Finished off my driving for the day at destination: Fort Providence! The highway to get here from the border is still paved at this point and in decent condition. There was a spot where you have to cross the Mackenzie River to reach Fort Providence (or continue on to Yellowknife) and apparently there used to be a ferry to take vehicles across. No more though, a fancy looking bridge called the Deh Cho has been built over the river. Only got head on shots of it for some reason. It’s very modern looking, especially compared to any other structures in the area, in the entire province so far actually, well, the parts I’ve seen anyway.
I headed straight for the Fort Providence Territorial Park campground, which was not far after the bridge and before the town, or hamlet as I think it may be. My campsite (and many others) were along the Mackenzie River, with a trail that you could walk along. Not sure how far it went in the either direction but I’d say it spanned at least the campground itself, and there were some spots where you could get right down to the river. I didn’t see much of a beach though and the river was fairly fast moving, so keeping to the trail was enough for me:
I had to wait a bit for the campsite attendant to return from supper in order to reserve a campsite. So I sat in my truck waiting, as the bugs (mosquitos now too) were buzzing around like crazy. I debated if I was even going to set up my tent for the night if the bugs were going to be this bad. Mainly I didn’t want to get attacked while setting up or tearing down.
By the time I got my campsite and put on a new coating of bug spray and got outside, it was after 7:00 pm and mysteriously the flies and bees seemed to have disappeared. Maybe they go to bed at that hour? They were gone, totally gone!! The mosquitos were still around but they were nothing compared to all else. I got to set up my tent in peace and actually sit outside for a bit, WIN!!
So one thing to note about this campout, I had heard about the midnight sun but not yet experienced it. I woke up in the middle of the night like I always seem to, and it was still light out. In High Level I did notice it was lighter past 11:00 pm than I would have expected but didn’t pay it a whole lot of notice. Here, my tent was just about as bright as if I were in it in the middle of the day. It was after midnight and it did not get dark, not the whole rest of the night. It still cooled down though, like it typically does in the wee hours of the morning, and then started warming up again around 05:00-06:00. But no darkness. I did have one of those sleep masks that goes over your eyes, and I used it!
And here’s a typical camping morning for me, the essentials to boil water and make COFFEE!! I invested in this new small kettle to replace the regular size one I have and it turned out to be a great investment, as the water boils at least twice as fast on my butane stove. That means coffee is ready faster! No waiting around for 20 minutes anymore, score!! The handle of the kettle doesn’t get hot either, which I kind of expected to and brought a pot holder just in case but that was not necessary! For this trip I brought Starbucks instant coffee because I need to get another French press. The instant coffee is not bad but real coffee is still better, so I’ll have to go back to French press eventually. I’d like to find one convenient for camping i.e.: not breakable.
The bowl was another investment and it turned out to be a good one. I wanted something not plastic or silicone with a lid that I could put hot water into with dried food such as oatmeal, chicken noodle soup, or other meals. This bowl is metal (by Stanley) with a plastic lid (which is fine), and it’s perfect. It doesn’t get hot on the outside, so you can hold it while it has boiling water in it, and it keeps whatever is inside it nice and hot.
So, I must have been up before the flies and bees, ‘cuz again there were none while I went through my morning routine. Even got the tent down and all packed up without them coming around!
Here are a couple pictures of some of the amenities at the campground:
Before moving on to Fort Liard, I went into the hamlet of Fort Providence. According to Google it has a population of around 700 as of 2011. That seems a little dated but from the looks of things, I can’t see the population being much more! There really isn’t much there, these pictures are pretty much the main structures: An Inn, a cafe, and a store. I think the blue building is a school. And there’s the church (above). I went looking for souvenirs at the store but didn’t see anything! The gas station on the way out though (after the bridge) had some hats and shirts.
Closer shot of the Deh Cho bridge:
And OH. MY. GOD… THEY’RE BACK!! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THOSE THINGS!! The bees! Two of them (one on the mirror of my truck). This was at the gas station outside Fort Providence. There were more than these two buzzing around, makes it difficult to want to get out and pump gas. I think every time I got gas in NWT I had my hoodie on with hood up, and bug spray galore, which thankfully kept the beasts at bay. And miraculously, none flew inside my truck when I opened the door.
So next up: Solving the mystery of Checkpoint on my way to Fort Liard!!
