I got an early start from Hay River, back-tracking to the turn off for Fort Smith, which is also the unsigned turnoff for the road to the First Nations community and the Dene Cultural Institute, which I plan on visiting tomorrow.
So far, the forecast rain had not materialised, but the clouds were menacing, so I found an old road to pull out on and put on my rain layer, finding some tiny wild strawberries that had wonderfully intense flavour.
Soon enough, I was riding through a bit of rain, but it disappeared quickly and the day warmed up. By the time I entered Wood Bufallo National Park it was time to remove the rain layer and my long sleeved shirt.
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| At the entrance to Wood Buffalo Park |
The first stop of interest was the old Angus Fire Tower and the huge sinkhole beside it. The sinkhole was awesome - hydrogeology at work! A lot of the base rock in the area is limestone and other water soluble minerals, and the ground water erodes it away. When it takes away enough, the rook of this cave collapses and the ground above falls into it, forming a sinkhole.
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| The Angus Tower sinkhole |
My next stop was the Nyarling River, which flows beneath the ground. I found the signs for it, but could not find the spot the river dropped under ground. I thought there might be something at an obvious trail at the end of the pullout, following it into the forest until it suddenly stopped. I've since concluded that the mosquitos created this trail in an attempt to capture a small human (or "4-pint blood bag" as they call them) to have an endless supply of human blood. Yeah, not as impressed with that one.
Carrying on, I stopped at Whooping Crane Pull off and learned moe about the ecology of the park and the slow recovery of this endangered species, going from a lot of 16 birds in 1941 to the current population of around 180 birds.
Then was the Salt Flats. Wow, this was so cool and worth the side trip that added about 30km's to the whole day. The view from the view point was awesome, but then to be able to go down onto the salt plains, to see it up close (and taste the salt). I didn't got he right way to go to the salt mound, so I'll have to go back on my way out tomorrow.
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| Prints in the salt |
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| Mmmmm, salty! |
Getting into Fort Smith I got to my campsite and started setting everything up. I got the tent set up and the fly put on and was sorting some stuff out for tomorrow when I heard a rushing sound. It was a torrential downpour and I was going to be caught in it! I threw the sleeping bag, mattress, and a couple of other items of clothing into the tent, joined them and shut the fly, gazing out at the rain through the vent/window.
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| The view from my tent of the downpour |
Everything not in a closed drybag that had been outside was instantly soaked, including my clothes for tomorrow and warm weather riding gloves, and all I could do was watch - my rain gear was still in the bag on the bike, and if I tried to get there it would have become a moot point.
After five to ten minutes the rain lightened and eventually stopped, and I went out to survey the damage. A drying line was definitely needed, but it was all more or less salvageable.
Finally, it was time to check out the town. I planned to ride in, get gas, ride back to camp and then walk into town and tour around that way.
Leaving my good camera at camp, I rode into town, eventually finding the visitor info centre (it had moved in with the Parks Canada information centre since the information I had was printed) and found out I should really have brought it with me, and planned on a few days in Fort Smith, with there being so much to see and do in town and in the park. I also learned the place to go see the salt mound on the salt plains. Katie, the girl telling me about all of the things to see and do in the area was so enthusiastic about it all that I'll probably have to come back to do some of them.
So, I went and grabbed my camera, then rode back into town for a snapshot tour of some of the natural features that have played a significant role in the history of this area - the rapids. These rapids are one of the reasons for settlement in the area (because of the portages) and today are a factor of this being a world class whitewater and bird watching destination (they provide nesting grounds for the Northernmost colony of pelicans in North America).
First, I checked out the Rapids of the Drowned, located on the river below the town site. From the top of the high banks, these didn't look like much, although it was interesting that they ran the broad width of the Slave River. I went down to the water's edge, though, and found out why they have claimed lives. They are not a very long set of rapids, but they are wide and intense.
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| Pelicans nesting on the Rapids of the Drowned |
It was down here that I spied my first pelicans as well, hunkered down and nesting on an island in the middle of the river, their chicks among them. I definitely learned I need a stronger telephoto lense to get into avian photography, though.
After a pizza dinner (I seriously did not want "Chinese" again, which was the main other option) it was off to another set of rapids - the Mountain Portage rapids. I rode an increasingly narrowing dirt road until I saw a bunch of vehicles parked by a rock with an information sign on it. The trail split in 3 directions here, and I parked the bike, beginning the hike up the middle trail, going towards the point and the rapids. It turns out I could have probably ridden this trail for another km, but the walk was still pretty good and I was getting practice at picking mosquitos out of the air before they landed or got too close.
The trail eventually wound down to the river, right at an intense peak of the rapids. I carefully walked out on the rocks of the rapids and saw another group of pelicans, catching a couple in flight while the sky looked menacing.
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| Self portrait on the way down to Mountain Portage Rapids |
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| Some of the rapids at Mountain Portage |
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| A pair of pelicans flying over Mountain Portage Rapids |
With a misty rain coming down and a couple of thunder sounds heard in the distance I knew I should be off, so I hikd back along the trail, my jacket held up over my head for protection from the rain.
Back at the bike I decided to check out the short trail to the river downstream. As I made my way to the end I saw a couple of kayakers coming in to shore, and one of them called my name, completely shocking me. It was Katie, the girl from the visitor centre, and her boyfriend. They had just run the rapids with some friends from the paddle club. From them, I learned that the water level is really high this year (likely as a result of the flooding on the Peace watershed - lots of interconnections in nature), as normally you can just walk from the beach we were on to the rapids, instead of having to take the trail I had.
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| A kayaker swimming after making it through the rapids |
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| Bringing the kayaks back to the vehicles |
After that, it was time for bed.
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