From Yellowknife to Hay River, NWT, by motorcycle

Posted On August 29, 2011

I really didn’t want to leave Yellowknife yesterday – there’s still more to see! But, a bit more exploring around town and then I had to hit the road.

My father-in-law asked if I could get a photo of a place that he spent some time at while working here in the ’60s. No problem, Charlie – I doubt that anything at the Gold Range Hotel (the “Strange Range”) has changed since you were last here 🙂

Here’s where a lot of my money ends up every month – the head office of NorthwesTel. Nice digs – I see why the rates are so high 🙂 – although you’d think that the network of stay-at-home moms in India who apparently run the Internet division should keep rates down a bit.

NorthwesTel head office in Yellowknife NWT

There are a lot of bicycles in Yellowknife.

One of Yellowknife’s famous houseboats.

There are apparently no noise bylaws in Yellowknife – the heavy equipment across the bay was pounding at the rocks at 7:00 am Sunday.

The Wildcat Cafe, probably the best-known structure in Yellowknife, is undergoing a total restoration and is exected to re-open next summer.

Another magnificent old plane – CF-SAN is the only Norseman I’ve ever seen in flying condition. This is a 1947 Mark V, owned by Buffalo Airways.

CF-SAN, a Norseman bush plane at Yellowknife NWT

This massive piece of art is called “Yellowknife Cultural Crossroads”. It’s a collaborative and evolving piece by Native, Dene, French- and English-Canadian artists to commemorate cooperation between the cultures.

The main elements are the bronze sculpture, a steel teepee and some 1,500 signs and symbols painted on and sometimes carved into the rock.

Just after 10:30, I was on the Yellowknife Highway heading south.

There are some intriguing vehicle trails leading across the barren rocks. Some are barely visible…

…while others leading to cabins are well-marked.

A driveway along the Yellowknife Highway

A stop was needed at the gas station in Rae again.

This time I had a good look around the community and talked to almost a dozen locals. It’s a beautiful location. At this spot I chatted for a while with 6 young people who were extremely drunk (at noon Sunday, in a community where no alcohol is allowed). They were all very friendly (though some were barely coherent), and from across the street a tray of freshly-cooked whitefish appeared for us all to share.

The Catholic church in Rae was built in 1926. The couple that I spoke to there were obviously very proud of it, and explained that although their priest had died, between a visiting priest and lay ministers, services are still held regularly.

A Cadillac and a bus called “Friendship Express” in Rae. Neither have been licensed for a few years, but I’ll bet there are some stories there!

A few k further down the highway I took the short side road into Edzo, a much smaller Native community. It was community garage sale day, so there were lots of people out on the streets, and I got friendly smiles and nods from many as I slowly putted through.

The bridge over Frank Channel was worth a stop for a few minutes.

The bridge over Frank Channel on the Yellowknife Highway

This is the winter road (a.k.a. “ice road”) to the villages of Gameti, Wha-ti and Wekwetti.

Lovely Chan Lake is the site of a day-use park.

A few minutes after making a fuel stop at the junction of the road into Fort Providence, I was back to the Mackenzie River, the Deh Cho Bridge – and to clouds of bugs. Along the Mackenzie is the only place I’ve had any bug problems, and I’ve never seen them that bad anywhere else. I was able to pretty much ignore them, though – the only people waving their arms around are tourists 🙂

On the side road to the village of Kakisa is Lady Evelyn Falls Campground. These stairs lead down to the viewpoint over the falls.

WOW! I hadn’t expected anything this spectacular. A mini Niagara Falls.

The Kakisa River is falling over the edge of the Alexandra Coral Reef. Fossils of coral, algae and simple shelled creatures can apparently be found along the cliffs.

McNallie Falls, just a couple of hundred feet off the highway.

It was quite unnerving walking out onto the viewing platform which seemed to be suspended in space due to the tiny undercut ledge it stands on!

Entering the community of Enterprise, a railway!

Welcome to Hay River, NWT 🙂

I got a room at the Ptarmigan Inn, which advertises itself as “the town’s largest premier full service hotel”. The word “pretentious” fits that nicely 🙂

The menu talks about their fancy German chef, and I thought “yeah, yeah, why is he here?” Then this meal came out – another WOW. It tasted as good as it looked (beef tenderloin with shrimp for $28.95).