A Day of Firsts
Camp 14 Blackstone River, July 26, 183 miles, 79F, 2,418 ft
First we heard them. The clank of a bell then hooves on gravel. Then they started to appear. The first was white with black spots, then a white one, then a brown one.
Eventually eleven horses were grazing by the river below our camp. It was 11:41 pm. Yes the photo above was taken just before midnight. We watched them out our windows to see if they would head up the trail in our direction, but they wandered upstream. We went back to bed.
After sufficient time for us to fall asleep, they wandered downstream past our camp. This happened repeatedly. While they kept us up all night, it was really us keeping ourselves up watching them.
Around 6:15 am, I heard a different noise. A snorting noise. All eleven horses had surrounded our camp. They wanted to walk up the trail we had driven down to be by the river. They sniffed at the tent and eventually wandered on.
We went back to bed. After waking up so many times in the night then going back to bed, I figured it was time to give up. I set up in bed looking out the window.
Then he heard a noise. Get up! Get up, it's a caribou! It's a caribou, wake up!
He set up. I was out of bed looking for my phone, the binoculars, anything to get a better view of the animal below us. He grabbed his camera.
It walked through the brush occasionally taking a bite. I stood peaking between the bushes. It heard me and raised its head. I remained still. It turned its head then returned to grazing. Its antlers were amazing. Velvety and tall. When it wandered on, we returned to the tent to change out of our pj's.
A-whireal A-whireal Ah Ah Ah. Did you hear it? We hadn’t had time to change clothes. We leaped, as quietly as possible, from the tent, cameras in hand. Sneaking through the brush again. We were mindful that we no longer knew where the caribou was. Where was that well camouflage bird? A willow ptarmigan!
After our photo shoot, we started packing to leave. Even at a great campsite, two days was enough. It was time to move on.
It seemed like there were fewer vehicles on the road. We stopped to look at the Blackstone River, the Peel River, the Red River, we traveled through a large burn area, and along a road that gives the “high” in highway a new meaning.
We saw a windsock. Not odd for this part of the world, where roads are few and distances long. Then we saw a sign for an airstrip.
That was the first time I had driven on a runway. The Eisenhower System doesn't count, as no one uses it routinely, on purpose as an airstrip.
Today we only put in 183 miles. They were the best miles of the trip, so far.
We also got gas at the oddest station of the trip, I hope.
There didn't appear to be anyone around. The gas was dispensed from a shipping container. You could hear the pump run, each pulse delivering one liter of gas. We also paid $6.93 US$/gallon. This station is the only one for 233 miles south or 227 miles north. You buy here, bring your own gas, or walk. We could have gone another 150 miles with the use of our extra 8 gallons and the few gallons left in our tank. We opted to buy!
We left the station turning back onto the wide gravel road that seemed way too narrow when you look off the edge. The view was one of the most spectacular I have ever seen, comparable with the best of Iceland.
We were looking for the day's last "first," the arctic circle sign.
It was nearly 2:00 pm, the time we normally start looking for a campsite. Our theory is, get a good spot before others start looking. Sometimes after starting at 2:00 we are still looking at 5:00. It's part of exploring.
I rather like the view from today's spot.
If you are wondering about the firsts.
We have had sheep in camp, never horses
Saw a Caribou
Drove on a runway
Fueled up at a containerized gas station
Paid $6.93 for gas
Crossed above the Arctic Circle
If we move on from here tomorrow there will be another first, our first time in the Northwest Territories.
Update: Later in the day there was another first, first time having a tempered glass window spontaneously explode. But you've already read about that and it is now fixed. Yeah Badger Glass in Fairbanks!
The containerized gas station, link below, appears to be an easy way to transport an entire gas station to a site built on permafrost. You just need a gravel lot and electricity. If the permafrost melts or shifts they only have to disconnect the electricity and drag the station someplace else and regrade. We did see these stations in other locations.
https://www.egfueldispenser.com/mobile-gas-station/mini-petrol-station.html
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