Hay River on the shores of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories

Hay River is one of those communities we felt we would blow through and just overnight. It was not a fort and no real tourist go-to-sites, it is just located on the shores of the Great Slave Lake. We stopped to see the lake and stayed 4 days, Hay River, to us, ended up being one of the most interesting places we had visited so far. No fantastic mountain views, actually it’s just kinda plain down to earth community, but one that was bustling with activities not geared to your average tourist. We loved the down to earth pace of life, the fishing boats would leave and return with their catches daily. Large tugs maneuvered huge barges being loaded with fuel and goods. A train destination for goods to the north including fuel which was trucked daily in convoys from Hay River. The Canadian Coast Guard ships tied up at dock which come and go to the Artic Ocean via the massive Mackenzie River. Lots to see, glad we took the time to stop and look and someday will return. They have a great campground right on the shores of the Lake. Enjoy the photographs our daily journal follows.

Day 36 Mileage 7,110.2 kms, travelled 381.8 km today. Left our friends’ place this morning and toured the Rock and a specialty shop in Yellowknife. Filled with propane and fueled up at Co-op, dumped tanks and filled with water in Yellowknife. Drove to Lady Evelyn Falls Territorial Park km 167.1 (mile103.8). It’s located approx. 8 kms  south off highway one and the park features 23 powered campsites, laundry room, showers and the main feature the dramatic Lady Evelyn Falls on the Kakisa River. A very well kept campground with nice sites.

 Day 37 Mileage 7,260.1 travelled 149.8 kms today from Lady Evelyn Falls to Hay River. On the way we stopped at McNallie Creek Falls just off the highway to Enterprise where we topped up with fuel at $2.10/litre. Arriving at Hay River we checked in to the Territorial Park and spent the day exploring the large barges and the huge tugs that push or pull them. These large tugs are propelled by four V16 Caterpillar diesel engines and have a range of 8,000 kms.

Great Slave Lake is huge. It’s the ninth largest in the world and second largest in the NWT, second only to the Great Bear Lake. The lake is also one of the deepest at 614 meters and covers a surface area of 28,568 square kms. Hay River is a transportation hub to the north by barge all the way to Tuck on the Arctic Ocean. The barges are huge and much needed supplies to communities and businesses in the north. Commercial fishing is another main part of the Hay River economy that started in 1945 with approximately 6 million lbs harvested annually, however now that figure is approximately one million lbs.

After getting settled we spent the day just sitting on the beach looking at a lake with no shore in sight and listening to the waves, were told the Aurora Borealis is possible to be seen, a little early but if we can stay awake long enough would be a great sight to see.

Day 38 Mileage 7279.9 kms Travelled only 20 kms today to pick up a few supplies and check out Hay River downtown. We spent the rest of the day organizing the camper and just taking the odd hike down the long beach and just sitting a spell. We moved out of the regular in the bush campground to the group camping site today. The group camping is right on the beach and out in the open so we can see all the action on the river and lake. Hopefully out here if there are northern lights we will have a better chance of seeing them. No mosquitoes in the group site as it is more breezy and only 5 other units, still cost the same as regular campground with power $29.00.

Day 39 No Mileage today as we did not drive except to the Hay River museum. The museum was flooded this spring when Hay River flooded and was closed but they set up a smaller version which we toured then did a short drive to a different beach. Spent the rest of the day in maintenance, Char did laundry and we visited with other campers and just relaxed here for another day. The barge movers did not move again today so we just may be out of luck to see one in action. At about 1:30 am our camper lit up like day and the campsite area around us. Getting up to check out the sudden daylight we discovered an Arctic Tug had come in and are they lit up front and sides on all three levels. It finally docked and the lights dimmed and its generators hummed the rest of the night. That did not bother us as much as the couples who parked to watch submarine races and needed the music thumping for all to hear. OK I was up anyway so I checked out the Northern Lights and there was definitely some colour happening so I dragged out the tripod and got a few shots.

That’s about it for this post, because I have many images I wanted to share and our return trip to Hay River. I have decided not to push my luck with your attention span and break this into two parts. Those huge Arctic tugs did move and I got it all recorded along with more images of Hay River, the Canadian Coast Guard and more to come in my next post. Join us then, subscriptions to the post are free and ad free a subscription will allow me to notify you of a new post by email. Thanks to all those who have already subscribed makes it easier for me as I am no longer posting to Facebook…just Instagram at gerrypopplewell.

Thanks again for joining us for a look at our beautiful country your comments are always welcome and we hope to see you down the road….

Gerry &Charlotte