Day 92 - Friday August 18/17 (Written, formatted with photos, and posted on Tuesday September 5th at Prince Albert, SK)

Today is the beginning of our fourteenth week. How time has flown!  A travel day again, from Fort Simpson to Fort Providence, NWT (map)

Having learned a lesson, we instituted a new pre-travel procedure of putting dust covers (i.e., extra sheets) over all the furniture and other flat surfaces.  We had a hard time locating the campground operator in order to pay the fees for our night’s stay, and finally after talking to him on the phone just had to leave the fees in the comments box at the gate! But once that was accomplished and the sewage tanks were emptied, we headed out. It was noon, 17C and cloudy. 

We still needed to find the Canadian Historic Sight plaque that was supposed to be in Fort Simpson. We drove around until we saw what we thought was a significant place. It turns out this was the site of Pope John-Paul II’s celebration of mass on his visit here in 1987 – interesting but not what we were looking for. (photos)

As we were looking at the confluence of the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers,(photos)

a local gentleman stopped to ask if he could be of some help. We chatted for a bit. It turns out that his name is Bert and he is a retired RCMP officer. We had some really good conversation about life in the north - his father used to be a trapper on the Mackenzie River, north of Fort Simpson, and then moved into town. He wasn’t sure where the plaque we were looking for might be, but he directed us to one possible location. Turns out he was right and we found the plaque explaining the importance of Fort Simpson as a post in the fur trade. It was a North West Co. post, originally called Fort of the Forks.  It was transferred to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1822 and renamed Fort Simpson. This was the oldest continuously occupied post on the Mackenzie River. (photo)

We also found another cairn marking the opening of the highway into the town when Jean Chretien was Minister of Indian Affairs in 1971. (photo)

With a bit of a late start we didn’t want to waste a moment so we made tuna sandwiches in the trailer while we waited for the ferry. We ate them as we drove – a very rare circumstance on this trip, as we like to actually take some time for lunch and a break from driving. Nancy was behind the wheel for much of the day as we headed east. The scenery was not particularly inspiring as we drove along the long, flat, gravel road. We did note some areas of muskeg marked by stunted black spruce (the bottlebrush shaped trees).

Just around 6 pm we crossed the Deh Cho Bridge across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. The bridge opened in 2012 (previously there was a ferry in summer and an ice road in winter) following many construction and financing problems. But it is quite a handsome structure. (photos)

Series of photos of the Dec Cho Bridge crossing the Mackenzie River

Can you tell it was raining as we crossed the bridge?

The Mackenzie River, from the Deh Cho Bridge

Our Territorial Campground for the night was only a short distance north of the bridge. We once again lucked out in getting a prime campsite directly on the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the longest river in Canada and it felt very special to be close enough to feel its presence. 

Views of the Mackenzie River from our campsite

There is a lot of 'bear aware' information posted everywhere throughout the north. This is one of the common messages given:

A rainy evening made it easy to crawl into bed and read early tonight.