Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Canoeing the Hay River–High Level, Alberta

We spent Tuesday night, Aug 30th in High Level, Alberta. Our frustration had been growing with the lack of remoteness that we had expected to find….and traveling day after day – even with sightseeing a bit along the way- was getting a bit confining. We had picked up a brochure at one of the info centers from a canoe rental group called “Flow North” in High Level. We called them (which turned out to be a lovely young couple, Teresa and Darren) and set up a short, 1/2 day canoe trip for Wednesday morning, Aug 31st.

We would start from Meander River, a community about 50 miles north of High Level, and canoe on the Hay River about 9 miles further north (the rivers flow northward!) to our take out spot. We followed Teresa, driving our camper up to the take-out spot, then Teresa drove us, and the rented canoe, to Meander River. This made it easy for us to canoe several hours, then just continue on our travels.

It was just what we needed……

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A peaceful river…..and a chance to be outdoors…..

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Moving under our own power……or stopping for lunch on a bank.

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Discovering what was ‘wild’…..no large animals to be seen, even though there was always the possibility of seeing a bear…….

We did see many of these beaver lodges…..

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And a few Canadian Geese………

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Who took offense at our approach…….and headed off.

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It was a tonic for the soul……

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And, as we continued our drive northward  that afternoon, ……we finally got into the remoteness of the Northwest Territories……

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