I let myself sleep in a bit, then had breakfast and packed up. I added a special, forage food treat to my regular museli - 200ml of saskatoon berries picked fresh from the bushes beside the river. Then it was time for a shower before heading out.
A change in weather was blowing in, but it was still warm as I ducked into Big River Services to how Shaun's hangover was treating him.
Back on the road I started seeing some more wild life - some cranes and a lone bison here and there, and made pretty good time, going at my own pace a bit below the speed limit. I have learned that, on the KLR, going above 90km/h starts cutting into the mileage and also causes it to burn a bit of motor oil. As the road stretched on, the wind picked up and I cooled down. First, the rain layer jacket went on, then I gave in and brought out the liners for my riding pants, the legs of my shpants, and my rain/cold weather riding gloves. I also started taking regular breaks at just about every stop I could. Finally, made it to the North end of Great Slave Lake and pulled into the Territorial Park while the wind whipped up the lake.
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| Lone bison |
The hills around this area were filled with fireweed, wth many of the trees having been recently burnt, and it looked awesome.
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| East side of North End |
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| West side |
As I walked around the park taking pictures, a truck pulled in. The man who got out spoke with me about the area, the fires of a couple of years ago, and some of the local communities, one of which he introduced himself as being the chief of. We chatted briefly about the Assembly that had wrapped up yesterday. He then told me about the access road to the radio tower by the park, and how it gives an excellent view of the Behcoko communities. If I remember, I will definitely take this road on Monday to take some pictures.
Riding along, I came to a bridge which rose like the first half of an arched bridge, rising instead upon the exposed rock of the Canadian Shield. It was like being transported back to Northern Ontario, with the rocks having a strong presence. Rising on the bridge I could see the houses of a small community, which looked beautiful. Seeing it, I renewed my plan to go ride to Behchoko.
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| Behchoko |
When the turnoff for this community came, I took it. I rode through a picturesque community, marvelling at the size, but also the friendly nature. I searched in vain for a promised teepee to find the visitor centre, finally seeing the base of it at the turnoff as I was getting back on the highway.
I took a few more breaks from fighting the wind while still trying to enjoy the stark landscape and eventually made it into Yellowknife and found my campsite. The tent pad included chains on the side and I quickly figured out how to use these to anchor the tent, which was at risk of blowing away. As I wrestled the fly on I felt the first drops of rain coming down. As I got it anchored, a decent rain, driven by the wind, fell, and I ran across the bare rock shuttling my clothes and other stuff inside the tent.
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| The tent, all set up and anchored down |
Following the Frame Lake trail into town, I began to wonder if there's a climbing community in town, seeing a few obvious routes on the steeper sections of rock... If not, I may have o organize a Northern rock trip... Sponsored by DEET.
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| An obvious route |
For dinner, I splurged and had the Arctic Duo at the Trappers Grill - a Northern take on Surf & Turf, done high class - a Muskox chop and piece of Arctic Char with garlic mashed potatoes. I'd never had either before, but found the char a touch drier than I like (except for near the skin, which was perfect), but the muskox was unique and flavourful. I highly doubt if I'll ever have opportunity to eat either again.
After dinner, it was time to take in a bit of culture with a "Warm the Rocks" (pre-festival warm up) show of Innu throat singers followed by Celtic punk in the former Pentacostal Church. The throat singing and Innu drum singing took my breath away, reminding me how wonderful the acoustics in churches really are.
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| Throat singing at Warm the Rocks |
Walking back to camp, I saw the sun starting to set and a rainbow arching over town. The sun was finally set when I got into my tent, shortly before 11:30pm, but it was still bright enough to read in there for about an hour before finally going to bed.
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| A sunset-ish rainbow over the NT legislature. |
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