hope you’ve enjoyed the adventures with me.

Speaking of adventures this trip has been a great one.  I’ve learned you can not plan everything and when you stop looking it will happen.  We traveled the Ingraham Trail another end of the road for Roy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingraham_Trail in the daylight to figure out where we should set up if we got the chance to see the dance.  We were 40Km or about 25 miles from town so no light pollution. The town of Yellowknife gives out maps for places to see the northern lights we stopped at one turn-out and realized there were too many people waiting for the lights to begin dancing so down the road we went. It was a tad chilly (39F) standing out taking pictures but well worth it. I also just took some time watching the way they ebbed and flowed pictures do not do them justice.  I also shared the moment with a young woman who also had never seen the lights and she was also in awe.

The moon was starting it’s third quarter phase so it did not dampen or dim the lights.  I played with some lighting effects where they say you should wash the foreground in light from a flashlight well I unintentionally used the taillights of our jeep.  I hope you enjoy the building that was lit.  Here is one picture of the building not bathed in light.  I do like this picture better because I can let everyone including me believe that it is a warming hut. (it could be used as one).  Here is another example of bathing in light, I snapped the picture when the car was pulling out on purpose. This is one more where you can see a light trail I did try to do a selfie that did not turn out well, I was afraid of exposing for 30 seconds so here is the first effort at the selfie. The lights were ever changing and it seemed some of the better lights happened on the way home.  I turned into a wimp and got to cold to stay real late.

I have to say this journey of 300 posts has been unbelievable.  The first year of the trip I wrote every night and posted no pictures.  This was the year that we did a busman holiday although I did get to experience the bears on Kodiak.  The second year was all about eagles, the third year was my 50th birthday and photo trip with Lisa Langell and I hope you enjoyed those pictures.  This year has been about reaching for the northern lights.  I am sharing a few more pictures from the first night of lights.  This picture has grown on me it was taken outside the trailer and backlit by a motion sensor light. The 23rd we had rain the 24th we chose a different location and I’m still working on those.  I do have to say I am not used to staying up so late so I’ve been sleeping late into the afternoon.  So the Yellowknife blogs will be coming soon.  On a semi-sad note tomorrow the 26th is the time in our trip that we are now heading home.

This part of the trip we spent some time exploring Wood Buffalo National Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Buffalo_National_Park it is the largest National Park of Canada. This is the link to the Parks site https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/decouvrir-discover The road that travels through the park I will say the first part ends before Fort Smith and the second part goes out of Fort Smith in to  Alberta, so it makes Fort Smith a perfect spot to day trip out of.  I am also wrapping all of the animal sightings and features we discovered in this one blog.

They also grow the Buffalo quite large here are two big daddy buffalo

 

I have to say I really believe size matters in the Northwest Territories and Alberta.  We haven’t begun to come close to exploring the whole park but did drive out to the Salt Plains Viewpoint https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/activ/2015act6 and you can see forever. A photo does not do it justice but I tried  then you can see from where the viewing platform is how expansive the plains are .  We were lucky enough to actually see a black bear run across the plains dodging in and out of the clusters of trees using the viewers on the platform. We did not do the walk down the path but were able to watch a few hikers attempt .  We told them how close they were to a bear though, it did not phase them.  Also along the 11 km (6.8 miles) dirt road is the turn off for the other end of a 4×4 trail it is only 54 km (33.5 miles) Roy discovered yesterday the 13th. I have to say he hasn’t lost all his marbles this trip.

Now back to the buffalo.  The first day we are greeted to some courtship in a sand hole that the buffalo actually stayed for us not camera shy here. Although I think she might be saying not now.  I would have to say there were about 10 to 14 in this herd just standing or laying around. The life not a care in the world.  It is quite a sight to see how skittish these large animals are because they do not see a bunch of human traffic.  This first group of buffalo was where we encountered Big Daddy number 1. Yes I do think his butt is big in this picture. More of that first group. There were not many large groups of buffalo we did see a few large single males.  I think Roy was having an intense mind meld with this guy, or they were trying to compare beard lentghs. I wasn’t going to ask.  I did take a closer picture and discovered that this was another big boy just hanging by himself. For the record Roy has the better beard but Big Daddy 2 has the better head of hair even if it looks like a mohawk. We also saw a group of three buffalos on the way out of the park it was Eenie Meenie Miney … Mo buffalo.  Here you see what happens when I accidently get the door mirror in the picture. He is charging the mirror my story and sticking to it

The park is also the world’s largest dark sky preserve every year they have a festival in the park usually the last weekend in August. http://www.tawbas.ca/  I do still have my eye to the sky in the hopes I will see them this year.

We drove into the second part of the park we stopped at the Salt River Day Use Area and saw a golden eagle perched on a log looking for dinner no luck at capturing this massive bird on film.  We’ve seen two in the wild and have yet to catch them on film. That is another one for the bucket list, along with the whooping crane. The park has areas that the whooping cranes nest and raise their young. I was able to work on more of my landscape layouts by catching the reflection of the cliffs in the river I took the shot from the bridge.

There is one campground in the park that can handle RVs it is called Pine Lake and is also the area where the dark skies event is held.  I had fun exploring this whole area of wilderness with the small towns along the way.

 

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.

Not my falls although I could write a blog or two about those.  No the waterfalls that are around Hay River NWT. It is actually a route that you can travel in the Northwest Territories. https://www.nwtparks.ca/explore/waterfalls-route . When we did this route on Friday I was also dodging rain drops.  I got a few pictures using the landscape lens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Falls  It was also really cold but that is what coats are for :). When I was walking up from the parking lot and could hear the rushing water but could not see it, 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, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Falls and it is a three tiered falls.  There was a short trail (1.9 mile) I could have walked to but I opted to have Roy drive me.  Less then a mile down the road is the turnoff for the falls.  This falls only drops 50 feet.  I get to the over look and was a little disappointed because there was supposed to be a spiral staircase that you could go down to get a closer look.  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.

So I grabbed my camera and headed back to the car. Up the road is another waterfall that is just a day use park McNallie Creek https://www.nwtparks.ca/explore/waterfalls-route/mcnallie-creek

This is an interesting side trip to a falls, at the visitor center in Hay River the woman told me that locals would jump off the edge of the falls when she was growing up.  The other thing is that these falls just go into the big hole she called it a sink hole. My funny thought was after seeing Louise and Alexandra Falls was you need to grow up.

It was here I met a couple who had just come from Louise Falls and I said so did I and was disappointed I could find the steps.  I was up to a spiral staircase.  So they explained how to find it, after a quick thought I decided lets go for it. (Roy loves to drive).  Back at Louise Falls after driving through some rain then into some blue skies I’m thinking great there is a chance.  Ok, I have depth perception issues so once I get to the steps down I see it’s a very tight spiral staircase and the trees are extremely close on the way down.  In the back of my mind I’m thinking this older couple did it I can too.  Then logic took over the last time I did something because someone else did I came home on crutches from a sky trip. (I was 12 but still).  So I decide to go back to the look out and even though I am practicing with the landscape lens I still love to use my 150mm – 600mm to zoom in on things.  I head back to the car again to grab it.  Mother Nature had other plans because right before I got back to the car it starts to rain.  I got wet but made sure the cameras stayed dry.  So I’m so thankful logic took over or I still might be sitting on a step on that spiral staircase.  I will have an opportunity to check out Lady Evelyn Falls as we are spending time there on the way to Yellowknife.