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Published: August 2nd 2011
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Saturday July 30, 2011
My friend the Rain
I woke up to sunny and hot. A few hours later it was pouring rain and it was a race to get my rain gear on. Luckily the rain was early afternoon giving me time to dry out.
I saw 2 more bison but due to the rain I could not be bothered to stop. I see signs of bison everywhere. They may not be on the road but I can tell there is a very healthy population here. I only saw 3 cranes today; 2 adults with a young one. Makes me think that the young must have a very high mortality rate due to the fact I mostly see adult pairs. They have a cool call and I can tell they are pissed when my presence makes them fly off.
The road seems to be climbing ever so slowly; never big climbs just slow and steady. It is very tough to find a camping spot tonight as the terrain has exposed a lot of granite right at the end of the day and I need to find a site where I can put my tent pegs in. I screwed
up and bought a tent that is not free standing. I found a site next to the highway behind a big pile of granite; not before I went through a 20 minute rain shower. This weather is determined to make sure everything gets wet before I set up camp.
I rode 115 km’s today; only 65 km’s to Yellowknife tomorrow.
Sunday July 31, 2011
Yellowknife
When I woke up this morning I knew I was in for a miserable day. The sky looked like it was about to rain instantly. If I was not so close to my most northern destination or right beside the highway I would have been wise to stay in bed. I raced to pack things up and the rain started just as I was taking down the tent. The rain started heavy just as I put my last bike bag on the bike. It was all I could do but stand at the side of the road until the rain slowed down. When I did start riding I even had some campers (with a pick-up and a camper) offer to give me a ride. I told them I had come too far
and my destination was too close. I wondered where they were when I was hitchhiking in the rain in Ontario.
It either rained or I fought the wind the whole 65 km’s to Yellowknife. It started to pour just a few kilometers outside Yellowknife. I wish I could say that I at least enjoyed at least 1 kilometer of my ride today; but every kilometer was a miserable kilometer; and 65 km’s by bike is a lot of misery.
I only hope all you in Ontario are taking advantage of your heat wave like I am taking advantage of all this rain. I make sure I am outside every time it rains. In fact the rain even refuses to drop while I sleep. I better shut up about the rain before I scream.
The road always seemed to be climbing, that being said the climb was always very long and never high. The terrain has changed quite a bit as mentioned yesterday. While everything is fairly level, granite rock is exposed everywhere like in northern Ontario. Just no mountains and the trees never get very tall here.
Since leaving my campsite I have seen no sign of
bison but I did come across a fox was very curious about me and hung out on the highway with me for a good 5-10 minutes.
If I have any good news about today it is that there is walk in camping that is only $15 a night. I plan to stay in town to take a bit of a break and dry off. Need to be well rested and in good spirits because I have to back pedal the 330 km’s it took to make this side trip to Yellowknife and then I have another 400 plus km’s of gravel roads to get out of the Northwest Territories.
Yellowknife photos will be included in the next blog post when the weather is more photos
friendly.
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Arie Hoogerbrugge
non-member comment
The Bison
I'm glad you won that showdown with the bison. The alternative would have been nasty, especially for the bicycle. I couldn't view some of your photos for some reason.