… New Ground — Fostering Adventure

Autumn Splendor And The 60th Parallel

New Ground to Cover

Wood Buffalo National Park covers an area of 44,807 square kilometres.

We’ve never been to the lower part of the Northwest Territories, so it was worth the drive to explore another region of Canada, especially since we would be visiting Wood Buffalo National Park. It’s the largest national park in Canada, and spans the Alberta/NWT border. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is home to the largest herd of wild bison in North America, more specifically, the sub-species of Wood Bison. Wood Buffalo National Park is also the nesting grounds for the Whooping Crane, and has the largest inland river delta in the world located at the mouth of the Peace and Athabasca Rivers.

Our route to the NWT was through Alberta. Part of the route we had traveled several times before on the way to the Alaska Highway, since this way afforded us the ability to buy less expensive Alberta diesel fuel. Once we hit Grande Prairie though, the journey from there on was new ground for us, and took us on a short trip through history as we visited the many small towns along what we learned was the MacKenzie Highway. It’s an 1,140 kilometer stretch of road that starts in Grimshaw, Alberta and ends in Wrigly, NWT. The origins of which date back to 1914 and the Battle River Trail.

Mile zero for the MackKenzie Highway was at Grimshaw, Alberta. From what we understood, the choice of the “mile zero” point was largely a political one and there was fierce competition between the various towns along the route in order to secure the title, and of course, the bragging rights.

Vancouver to the 60th Parallel

By the time we got to Fairview, Alberta, the wildfire smoke had mostly cleared. But even here you can still see a hint of smoke slightly obscuring the far distance hill.

By the time we got things sorted and left Vancouver it was September 12th. Getting to the border of the Northwest Territories took four days of full on driving. Being limited by our tires to a maximum speed of 90kph (55mph), it takes us a while to get places. The good news is that we are more relaxed during the journey, and get to see more as we drive.

Our first night was spent in the North Thompson River Provincial Park campground. But subsequent to that we mostly camped wild either in remote locations along the road, or sometimes on back streets of a town. The remote locations are always best, as there’s little chance of being bothered by curious people wanting to look at the truck, and there’s always the change of wildlife paying us a visit. Personally, we prefer the wildlife. They’re ever so quiet and never ask to see inside the truck, or how much did it cost. The latter being the single most asked question.

Conveniently positioned along our route, we spent our first night in the provincial campground.

It's a large campground right on the Thompson River, but not busy at this time of year.

We were actually surprised that the campground was open, since the last time we came by it was closed. That was winter however.

Each camp spot is large with all the essentials.

The next day saw us heading east from Jasper, and right back into the smoke of yet another wildfire.

We drove toward Hinton, AB, but just before it we turned north to head for Grande Prairie and our next camp along the way.

This is the second time we've stayed in this gravel yard along the remote highway heading north. We usually reach it just around dinner time.

As we traveled north the highway slowly became more developed and we passed a power generation plant.

Yes, it was a coal fired generation plant built right on the coal mine's property. Why are we still burning coal!?

Once in Grande Prairie we were able to fill up our rather cavernous fuel tanks at the local Co-Op card lock station. We get very good pricing at these location... at least in Alberta.

Our radiator bug screen that was gifted to us by Robert James Enterprises, the winter cover maker, was doing a great job catching all the bugs.

Central and northern Alberta is all about big fields, and at this time of year they were harvesting.

Some of these large farms will work round the clock at this time of year using GPS guided harvesters that work at night.

Traveling north through the Saddle Hills we came upon this older bridge spanning the Peace River at Dunvegan.

We swung in for a closer look and noticed the flags flying at half mast in honour of the Queen's passing.

Under the bridge we could see the intricacy of the steelwork on this suspension bridge.

The sign on the side of the bridge says to watch for falling rocks. Hmmm...

Climbing up out of the Peace River valley we're treated with this lovely view of the river and countryside.

The next town along the way was Fairview where we stopped for and early dinner before pressing on to Grimshaw, and the start of the MacKenzie Highway.

Grimshaw is a small town, but we found a quiet spot for the night alongside the curling rink.

Coincidentally, the curling rink parking lot was the home of the towns RV dump station and potable water fill sight. We didn't need either amenity.

The official site for "Mile Zero" of the MacKenzie Highway.

It's a very nice small park which provides some history and also honours a local person who was a pillar of the community.

Some of the highway's history.

The towns along the MacKenzie Highway.

An impressive looking caboose alongside an impressive looking adventure truck.

The park sign with flags again flying at half mast.

The requisite signpost.

A shot of history.

Can you imagine driving this thing north in the winter of 1939??

I guess this could be considered cutting edge technology back in the day.

Multiple Cats were used to pull these sleds along the route.

Each town along the way had its own info sign in the park.

A shot of our truck with the Grimshaw seed washing facility in the background.

Heading north from Grimshaw where traveled through lush forest areas for some time.

And then we were presented with the burned out wasteland of another stretch of the highway.

We arrived in High Level, and more flags at half mast.

And of course, a closed visitor centre.

Just a couple of hours more to the border.

Another stretch of lush forest just before the border.

We arrive at the 60th Parallel, and the Northwest Territories.

Crossing The 60th Parallel, and Beyond

This sight doesn’t exactly instil a feeling of welcome to visitors who have just crossed into the Northwest Territories.

We’ve crossed the 60th Parallel a few times before when traveling to and from the Yukon. But this is the first time we’ve crossed at a location that makes a big deal of it with an impressive sign. Unfortunately for us, the fancy sign was all we got in the way of information when we crossed the border. The large visitor centre, and campground on the Hay River, were locked up tight. A situation that turned out to be the norm as we traveled through the Northwest Territories.

It seems the powers to be don’t believe there is any reason for keeping tourist oriented attractions open past Labour Day. All the Territorial Parks were closed. Not only was it frustrating and disappointing for us, but also for those working at the small town visitor centres. The staff that remain have to constantly explain the shortsighted government policy to the older tourists who are traveling after the summer vacationers return to work, and the children go back to school. The fact that there are a great many retired people who wait specifically for this time of year before they start traveling seems to have escaped their notice. All that we got from the border visitor centre is what we could glean from the signage. Even the bathrooms were locked up tight. Much to the disappointment of some travellers that pulled in behind us.

We drive into the parking area of the visitor centre and are immediately presented with information signs for our convenience.

It's a good thing they had the signs up, as this was the only information we'd get at this location.

A circle route one can drive from Alberta into the NWT and back through British Columbia to the start back in Alberta.

The only hint of life at the visitor centre was this lonely statue of a Wood Bison.

The way the building was closed up with reinforcing shutters would make you think you were in a hurricane zone.

The only other information available to us was this signage of the National Parks in the NWT.

The four National Parks of the NWT.

This park is only accessible by charter plane.

Also only accessible by charter plane.

Again, only accessible by charter plane.

This one we can drive to. Woohoo!

One and a half hours to the town of Hay River on Great Slave Lake.

Next… Our Long Trek