Road Trip to Yellowknife, Day 8: Peace River to Lac La Biche, AB

Text and images (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2010
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

We woke up to a light rain, and we packed up our stuff between the drops, fortunately not getting wet, even with us making breakfast. We sat on plastic bags because the picnic table benches were wet.

We left the Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park at Lac Cardinal, located outside the town of Grimshaw (AB). A quick check on the closed Pioneer Village along the road, we drove through the gateway pictured below. We stopped there for photos. Just outside park by the metal gate was some cars parked in a ditch with protests about the government bringing in nuclear power.


Heading back up Highway 35 and back east on Hwy 2, we went once again entered Peace River. We stopped into the Tim Horton's for some coffee and a muffin, and across the street was this liquor store / gas station. So much for promoting not drivin' and drinkin'. For those in the States, note that the station is Esso, rather than Exxon.
After our morning refueling, we headed east over the bridge, and onward on Route 2 through the river valley. Moxy Früvous's "River Valley" was playing in my head.
Not only was there a railroad bridge next to the roadway, there was another, possibly older one, off in the distance, passing over the Peace River. Highway 2 can be seen to the left, where we would be in minutes.
Along the road, we passed through a town called Nampa (AB). Here we found a combination Country Inn and liquor store, for those who want to crash and drink. Note that they both share the same door.
It must be doing well, as it has survived when the other hotel in town was up for sale.
Along the way, the river valley gave way to farmland, including bright yellow fields of canola.
The clouds built up and were dramatic and temperamental. Rainstorms could occasionally be seen in the distance, and we passed through a few here and there.
The No. 2 highway rode along the south end of Lesser Slave Lake, and after passing some small towns, such as Faust and Kinuso, we headed to the town of Slave Lake. At the airport, we saw these yellow planes on the tarmac. These are used to dump water on forest fires, and were most likely being used to help out in the many fires that were plaguing large parts of British Columbia.
We came to the town of Slave Lake, and stopped at the exact same gas station / A&W burger joint we had on the way to Yellowknife. We had made a complete circle through northern Alberta, going one way up (route 88) and coming back another (Highways 35 and 2).
I'm guessing this RV park is under repair?

Being in the area, we decided to check out the Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park. A wooden stairway led us down to the windy beach. It was pretty quiet with a few visitors coming through while we were there, but no one stayed long. The picnic tables told of warmer days and happy campers, but this day was desolate and windblown. It was a lovely spot.







We motored along Highway 2 (joined with Highway 55 after a bit), and arrived in Athabasca in mid-afternoon. This was where we had spent the first night out on this road trip. It was near dark when we had gotten there last time, so now we had time to check out more of the town. We crossed over the bridge on route 813, and found our way to the Athabasca Centennial Park, which was behind the huge letters placed on a cliff directly on the other side of the Athabasca River from the town. We had a great overview from there.










On the way back to the main road and our way east, we stopped just before the steel bridge to take some photos. There were lots of flowers around, and some racist and scary graffiti.



The bridge had a narrow wooden bed, and no walkway for pedestrians, but we still went to the middle to take some shots of the river. John and I were conscious of the occasional traffic, and stayed as much to the side as we could.




On our way out of town we saw the beautiful Ukrainian Orthodox Church Of St. Peter and St. Paul, There is a large Ukranian population in Athabasca.
Highway 2 split from 55 just out of town, so we stayed on the latter, which headed due east. We had come up Hwy 2 at the beginning of the journey, so we took 55 as an alternative route. Along the way, just east of Atmore, this cloud caught my eye. It looked just like North America, right down to Mexico on the bottom. See it?
We stopped in the town of Lac La Biche (AB). We asked some locals where would be a good place to camp. A couple of teenage girls giggled but hadn't a clue. Eventually someone suggested the Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park, which was on a beautiful - albeit windy - peninsula.
The sun was golden as we cooked up our soup and cut up the veggies for dinner. The light during the golden hour was bright on the tops of the trees, making them glow.

The place felt a bit open, but it ended up being just fine and surprisingly quiet. It would be our last night on the road, so we savored it.
As the day ended, we figured out we had come 568 kilometers / 353 miles, which means we have traveled 3928 K / 2441 M in total. Our last full day of travel had ended, and we knew the next night would be be in our own beds. John estimated we'd be home late evening. That was good, because I wasn't sure about how much more John could stand of my snoring...

Road Trip to Yellowknife, Day 2: Athabaska to High Level

Text and photos (c) Robert Barry Francos
Click on photos to see larger version

This is the second day of my trip to Yellowknife from Saskatoon with John and Ian. The first day we drove to Athabasca, Alberta, and camped in the town's nice albeit NOISY site.

We awoke to a lovely fog that had settled along the river. The white bark of the trees shimmered, like ghostly sticks standing guard. I got dressed, wearing my The Nerve! t-shirt, and we happily snapped some photos.

Ian rigged up this gizmogology of white gas to heat some water for coffee. Seems John and Ian are Java mavens, whereas I just enjoy it for what it is (except the burnt tinge of Starbucks... but I digress). Every morning the pot, aluminum shield and Coleman gas came out, and we boiled up a cup. Well, singluar for me, usually two for the guys.
To celebrate the Ukrainian masses that came and settled this part of the country was this Ukrainian Pioneer Monument, reminding me of Ellis Island's images of refugees and "unwashed masses."

After making our breakfast, we finally headed out and drove toward the Northwest on Highway 2. Every time I saw a sign for this town, I kept hearing "Baby, It's You" in my head.
Along the road was the beginning of the boreal forest, only in some areas there had obviously been forest fires at some point, with toothpick traces of trees lining the road for miles.
After a while, we came to Lesser Slave Lake (supposedly pronounced "Slah-vee," named by the Cree, though I didn't hear anyone say it in that way). While this is "Lesser," it is the second largest lake totally enclosed by Alberta. Oh, and Greater Slave Lake is at Yellowknife, but more on that later.
And, of course, there are the big box malls...

...and others.
We did some shopping at the Extra Foods supermarket, got some groceries, and had a picnic lunch at the Lesser Slave Lake Information Centre at about 1 pm. Then back on the road through the boreal forest.

We decided to take an alternative route, along road 88. Days later when we returned, I told my brother-in-law we went this way, and he said, in a you-poor-schmuck voice, "Yeeeeeee." It started out just fine, but after a couple of hours, it turned into a dirt road. You could see trucks coming for miles by their trail, and then came the blinding dust storm behind it. Stones flew in the wake, and John's car suffered more than a few windshield chips. And the times the truck was in front of us, we had to go really slow because it was just like driving through either a thick fog or blinding snowstorm, so we had to be careful not to drive into them. But this was only the beginning. The further north we went, the more the path deteriorated. A huge rainstorm went through, and the roads turned from dirt to mud, with us sliding around. Sometimes there were tire ruts a foot deep or more. There was no way off the route, so we just had to grit our teeth and trudge on, which we did. Then came the road construction (either re-graveling or repaving, depending on how far north we were). Truck and construction crews held up Stop and Slow signs, and the 4-hour-plus route ended up taking 6 or more. We stopped once along the side of the road for a, well, pee break (during which time we so no traffic in either direction), and were swarmed by bugs of all types (my brother-in-law said our white car was a factor, and I believe him). Got did our business and got back in the car as fast as we could, and spent the next few miles killing mosquitoes and opening the window to let out wasps (yellowjackets) and horseflies.

Finally, as we reached the town of Ft. Vermilion (AB) and the route changed to 897, the roads greatly improved. We didn't stop in the town as we were all tired from the long slag, but there was a beautiful waterfront and a quaint old country store that was still functioning, though from the outside looked like it had been around since the Klondike days, and lots of obvious poverty around the Tallcree Reserve.

We drove west on to highway 58, and went on to High Level (AB), the last big town in the province. Most of the hotels were not only named after Vegas casinos come and gone (Flamingo, Dunes, Stardust, etc.), but they even had the same logo'd signs. It's hard to see though the rain in the photos, but there are more photos later.
After questioning the gas station attendant, we went a couple of miles to the south on the main road (route 35) and camped at the Aspen Ridge Campground, which was actually quite nice. We were able to get the tent on grass, rather than gravel for the only time on the trip.

In the campground, across from our space, was this interesting camper, where the tent was on the roof. We went over and talked to the people who owned it. While they had been in Canada for many years, they were originally from Switzerland, and the camper was imported from Austria. We ran into them again and again right on into Yellowknife over the next few days, which was special. Nice couple.

After we put our dinner together from the cooler (which was now just a container), we all got ready for bed. Interestingly, I got up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom, and the sun was still out, just above the horizon. This was the furthest north I had ever been, and we were perhaps half way. We had come 1328 kilometers / 825 miles so far, and was 190 kilometers / 118 miles from the North West Territories border.

In the shower/bathroom "pavillion" ($1 for a shower), there was a book rack with a "take one leave one" sign. Most of them were beat-up romance novels, but there was a short story compilation called The Best of Sci-Fi 14. I took the thick paperback to read, as I had learned quickly that even though the sun was not fully down, it was still to dark to write as I had planned, and reading was somewhat easier.