July7-11 High Level to Fort Providence

Wow! It's hot up here.  We have had temperatures up to 36 degrees along the way to Fort Providence.  After leaving High level we crossed the NWT border and camped at Twin Falls Campground for 2 nights.  This was next to 2 beautiful waterfalls.  Then it was up to Hay River fort another 2 nights.  On the advice of the camp ground attendant we took a day and drove to Fort Smith through Wood Buffalo park.  We left the trailer in Hay River.  It was a long drive but I have always wanted to visit Wood Buffalo.  It was really too hot to explore much and the horse flies were thick.  We decided to spend a night at fort Providence before getting to Yellowknife.  It split up the trip quite nicely.  The campground attendant there told us the helicopters constantly flying over were taking wood out to burn dead buffalo.  Apparently an outbreak of anthrax is decimating them north of the Mckenzie River.  It takes 4 cords of wood to burn one buffalo and they have found over 200 of them.
     I am writing this in MacDonalds, Yellowknife.  Dian and I hiked a 3 mile trail through the backwoods this morning and shopped this afternoon.  We will be here until July 20 and take in a music festival.  Looks like there is enough going on here to keep us busy for awhile.
     Click on the picture if you would like it enlarged.

It was great to finally hit the border

Louise Falls.  I didn't expect the falls to be so big.

Dian by Alexandra Falls.  Both falls are within walking distance on the Hay River and accessible     from the campsite.

Another perspective of Alexandra Falls.

A family of Yellow-bellied sapsuckers were in our campsite at High Level.

Louise Falls again.

Dian is sitting by dinosaur tracks that were recently uncovered by winter ice breaking up.  Can you spot about 6 depressions?

Here is a close-up.

This old church caught our eye.  It was on a reservation in Hay River and not accessible to us.

This Common Tern had a spot that it came returning to quite regularly.  It would catch a fish and then take off for points unknown where it probably had a nest.  It would return in just a few minutes.  I sat on the shore of Great Slave Lake and took a lot of pictures of it.

Not a great shot but it isn't very often I get to see a Boreal Chickadee.  This one was in our campsite at Twin Falls.

This Wood Bison was on the highway to Fort Smith.

Another shot of the Tern

While watching the Tern I noticed 100's of dragon flies in the air.  I tried to get some flight shots.

A Red-eyed Vireo drove us crazy in Fort Providence.  We could hear it singing but couldn't locate it.  Finally it came to us.

Hay River is a harbour for ships.  There are many and I got a picture of a few of them.

The forest fires have put a lot of smoke in the air.  I thought it would make for some great sunrise shots on Great Slave Lake.  I got to the lake at 5:30AM but it still wasn't early enough.  Can you see the fishing boat heading out?

The heat has spawned a few forest fires and the road out was closed around High Level.  It just opened so we hope everything is clear when it's time for us to leave.  The next blog will feature Yellowknife and surrounding area.  Thanks to everyone for following us.  We are well over 2000 hits now.