What a difference from yesterday. The day dawned beautiful but the biggest difference was the traffic on the road. Gone today are the endless muddy Ute’s pouring out of the wilderness from hydrocarbon exploration and processing sights. The scenery has changed to gorgeous forest, lakes and mountains again. There were several recommendations for us to take this route to Edmonton. Unfortunately, the road is now sealed.
The town of Grande Cache, about halfway between the Musreau camp sight and Hinton, gave us an opportunity to catch up with computer stuff. The Visitor centre was excellent. Lots of static displays of life in the early days, along with a video of bear behaviour. I think we have them (bears) sorted now. Wave your arms, stand your ground, speak sternly to them and Bob’s your uncle…:) yeh right!
While Jen was in at the local Co-Op grocer three enthusiastic young guy’s walked past to their van parked next to us. Loaded with shopping, they were interested in the fact that one of us was a Kiwi and by our vehicle.
(Missing – Jordan, Blair, Mick, Kyle and Marcella from NZ)
Alex gave us a full demonstration on how they plant trees. They were in town for their one free day where they get to stock up on food supplies and hook into the internet. The boys above are from eastern Canada and live in tents in the wild. Gulp! They are being educated by their Kiwi contingent with the correct names for many things..:). The pay is good, they say.
Along the way we passed a large mining operation. Coal, and with a conveniently placed power station right beside it. What fascinated us was the rock strata, exposed during coal excavation.
Bill, our part supplier in Edmonton, very kindly drove out to Brule Lake (close to Hinton) to meet us and take us into a favourite campsite. The drive in was a 4X4 challenge. The campsite was great. Remote, unoccupied and with a nice grassy area to set up camp.
With a decent camp fire lit and mozzie repellant applied, we sat around the fire being regaled with interesting stories of Bill’s experiences until it got dark. A novel experience for us too.
Visits: 35