Driving north again we pass seemingly endless oil wells, this is Alberta for sure. Entering the fertile Peace River valley there are fields of oats, barley and flax, their yellow flowers stretching as far as the eye can see.
The farm and ranch land slowly give way to the Boreal Forest and through the tree we see gas wells, shale gas is plentiful in many parts of North America and lots drilling is taking place. I spoke to one gas worker and was told that welders earn over $40 per hour and labourers can earn $25 per hour and work 90 hours a week. Anyone interested.
As we drive deeper into the north forest, the miles of spruce, fir,birch, larch and other variety of trees flash past as we near the 60th parallel. The 60th is the division between the Canadian provinces and the northern territories. It begins the true north. The territories covers a full1/3 of the land mass of Canada with a population density of 0.015 persons per square mile.
The Deh Cho route is a 1,367 mile loop from north Alberta following the Mackenzie Highway into the Northwest Territories , then west to the town of Checkpoint then south on the Laird trail to the Alaskan Hwy. at Fort Nelson. The entire trip is through native land and all of the towns and roads were established by fur traders and explorers. there are very few people or travellers up here and we would drive for 2-3 hours and never see anyone else.
At Enterprise we take a side trip and follow the coffee colored Hay River to the town of the same name on the shore of Great Slave Lake. The town was the location of the TV series North of Sixty a number of years ago.
Deh Cho is called the waterfall route and we stop numerous times beside beautiful waterfalls and sit and listen as the water makes it way to the Mackenzie River and on to the Arctic Ocean.
Across the route we pay the highest price for gas so far, at $1.547 and $ 1.68 a litre. ( $5.85 and $6.35 a gallon.) When there is only two gas pumps in over 1000 miles you don't get much choice.
We really enjoyed the many waterfalls, but the rest of the trip was boring, just mile after mile of trees on a gravel road and rain, we were quite happy to get back on pavement, civilization and a much needed car wash.
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