Summer in Hay River

I was so excited to have an actual day off today...it's been a long time coming and it was a perfect day for a little road trip, so off to Hay River I went with Charlie.

Check out the cute baby Buffalo we saw along the way.

This little guy had just run across the road with another little fella, then seemed to realize his mamma wasn't with him.  I snapped this picture as he was bolting back to the safety of his mamma's side.

And the river the town was named after...

It was a bit chilly so I was shocked to see children swimming in Great Slave Lake. The sand is beautiful here and  reminds me of the long stretches of beach at Sandbanks back in Ontario.

Lastly, we saw this beautiful bird and I'm trying to figure out what it is. Maybe one of my friends or their children (Freddie?) can figure it out and let me know.

Weather Forecasts

I get a kick out of the Weather forecasts for Fort Smith. Recently we've had ones that say the weather will be "Smokey"... I personally didn't think that was a weather pattern, but looking at this picture you can see that it must be.  This picture was taken after work on Monday night at about 10:00pm...look how high the sun still is, but it was obscured by the sun so much that it appeared as an orange ball.

Normally you can clearly see the opposite shore of the river, but on Monday it was barely visible through the smoke.  It smelled great and had me dreaming of campfires and wiener roasts. Don't worry my friends, there is a large body of water keeping the fire from reaching us here.  If that changes, rest assured I will be outta here!

My favorite forecast though is one like tonight's; overnight the forecast calls for sunny with cloudy periods. Yes that was overnight.  The picture below was taken at midnight.  It was considerably darker than usual because of the smoke in the air, but you can see that it wasn't dark at all.  Too cool!

Everything Grows!

When I first moved to Fort Smith, it seemed like everyone and their dog warned me about the bugs here.  I was beginning to think that they carried off small children every year.  I'm happy to report that although some of the bugs do seem to be rather healthy in size, I have yet to hear of any missing children reports.

As it was back in Ontario, it's the horseflies that remove chunks and the tiny little black-flies that annoy the hell out of you.  A special thank you goes out to Jean-Marc and Mindy for the awesome bug jacket they sent me.  I personally don't leave home without it.  Some people have been known to look at me strangely but I don't care; they're just jealous because not only am I constantly protected, I'm also quite stylish to boot.

The good news is that bugs aren't the only thing we grow up here.  Check out the pretty flowers...

Little Buffalo Falls

I'm not exactly sure where the name comes from because the falls are not little nor are any of the Buffalo I've seen.  Even the baby buffalo are big!

This is a lovely little spot just off the highway that leads to Hay River.  I was itching to climb down for a closer look but poor old Charlie was a bit of a nervous wreck watching me take these pictures from the edge of the cliff.

  

There is a trail, albeit a steep one that leads down to the river at the base of the falls.  I so wanted to go down and take pictures from the bottom.  One day soon I'll take the plunge, so to speak, and get those photos.  It's certainly not the worst trail I've been on.  Now if I could only find some bear repellent I'd be all set. We met someone in the area and they told me later that there were bear sightings at this spot only minutes after we left.

Snow?

Fort Smith is one of the coolest places I've ever been (no pun intended). I still find it so weird to see Buffalo roaming on and around the roads. From the beautiful turquoise water at Pine Lake to cascading waterfalls and then something super weird...Snow in June?

Nope, the white you see on the ground behind this sign is salt.  This area is called the Salt Plains.  I haven't hiked down yet but I definitely will at some point in time. 

Apparently back in the day, the Native people would gather the salt and trade it with the local Hudson's Bay Company.  From the lookout platform where I took this picture it looks more like a moonscape than good old planet Earth.  The river that flows through this area is called...you guessed it, Salt River.  I wonder where they got that name from.  I'm curious if the water tastes salty; something tells me I'll try it at some point in time.

Is this the Caribbean?

It's hard to believe that the hues of the Caribbean can be found above the 60th parallel, but at beautiful Pine lake you definitely can. The pictures really don't do it justice, but depending on the way the sun hits this pristine little lake you would expect to be served up some rum punch while you listen to reggae music.

Apparently the rim of this lake is a shallow ledge which gets covered with algae and the turquoise colour is from the sun reflecting off the bottom.  The difference in colour tone is because there are very deep sink holes in the middle.

Pine lake is in the midst of the Wood Buffalo National Park and hosts a beach day every year.  On a regular day though it is quite secluded and since the parking lot is a bit of a walk you tend to find yourself keeping at least one eye scanning the area for bears.  This is also a destination spot for furry friends.  Fortunately the day we were here the only one we saw was on the far side of the lake.

Bears, bears everywhere

It seems that the more I get to explore around Fort Smith the more wonderful hiking spots I come across.  I'm so keen to get out on a trail if I ever find some like minded people; That being said I'm not sure what to do if I came across this...

...or this

And what about this?

Bears tend to run the other way when they hear people coming...not that I want to test that theory; but Buffalo seem to be the king of the road...look at this big stud; This guy was right in the middle of the road and staring us down...Charlie's little red car felt more like a red cape and this guy had no intention of moving out of our way...we turned around and gave him plenty of room...He was HUGE!!

I can't imagine coming up to one of these fellas on a trail let alone a whole herd!