Day 33 (June 16). The Deh Cho Highway

From: Fort Providence, NWT

To: Fort Simpson, NWT

Miles today: 205

Total miles: 7706

Another day, another overcast morning threatening rain.  I checked out of Fort Providence and retraced my path over the Deh Cho bridge.  Another 10 miles or so and I rejoined NWT Route 1, either the Deh Cho Highway or the Mackenzie Highway depending on who you ask.  Turning west to follow the Deh Cho / Mackenzie River, the pavement continues for several miles and then abruptly ends.  What replaced it is a very nice brownish-red surface that allows for fairly rapid transit, except when wet (when, I am told, it becomes slippery like soap).  The stated speed limit was 90 kilometers per hour (about 55 mph), and I was able to do that easily.  There were a few rough patches, and I slowed down when showers came, but on the whole I was very impressed with how efficiently I was able to move.  The importance of this is only partly due to the fact that the distance between the gas stations at Enterprise and Fort Simpson, where I was going, was about 180 miles. 

The Deh Cho Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada

After about 100 miles, I came to the Sambaa Deh Falls.  This is really a series of rapids where the Trout River, another tributary of the Mackenzie, has narrowed and sped up and cut a narrow channel through the limestone.  The water truly rages by.

The Sambaa Deh Falls on the Trout River

For me, the rapids themselves were only half the fun. The other was that the limestone that the rapids cut through was composed almost entirely of fossils; shells and coral mostly, it looked like, but also some crinoids. Here are a couple of shots to give you the idea.

Fossils in the limestone exposed by the Trout River

I continued on the nicely unpaved highway, though occasional cloudbursts, until Route 1 forked off to the north and Route 7, with the Liard (“LAY-ard) Highway beginning at the other fork. My route led to a ferry which took me across the Mackenzie again, to the nice little town of Fort Simpson.  Here I stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast called the Mackenzie Inn.  That evening and the next morning I chatted up some of the other guests, and had a fine time.  Here is a picture of the Mackenzie River from the second-story deck of the B&B, where I drank coffee and checked my itinerary in the morning.

View of Mackenzie River from my Fort Simpson B&B