Day 30 (June 13). Northern Alberta / Fort Vermilion

From: Peace River, AB

To: High Level, AB

Miles today: 277

Total miles: 7092

It was drizzling on and off, and pretty cold (by my standards) – 48 degrees – when I got ready to head out.  I wore my rain gear and headed first west on AB 2 and then north on AB 35.  This route continues to follow the ever-narrowing range of Alberta that supports agriculture.  There were indeed farms and pastures the whole way, although they started to become rarer.  (What do they do with horses in the winter?  Do they have heated barns?  Do horses get Cabin Fever?)  In some of the steeper areas, this finally allowed me to get some nice shots of the “Aspen Parkland Biome” that I am now almost out of.  It is quite beautiful, but close inspection shows that it is so thick as to be almost impenetrable. 

Aspen Parkland biome, northern Alberta

In the afternoon the drizzle stopped and blue skies appeared, filled with puffy cumulus clouds. It warmed up considerably. I decided to take the long way to High Level, via some smaller roads to the east through the historic town of Fort Vermilion. It was a terrific drive that included a ferry ride (Fort Vermilion is on the other side of the Peace River).  During this stage the fluffy cumulus were blowing up into thunderstorms all around me.  I took the picture below, and five minutes later I was in a brief but intense downpour that included grain-sized hail. Cool!

Uh oh. Into the storm.

Fort Vermilion is a lovely town of about 700 people that provides services to a very large area.  It is right on the Peace River; one side of Main Street has stores, the other side is the bluff itself.

It is the oldest town in Alberta, way older than Edmonton or Calgary; it was founded in 1788 by the legendary Alexander Mackenzie himself.    He was sponsored by the North West Company, and the goal was to establish a base for fur trading with the indigenous Dunne-za (Beaver), and slightly later the Cree.  This company merged with the rival Hudson Bay Company (HBC) in 1821, and HBC took over control of the outpost / town. 

All of this is in Wikipedia.  What is not, I found out when Ray Toews (pronounced “Taves”) walked across the street from the store he owned to chat with me, was that HBC not only still exists, it pulled out of the town only a couple of years ago!  HBC is actually a huge company, headquartered in Toronto with archives in Winnipeg, and only got out of the fur trade in 1987 (again according to Wiki).  Over time it evolved into the mercantile business, operating general stores and selling supplies of all types to people in the Canadian west.  When I asked Ray who filled the power vacuum when HBC pulled out, he replied “I guess I did; I bought the General Store” (behind him in the picture, and much deeper than it is wide).  He invited me inside and showed me some great old photos, and introduced me to his brother Darwin who was manning the register.  This was definitely the highlight of my day.

The town of Fort Vermilion.  Left: Ray Toews in front of his store.  Right: Same spot, other direction - the Peace River.

From Fort Vermilion I drove west again to the town of High Level.  This is a small town with a huge stretch of motels.  I asked the woman at the desk of my motel what brought so many people to this town; she replied that it is mostly the timber business.  Wiki adds that “High Level marks the northern extent of the Peace River Country, and has one of the northernmost lands suited for agriculture in Canada.”

On a separate note: I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, once.  Its latitude is 55.6 degrees north.  High Level’s latitude is 58.3 degrees north.  So unless I’ve forgotten something, this is my new record, soon to be broken repeatedly.  Why is the Jimmy Buffet’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” running through my head?