The Liard Highway and Great Slave Lake: start of mosquito season and black fly season

2022 June 18 to 26

 

We covered the road from the Dempster Junction to Stewart Crossing and, from there, to Carmacks on our way north, so this was familiar ground. We visited Ethel Lake to camp one night. We had vaguely expected it to be a deserted lakeside campsite, given the distance from the highway on an unsurfaced track, however, it proved to be jammed with humans and mosquitoes. 

From Carmacks, we had chosen to take the road to Watson Lake via Ross River, with a side trip to Faro. The difference in traffic was surprising, as there were many travelers on the Alaska Highway, and very few (and almost no bikes) on this highway. It was in good shape, albeit mostly unsurfaced, and it was delightful to experience the scenery as we headed east. 

Faro was quiet, a town built for a mine that no longer operates. There, we found our way to the Mount Mye Sheep Centre although we saw no sheep, and explored the road to the mine seeing three porcupines out for the evening. 

We camped at Johnson Lake, and this was the point at which the insect population made itself really evident. There had been an increasing number of mosquitoes in recent days, however, we had successfully stayed ahead of them as we worked our way north. But now the mosquito season was underway: a combination of repellent and a fire was used to keep them at bay, however, the mosquitoes were aggressive nonetheless!

 

Continuing east we enjoyed Lapie Canyon and then Ross River, where the road north was closed due to high water, and the suspension bridge was also closed. Several points of interest were also closed, so we had to continue eastward. We made stops at Hoole River, Finlayson Lake, and Simpson Lake before camping for the night at Watson Lake.

 

From here, we took the Highway north, heading for the Great Slave Lake region via this less frequently traveled route. We stopped at Coal River and enjoyed Liard River Hot Springs, reminiscent of similar stops in Iceland. From here on, we saw more wildlife than we had seen in a while – black bears, bison, caribous, porcupines, and wild sheep. The next several days we had heavy rain on the road, but arriving at Fort Nelson it turned torrential, luckily, we stocked up there for the next stage of the trip. 

 

 

 

Heading north on the Liard Highway we encountered bison in larger numbers, also encountered black bears, and we were excited to see a lynx on the side of the road, which watched us long enough to be captured on an image or two. 

 

We stopped at Fort Simpson, a little distance off the highway, and crossed the Liard River on the ferry to go to the Fort Simpson Territorial Campground under heavy rain to find it closed, so we ended up in the Nahanni Inn since no other camping options existed.

 

The following morning, as we crossed the Liard River on the ferry, black flies now became evident, the second insect to make their presence known in numbers.

 

From here we were on a route where waterfalls are a key attraction: Sambaa Deh Falls, Lady Evelyn Falls, McNallie Falls, Louise Falls, and Alexandra Falls were all similar in a geological setting, and very distinct in terms of the beauty of the falls themselves.

 

 

 

 

Our next objective was Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada, and where we hoped to see Wood Bison. Before heading east we stopped in Hay River for coffee at the excellent Big Lake Eatery & Café, to which we returned on our way back. Wood Buffalo National Park has the benefit of being huge and having large numbers of bison; unfortunately, the density of bison per unit area allowed us to see only one herd, a very long way off, from the viewpoint over the salt plains, which is itself a beautiful spot. We walked down to the plains and then returned to head for Fort Smith.  

The town is marketed as having interesting shops and cafes, however, we found that the reality wasn’t close to its marketing. The campsite office had an excellent display of arts and crafts, and the Northern Life Museum was really good. Aside from these, we walked down to the river at the Rapids of the Drowned and found little else of interest. Our hopes of seeing some bison on the way back to Hay River weren’t rewarded, and after a coffee at Big Lake, we continued northward to Fort Providence. There, we made contact with Leonie Sibourin, whom we had noted as an artist in moose tufting displayed at the Fort Smith camp office, and were welcomed there by her and Henry; Leonie was happy to show us examples of her art and to explain how to craft the moose hair, and we left happy with the experience. 

We then traveled northwards. After having seen no bison in Wood Buffalo National Park (at least none other than at great distance), we were pleased to encounter many bison on this route, initially a few in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary and then larger numbers in the Wood Bison Protection Area further north.

Finally, we arrived at Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories, and in relative terms a major center, although not the highest in population. This was to be our base for the ensuing week.

 

Our next stages of the trip:

We’ll spend the week in Yellowknife, then start southbound to Northern Alberta, then into British Columbia again to head back to Vancouver for the next chapter of the trip.

 

 

Hugs

 

Alan & Marce