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Deane and Norm's Motorcycle Trip to Northwest Territories & Nunavut | |
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August 16 - Hay River area, Northwest Territories - 265 Miles |
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We had a great time today, exploring the area north and west of the town of Hay River where we are staying. We rode around part of the "Great Slave Lake", towards the capital of Northwest Territories, Yellow Knife. One of our reasons was to cross one of the largest rivers in Canada, the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is also the longest river in Canada, flowing north to the Arctic Ocean, so we just had to see it. Interestingly, the Mackenzie is too wide and deep to economically build a bridge across, especially since very large tugboats and barges have to pass through on their way carrying supplies to the towns and mines of the very far north. So, there is a car and truck ferry to get across the half mile wide river. That was fun to ride the ferry with the motorcycles. This ferry is free, and just goes back and forth any time there are cars or trucks (or motorcycles) waiting to cross. The ferry pilot has to contend with a very fast moving current, 10-12 knots, so landing on the shore and putting down the ramp is very ticklish.
We rode on to the town of Ft. Providence, which is largely a native tribal town of the "Dene" people, and stopped to have a cup of coffee. As is usually the case when we get off the motorcycles, people came to talk. We found two men from Alberta who were going to Yellow Knife, for a little vacation, and they told us more about a nearby "Mackenzie Wood Bison Sanctuary", just up the road. So of course we had to ride up to see the wild Bison (Buffalo to us). These are a type of buffalo which live in the forest or woods, thus the name Wood Bison. They are slightly smaller than prairie buffalo, have completely black hair on their heads and necks, and have a darker body than prairie buffalo. We could see that in the shade of the forest, they would be very hard to see. We saw several of the buffalo, in ones and twos, and one small herd of perhaps 20. As we slowed down to look more closely at one big bull about 15 yards off the road, he decided he wanted to chase Deane on the motorcycle. Deane was ready, and accelerated faster than the bull, so no harm was done. It was exciting for a few moments. Today completed our first goal, to visit and ride in Northwest Territories, so tomorrow we start on the next part of the adventure. |
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