Blueberry Hill RV Park

Athabasca, Alberta

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 11:20 pm Mountain Time

This is a picture of the Mackenzie River ferry at Fort Providence, Northwest Territories.  We took this ferry going to and from Yellowknife, and yes, that is a gravel beach that the ferry drives right up on.  The river is about a mile wide at this point and the ferry runs continuously on no particular schedule from 6 am until midnight.  In winter, there is an ice bridge across the frozen river, but during the in-between seasons in November and May, there may be 4 to 6 weeks when it is too dangerous for the ferry due to floating ice chunks or the ice being too thin for travel.  During these times, Yellowknife is cut off from any land connection and must rely on what fuel and groceries have been stockpiled.  The Canadian federal government and the Territories government are now building a bridge next to the ferry landings that is scheduled to be finished in 2010.  The most prevalent trucks we saw on the highway to and from Yellowknife were huge tandem fuel tankers and the attendant at one gas station said this was the time of year that they try to build up the stockpile for the winter.  He said there are huge tanks near the Yellowknife airport filled with gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, enough to keep the city going for a month or two.

This picture took forever to load, so I think I'll call it a night.  We'll be here until early Thursday morning when we set out across the prairie.  Our next stop should be around Battleford or Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.