A feast for the Eyes, the Belly, and the Soul

My visit to Hay River was by no means over; The drive into town provided many extraordinary views of the valley and the river below as it winds its way along.  It brings back so many wonderful memories of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and destinations much further South.  Who new we had so many similar things in our own back yard.

Here are just a couple pictures of the valley to tempt you into visiting this fabulous part of the country.

You may remember my winter pictures of the Hay River Fisherman's warf and the vast emptiness of Great Slave Lake. Here is the little fish market as it's meant to be seen.

And the feast for the belly it provides...Soooooo good!

A short distance from the fish market you can find many secluded little spots to hit the beach along Great Slave Lake. Since it may be my last trip this way for the summer, I definitely wasn't going to miss the opportunity to swim in a lake north of the 60th Parallel.

 I can tell you that although this lake is the second largest in Canada it sure is shallow near the shore.  I thought I would have to go halfway to Yellowknife before it got any depth to it.  This probably wasn't a bad thing though as it made the water nice and warm.  In the picture below the water really was only about mid-thigh but I figured if I didn't get in soon, you'd never see me in the picture.

One other cool thing about the North...the long summer days.  This photo was taken at 1:00 am.

Fall Spectacular!

Not quite what it sounds like but boy the falls were spectacular.

Last weekend I made a trip to Hay River again to check out some of the nearby falls and the extraordinary canyon that winds through the whole area.  I am constantly blown away by the scenery of the Northwest Territories and I feel quite sure that I'm not alone in my misconceptions of the area. I was thoroughly convinced that it was flat, virtually treeless, and without anything that could remotely be considered beautiful...Boy was I wrong!

The first stop was Louise Falls where I was rewarded with a panoramic view of the valley far below.

After climbing down the spiral staircase, a dizzying adventure on its own, I hiked along the edge of the cliff where I was able to take a few great pictures.

Just a few kilometres down the highway was Alexandra falls, even bigger and more majestic than Louise Falls.  Hiking down the river trail was mind blowing.



I couldn't help but imagine someone canoeing along, having a bit of fun in these tiny little rapids only to discover (too late) that only a short distance away was this...

Wow! In the picture below I was standing just a few feet from the edge of this spectacular water falls.

After hiking along the short trails to view these two falls, I felt like a kid again and my old passion for hiking was firmly rekindled.

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.