Monday, September 21, 2009

21 August 2009, Nitainlaii Territorial Park, Northwest Territories












I got up this morning sometime around 6:00 a.m. and started working on my blog. The campsite had a warm laundry room with an outlet so I could work in comfort. The outside temperature is somewhere near freezing. I’m sure if you looked around you could have found frost. When I got up our Mr. Fox was back looking for his free hand out. I bet he won’t be getting the hospitality that he received last night. I brought my sleeping bag into the laundry room so that it doesn’t absorb any of the morning moisture in the air and to remove any it absorbed during the night. It’s bloody cold out. It’s already 9:43 and I need to get going.

I left Pelly Crossing and drove up to Dawson City, to Highway 5 (Dempster Highway). I took some pictures at the sign and headed out to the highway. I brought along with me two extra gallons of gasoline as an emergency measure. Its 250 miles/403 Kilometers without any services and no gasoline until you reach Eagle Plains.

Well I reached Eagle Plains without needing my spare gasoline. Imagine that. I've hit reserve several times after 200 miles/322 Kilometers. I guess driving slower you get better gas mileage/kilometers. The official population of this gas stop is 7 or 8. It hasn’t changed since I was there in 1995. I was thinking about stopping for the night due to not having enough light to safely drive. I asked the gas station attendant about the daylight situation and he said it shouldn’t be dusk until about 1:00 in the morning. I said "that’s enough time to get to Fort McPherson." So off I went with plans of reaching Fort McPherson yet that night. I stopped at the Arctic Circle 30 miles/48 kilometers up the road and had my picture taken with my motorcycle at the sign. It should be a good picture. A young French speaking Quebec guy took my picture. He said he was an amateur photographer. I told him to be as creative as he wants with my camera. He did the best he could with my camera. The sun was just perfect. He and his friends were shooting pictures like crazy hoping to get that perfect picture. It sure was beautiful. A lot of red rusts, browns and yellows along with a yellow sun. I continued on up to the border of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. This border is in the mountains and as I drove toward them the clouds had settled down on top of the mountains and were flowing out the valleys in between the mountains. A truly beautiful sight. I took pictures but I’m not sure my camera could capture this true beauty. I was probably too far away. I also hoped I wouldn't have to drive thru the cloud. I guess I spoke to soon because by the time I reach the Yukon/Northwest Territories border the entire mountaintop was covered by the cloud. It was very damp and cold. I took a picture by the sign. I hope they came out, especially with the fog. It was almost eerie, like in a haunted house. As I kept driving through the mountains and when descending I broke out of the fog. Probably for the next hour I was driving under the clouds maybe 35 yards/35 meters, like a roof over my head. I continued on through the mountains with my cloud cover over my head and then drove out into the sunlight again. It was nice to be able to see again. When I came out from under the clouds I drove into a construction site. This area was wet from rain and water trucks. I was driving along just fine then drove into a truck wheel rut in a soft spot. It was deep enough so my front wheel couldn’t climb out of it. I almost crashed. The motorcycle was fishtailing around and at the last second the front wheel gained traction again. It stabilized and I continued on. I almost pooped in my pants but was so busy trying to get control of the motorcycle I didn’t have enough time. I continued driving slowly through the construction area hoping not to have a repeat performance of my near crash. By 10:30 p.m. I was at the Peel River and had to wait a few minutes for the ferry to cross back to my side of the river. I boarded the ferry when it reached the south side of the river and in 10 minutes I was on the north side of the river. I was now four miles/six kilometers from Fort McPherson. I drove into the town looking for a hotel for the night around 11:00 p.m. It was late and I didn’t want to camp. I found a hotel but it was locked up tight from the outside. All entrances were locked. I asked some kids how you get into the hotel, and they said go to a nearby house and ask there. I did and the girl called the hotel and the manager let me in. He showed me the room and was charging $200 dollars a night for it. I told him I stayed in the best hotels in Russia and never paid $200 dollars a night. I was a little ticked off about the price and left. I went back to Nitainlaii Territorial Park and camped the night. I got to bed about 1:30 a.m. just before it was dark. It was a tough day.

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