Hay River

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Wednesday July 27, 2011
Never a Day Without Rain

I got an early start this morning and did a little exploring of Hay River in the area known as “Old Town”. This area is an island and is where the campgrounds, the beaches, the view of Great Slave Lake, a native settlement and the run down industrial area is found. Well the “whole” town is run down; old and new. What is considered “New Town” is part of the main land and where the city center is located along with most of the residents.
I also got caught up on my blog and emails at the Information Center as it seems to be the only place I could find free WI-FI.

Hay River is what it is and unless I intend on visiting Wood Buffalo National Park someday and need some last minute supplies I doubt I will ever visit Hay River again.
It seemed like another slow ride out of town; always battling the wind. How is yesterday I battle the wind into Hay River and today I battle the wind out? Could someone please explain?

On my way out I saw a mother Sandhill Crane with 2 young scurry in the trees and 15 minutes later 2 adult Sandhill Cranes took flight right in front of me. I also rode through my daily rain shower. I don’t think I have had a day without getting rained on since Grande Prairie and then I wasn’t even riding I was dealing with my computer problems. Later in the day I came across 2 more Sandhill Cranes.

I am spending the night at McNallie Creek Falls. It is only a picnic area but it has picnic tables which are so very convenient. The plan was to make dinner and then sort of hang out until things got a little later and then throw the tent up somewhere sort of hidden. That was the plan until rain clouds and thunder looked like they were coming my way. I set up the tent first then risked dinner over getting soaked and by the time dinner was started the threat moved east. So my tent is kind of sort visible from the parking lot.
The landscape is also changing; there seems to be a whole lot of rock and there were actually a few small dips in the usual flat road. The rock is not so much visible like northern Ontario but the ground is like a solid rock with a little bit of dirt thrown on top of it.

I guess I rode about 80 km’s today and should make it to Fort Providence tomorrow. Oh, and I guess I became an uncle again yesterday.

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Photos

Great Slave Lake
The Deepest Lake in North America at 616 metres / 2,027 ft deep.

Great Slave Lake
The second largest lake wholly within Canada with an area of 28,438 km2.

The Beach for the Locals
Great Slave Lake

The Beach for the Tourists
Pretty empty looking

A 19th Century Church
(other side of Hay River)

Hay River Apartment Building
Who would have guessed they are running out of space in the NWT?

Hay River Cemetery
If you look close at the white crosses you will notice they are made out of wood. I'm sure they use nothing but the best - pressure treated. Makes you think about how to save a lot of $. Imagine using $2 worth of scrap wood instead of an expensive grave stone?

Comments

[Arie Hoogerbrugge]

Photos
Beautiful photos of Sandhill Cranes, thanks Arie.