Day 91 - Thursday August 17/17 (Written, formatted with photos, and published on Tuesday September 5th at Prince Albert, SK)

A travel day again today, heading now into the NorthWest Territories for the first time on our trip, travelling to Fort Simpson, where we needed to stop for gas - and stayed the night! (map and photos)

We got underway at 10am (BC time, but almost immediately 11am, NWT time!). It was beautiful 27degC in the sun, under clear skies. We were driving through a mixed boreal forest with big, lush deciduous trees, seeing many mountains in the Liard, La Biche and Franklin Ranges to the west as we approached and passed Fort Liard.(photos)

We came across a large herd of bison along and on the road about 10km north of Fort Liard, (photos)

We also saw deer on the road (no photos), and beautiful yellow flowers along the roadsides (photos)

A little further along we found another lone male bison bull (photo)

The milepost advised that, in a couple of places, the road widened (it really was the verge of the road on both sides, not the roadway itself), so that the road could be used as an emergency airstrip (we scanned the skies for airplanes!!!)

We stopped at Blackstone Territorial Park for lunch, and discovered THE ABSOLUTE WORST DUSTSTORM EVER had occurred IN THE TRAILER (photos).

After have a near-meltdown, we had an ‘emergency lunch’ of PB&J sandwiches (rather than the hot dogs we were going to cook), taped up vents in the trailer to try to prevent further dust intrusion, switched over to a new propane tank on the trailer, and continued on our way in sunny 24degC weather.

We have seen a lot of 'fireweed', especially aware of it since we were introduced to it by our bus driver/tour guide in Denali, who first let us know that, once the top of the fireweed blooms, it is only 6 weeks until winter comes on. Fireweed is the Territorial Flower of the Yukon. Here is some further information about fireweed

As we proceeded north, we noticed that the vegetation was alternating between open tundra, thick black spruce, and deciduous forest. We decided that we needed to go into Fort Simpson, about 60km off the Liard Highway, to get gas, as we would not have enough to get to Fort Providence 240km away, the next place gas was available. To get to Fort Simpson we had to ride on a small ferry across the Liard River - Fort Simpson is at the confluence of the Liard and the Mackenzie Rivers. (PHOTO)

As it was by now late afternoon, we decided to stay overnight at Fort Simpson, in the Territorial Park. We got to the campground at about 5pm. The park operator was on supper break, so we marked a campsite with folding chairs, and went off to the Visitors’ Centre for information and to fill the trailer water tank, got gas and groceries, and cash at an ATM.

Back at the campground we undertook to clean up enough of the dust coating as we could to make us functional (WHAT A MESS!!), and then had a quick supper of hot dogs. At the Visitors’ Centre we had been told that there was to be a drumming circle at the nearby pow-wow circle, so around 9pm after supper we walked over. It was quite enjoyable to just sit and listen and watch as some folks danced with the drumming, and to see many young people enjoying themselves (we found out later that the event was part of a regional youth event; many young people had been camping in the park as well). (photo)

At about 10pm we returned to the trailer, did some more cleanup, and got to bed about 11pm. At some time in the night, we heard geese flying overhead - gathering to begin southward migration!