Third tranche of notes.
June 27-30, 2022
June 27, 2022
Set a modest goal today: about 180 miles to Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park. So it was a short ride arriving early in the afternoon. The landscape of northern Alberta is flat. Table top flat. Farmland. What ever is growing is just a few inches high. I guess the planting season starts quite late here (by southern standards). The growing season must also be quite short though compensated by exceptionally long daylight hours.
This campground is peaceful but infested with mosquitoes. The Picaridin is effective but seems to wear off quickly.
Stopped in Fairview for lunch. Riding up and down the main street I realized that there were several motels. None were chains. It made me think that farther north there may be many more sleeping options than would appear from an online search.
Ate at an A&W for the first time. I'll add it to my short list of acceptable fast food joints along with Subway and Tim Hortens both of which I'm tired of. A&W always conjured up a vision of warm summer nights bathed in neon and teenage hormones. But such musings are a relic of 50's/60's culture.
The campground also has no potable water. All spigots are labeled "unfit to drink." I deployed my aging water filter which promptly broke. I managed a workaround and am now waiting to see if a more permanent repair using rubber cement from my tire repair kit is successful. And I lost the alarm off my bike somewhere between Dawson Creek and here. It had held in place so well with just the magnets I affixed to it, that I never bothered to remove it while riding. Well, that was a mistake. Kind of a lot of little things going wrong on this trip. Rear tire looks like it has about 1000 miles left. And if I go all the way to Great Slave Lake, by the time I get back to Dawson Creek the bike will be well past due for an oil change.
 |
| In Dawson Creek the start of the Alaska Highway which I am not taking - at least not now. |
 |
| It won't look this clean again for some time. The red fuel canister is a recent add-on just in case. |
 |
| This part of northern Alberta is flat. |
 |
| I liked this little bridge over the Peace River at Dunvegan south of Fairview. |
June 28, 2022
The campground is very wet with a lot of standing water. In fact some of the sites are roped off as they have turned into bogs. No wonder the mosquitoes are rampant. And no wonder I woke to my tent drenched in dew. Packed up without making breakfast and rode into Grimshaw to eat.
 |
| Mosquitoes are big but slow and easy to swat. |
Continued on to High Level, Alberta. This highway now is quite monotonus, basically a 2-lane corridor lined on either side by spruce and aspen forests set back 100 feet from the roadway. There were signs warning of buffalo but none to be seen. I did encounter a small black bear, maybe a juvenile, on the shoulder. When I slowed and beeped my horn he bounded about for a moment and then headed down the embankment.
I passed a miles long stretch of dead forest and wondered the cause. It didn't look to me like it had burned but later in the day I was told that it had indeed bureed a few years back in a gigantic out-of-control blaze. The guy who told me had fought the fire. He said it was the result of a fire that was allowd to burn to reduce fuel load but jumped its containment.
Checked into Our Place Motel.
June 29, 2022
Headed north, now committed to reaching Great Slave Lake. More of the same straight line highway though here it rises and falls. It's not the table top from earlier. The plan was to stay at Hay River Territorial Park for the night.
Arrived in Hay River by early afternoon and looked around. There's a short boardwalk just off the "beach" (strip of sandy mud piled high with driftwood off the lake - to be expected in a lake surrounded by dense forests). There was nothing spectacular or beautiful to be seen, but it felt oddly peaceful with a stiff breeze blowing south off the lake (the wind that had been my face all the way up from High Level). There's a harbor which I didn't try to enter. I could see about four 75 foot or so boats, all identical design, up on blocks on land. From the rust and lack of maintenance I'd guess they are in permanent dry dock. I could see a couple others in the water. I don't know if they are fishing boats or what. It did occur to me to wonder how they got here to this landlocked lake.
 |
| Zoom in to see that three boats in foreground are on dry land. The one in background is in the water. |
I decided that there was nothing to keep me here so headed back south to High Level. It would have been nice to stick a pin in Yellowknife, but continuing north for another day didn't feel prudent given the bike needs an oil change and the rear tire is looking ever more sketchy. I had no regrets and the ride south was quite enjoyable. The road is almost as sparsely traveled as the Trans Labrador Highway so I could open the throttle and make good time. Plus the wind was now at my back.
Checked back in at Our Place then walked across the road to a Yamaha dealership to inquire about tires. They had some but nothing to fit my bike. Had a long chat with the friendly counter man (everybody up here is friendly - strangers will walk up and start a conversation). From him I learned that Friday is a national holiday and that many businesses make it into a 4-day weekend. Ohhhhh dang. A big monkey wrench in my search for a tire.
Fuel notes: North of High Level there is a convenience store gas pump at Meander Creek. Other than that there is nothing until another convenience store pump at Enterprise. Hay River however has full service and multiple gas stations.
Lodging notes: I didn't notice anything between High Level and the border where there is a campground. Possibly one could rough camp. This would entail exploring random dirt roads extending into the forest.
Almost forgot the "bulldog flies." Every time I stopped I was swarmed by what looked like what we called horse flies when I was growing up in Pennsylvania. A girl at the tourist information place at the border of the "territories" gave me the name "bulldog" and said they were especially bad this year possibly because of earlier wet weather. And they bite, she said. But, they didn't bother me and seemed more interested in buzzing around my bike. My faring and the lower legs of my riding gear are now plastered with disgusting bug goo from these guys.
June 30, 2022
Spent the morning on the phone trying to find a tire. The second monkey wrench after the holiday is that there's very little stock up here. I guess this highway is a bit off the beaten track for motorcycles. I found something all the way back in Prince George at Cycle North where I bought a tire on my last trip. They won't be open until Tuesday morning and it is now Thursday. There's a possible in Grand Prarie. They said they will be around on the weekend. I may stop by on my way back south.
Wasn't paying attention and blew past checkout time so I booked for another night. Tomorrow I will begin mossying south aiming to spend Monday night in Prince George unless I find a tire before then.
Did some laundry.
Went to Canadian Tire and changed oil in the parking lot. The guys in the garage loaned me a drip pan and a crusty shop rag so I didn't have to use up one of mine. They also offered rubber mechanics gloves but I had my own. The Yamaha place also told me I could come around to change my oil there.
While working in the parking lot several people came up to chat. One was a gentleman from the reservation west of here. They were all displaced by the flood and are being housed in local motels while their towns and homes are made safe. He said he's been stuck in a motel for 54 days and really wants to go home. I was struck by his lack of rancor. That was refreshing given the levels of festering anger south of the border.