Day 9 August 1, 2026 High Level Alberta to Hay River Northwest Territories 232 miles
Mostly cloudy today. Before we left a father with two young boys stopped to talk about the car. Both boys got to honk the horn. The father has an uncle who lives in Fruitland Idaho. He had even been there a few times. Small world again.
Not far out of town we did see a lone doe. She was standing in a field.
A large sign warned of possible bison on the road. We are near an area where they are protected. These are wood bison so they are a bit smaller and darker in color. We saw other warning signs but never any live bison.
Stopped along the road and added some oil. Nothing bad just time to add a little.
The wind has really picked up speed. That along with the permafrost dips in the road makes for an uncomfortable ride.
We stopped at the 60th parallel visitor’s center. Rob is trying to get us signed up for next year’s Model A Convention. Turns out you must print the form, fill it out and mail it with a check. No printer at the Visitor’s Center. They do however have several stuffed local animals. They also have pictures and write ups about the region. Definitely worth the stop. We said we hoped to stop at the Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park. The host said the trails to the falls are closed due to the banks sliding away.
We did stop at the pullout by the falls. The trails were definitely barricaded so we didn’t try to go down.
The forest for the rest of the way to Hay River had burned within the last couple of years. Lots of standing black trees and very short undergrowth.
We gassed up and then started looking for a place to stay. We didn’t see one right away, but we did take a short tour of the town. Coming back to town we stopped at the first hotel we found. They were fully booked but gave us names and numbers of other places in town. Seems they are having a big baseball tournament and some big native games that last for 3 days.
While we were sitting there two men stopped to look at the car. Rob explained we were looking for a place to stay. The second man (Garry) said “Well come stay at my house.” He was a widower and said he had room. We followed him back to his house which sits right on the river. He has a wonderful location. On the way there he called his girlfriend (Davida) and told her to bring dinner. We had a fabulous dinner and great conversation. Turns out even the campgrounds were full. We could not have asked for a better place. We stayed up late talking and learning about Canadian history and the various area cultures.
Spoffords Travel 