The morning started early, with a nice chat with my wife Ronit before I began packing and making my sandwiches and breakfast for the day. Before I was off, I had a meeting with the IN-COM team and it was great seeing everyone's faces and getting caught up.
Today, my final destination was Manning City, with some plans to do some sightseeing here in Hay River plus some stops at waterfalls along the drive. It was looking to be a relatively short day because I had some work for a client to do once I arrived.
As I departed Hay River, the sun was rising with a beautiful bright orange hue. All the guests at the inn were admiring it as it glowed through the clouds. It was definitely no ordinary sunrise. It could be that the upper air layers had been saturated with smoke from the forest fires and was causing the sun to look that way.
Pumphouse Beach
The first stop of the day was the Pumphouse Beach in Hay River. Despite being the shore of Great Slave Lake, it looked like the ocean, with steady waves coming up to the shore, leaving behind large debris. It was a magnificent scene, made even better by the fact that there was not one single black fly, mosquito, or anything else with wings. The only wings in sight were those of birds, thank goodness for that!
As I sat watching the waves, I thought about how this lake shore reminded me very much of a villa that the IN-COM team and I had stayed at in Costa Rica. Other than the waves, which were much smaller here, it had the same kind of beauty and surroundings.
Back in the car, it was showing 52°. So it had warmed up in the 15 minutes I had been admiring the shore as it had been 49° when I first arrived. I guess the black flies really don't like the cold and that explains why I haven't seen any yet. Hoping it will be cold temperatures for the next few days so I can avoid these nasty guys!
Paradise Road
As I was driving along, I kept seeing all these little roads off the main highway and towards the river. That was all I needed to take a detour onto Paradise Road in search of some interesting views. I arrived at what turned out to be a small campsite along a beautiful river. It was curving and bending off into the distance and the black flies were still MIA, thank goodness. So I parked the car and sat inside to have a bite to eat in the warmth since outside was still around 55 degrees.
As I was sitting in my car, a nice dog came bounding up to my car. I opened the door and he was super friendly and jumped all over me wanting to play. I then watched as he ran all the way down the cliff to the riverbed. I of course did not follow over the very steep cliff, but I followed as far as I could to a great location where I took some photos.
As I hurried back to my car, trying to head out without the pup running around the wheels, worried for his safety, the dog was instantly running up the cliff again and in seconds was right by me and Steele. Dang, what a good climber that dog is! We slowly drove away, ensuring pup was behind us at all times.
I was continuing down the highway when I decided to stop at the Enterprise Intersection which is a major split-off for highways going to Enterprise, Hay River, Edmonton or Fort Simpson. And yet, there was not a single car in sight! In all the time (5-10 minutes) I was on the shoulder only 1 vehicle drove past. I was the only one around. I guess I'm the "traffic jam" this morning.
At one point, I saw the other vehicle had stopped off to the side. The driver had walked off to a nearby cliff along the road, which it turns out is a great place for photographers to take pictures of the Horse Shoe River Bend. What a cool find!
I spoke with the driver, whose name was Liam. He told me that he lives in Yellow Knife during the summer, and Ontario in the winter.
He is a guide for Jackpine Paddle, a company that offers week-long canoe trips. I learned that Liam is a real sports enthusiast and is very active in the Northwest Territories. So Liam and I were todays RUSH HOUR scene it seems.
The Waterfall Tours
TWIN FALLS
I was excited to see some waterfalls today, and my first stop was at Twin Falls. I parked the car and hiked no more than 10 minutes before I could hear the falls in the distance. The first part of the trail was nice and short and quite easy. I was grateful for the shorter hike today as my body was feeling the strain. It ain't what it used to be 20 years ago (or even 2 weeks ago).
I arrived at the first look of the waterfall from a lookout area about 1/5th of the way through the trail. It was a nice view of the river and the falls from above.
But never fear! I wasn't done yet. I decided to hike the other 4/5ths of the trail to get a better glimpse of the waterfall. Until I came across a tall spiral staircase. The monster staircase looped around 3-4 times up what looked like 3 stories or more to the top of the cliff. To get to the next view of the waterfall, I'd need to climb down all those stairs, worse still would be the climb back up to return to the car!
At first, I thought, "Better not, my knee is not going to be happy and I already have enough pictures of the waterfall". Eventually, I doubled back and decided "What the heck, I'm already here thousands of miles away from home. When am I going to be here again? What's 3 floors anyways?" So off I went down the spiral staircase, which was then followed by hundreds of steps taking you closer to the view.
I was not disappointed with my decision to press on, however. Wow! Just wow! It was such a beautiful up-close view of the gushing waterfall. The way back was a bit of a challenge, and my muscles were definitely quite tired after going up all those stairs!
ALEXANDRA FALLS
My next stop on the waterfall tours expedition of the day was Alexandra Falls. It was also a challenging trail at this stop to get down to the waterfall. Not just for me, there were warning signs everywhere saying things like "Danger", "Slippery", and "At Own Risk"! At least, they allow you to make the choice for yourself because if I had to choose THE one place to take my entire company to, even if it was a 5-day drive, I'd take them here!
This waterfall trumps almost all the other locations I have visited thus far on my trip. Just to see, feel, and experience this waterfall was exhilarating! I walked back and forth along the riverbed next to the waterfalls for an hour. I just could not leave this place! I was just so close to the falls I could literally reach out and touch it, I could walk to the edge of the cliff and let my feet dangle down, I was literally in the thick of it!
It was the most thrilling, amazing, life-changing 60 minutes of my life. That's how blown away I was by mother nature and her awe-inspiring power! If I had to give one recommendation to my readers, I'd say "You HAVE to come visit this waterfall". It is the closest mother nature will let you approach safely to while witnessing something so loud and powerful and simultaneously being surrounded by calming and relaxing nature.
As I was about to leave, I bumped into a friendly couple, Adam and Allie, from Kelowna. They told me they have been dating for a while and Adam is moving Allie to Yellowknife where he is currently living and working for one of the airlines. They are both very excited about this next step in their relationship. I told them I was from Dallas, but that it just can't compare to the beauty of this area. They invited me to move to Yellow Knife, and honestly, the idea is not off the table...😉
Hutch Lake Trail
I was back on the road looking for my next adventure when I noticed on the side of the road there were these weird-looking furry plants. I stopped to take some photos and realized each one looks like a face with a beard and eyes! When you focus on them they seem to have their own expression. How funny!
As I was stopped off the side of the road, I saw two beautiful white swans take off, though they were too quick for me to snap a photo. Off I went back on the road until I found The Hutch Lake Trail. This seemed like a great place to stop off. It looked like a 2-mile dirt road leading directly to a large lake.
As I pulled up to the lake I saw a whole group of kids (probably on a field trip) with a few parents playing on the lake park grounds. Despite the sounds of excited children, the area was very serene and calm along the lake. I may have scared the group off because while I walked around to take photos and come back to my car they were almost all gone. Do I look scary?? Maybe I need to work on my look...
Manning Alberta
The last few hours on the way to Manning were quite uneventful. Maybe that's why I "almost" dozed off once. Luckily, the car sounded an alarm and made sure I was instantly wide awake! The moment you take your eyes off the road or close them the Mercedes instantly makes an alarm sound, the lights go, and the steering wheel shakes. Thanks, Steele, for keeping an eye on me!
I finally arrived at Manning, where the first thing I did was feed Steele his precious 91-Octane, especially after his good behavior earlier. Then I was off to feed myself. I stopped at the local supermarket to pick up sandwich accessories and some blackberries.
Once that was taken care of I pulled into Nova Inn, a quiet little place just outside of town. Based on the amount of cars parked outside I could tell it was full. No wonder too, as the rooms were very comfortable and they had a great restaurant on site that was very modern looking.
The view from my room was beautiful and very conducive to relaxing, with the stretch of open plains ahead of me.
At the inn, I met Carley and Macy, two young girls at the front desk. We got to talking about the blog and I learned from them that they were both born and raised in Manning and love living here. They said they would not trade Manning for a larger city like Toronto or Montreal.
I asked for some advice on what to see in the area and they both immediately said "The train trestle!". It was not on google maps so they guided me on where to go saying that as soon as people in the area get their driver's licenses that's the first place they drive to since it's absolutely spectacular, especially during sunset.
So I ate a bit of dinner and headed off to the Train Trestle. I was really happy I took the time to visit since it is an absolute icon that the locals around here swear by. It was absolutely stunning as promised. The dirt road there was pretty narrow and I had to reverse quite a ways on the way out before I could turn Steele back around. Thanks for the recommendation, Carley & Macy!
As I was driving back to the inn, speaking to my wife on the phone, a little doe appeared in the field ahead and just stared at me. I rushed to grab the phone in case she would run off before I could get a picture, but no, she stood there calm as day staring at me for a long time. Guess I'm the animal whisperer since all the animals - bears, foxes, does, dogs - all just want to stick around and have a "chat" with me.
I also came across a beautiful building which I found out was a Ukrainian Parish Catholic Church. I stopped to take a few photos for our Ukrainian development team. Vlad and Vlad, these are for you!
End of the Day Thoughts
I was back at the Inn and thinking back on my trip and to the days ahead. A funny list is all the things I've mistaken for bears from far off while driving. The list includes:
A black tarp
A dark bush
A piece of tire from a truck
A human being
A black dog
A large raven (it was very large!!!)
Might be a sign that it's time to get eye surgery... 😂
The sun is setting now and tomorrow is going to be a long haul drive (640 km) since I want to get to my destination early and do some actual work. So I'm just setting expectations for tomorrow - don't expect too much from the post. If I spot anything amazing along the way, of course, I'll stop, but otherwise, it'll be drive, eat sandwich, drive, eat sandwich.
See you tomorrow. Cheers. -Shlomo
what a nice day full of water and falls .
sure is a place i would like to visit .
wonder what it like in that region in the winter? is it accusable?
take care and rest well
arik
Another wonderful day of your journey. I am so happy you are documenting it so well and sharing with us. I think I want to move to Yellow Knife. What's not to like? Alexander waterfall was just spectacular!