Day 34 (June 17). The Liard Highway

From: Fort Simpson, NWT

To: Fort Nelson, BC

Miles today: 309

Total miles: 8015

I left the lovely Fort Simpson, re-crossed the Makenzie River on the ferry, and took NWT 1 back to where it joins NWT 7, the Liard Highway (“LAY-ard,” named for the river it generally follows).  The Liard Highway runs due south, and in fact it re-crosses the 60^th parallel and ends up in British Columbia (BC).  This is because the Rocky Mountains are directly west of Fort Simpson, and there are no roads west through them, or north around them; so that leaves south.

The Liard Highway is unpaved in the NWT (though paved in BC), and some of the people at the Fort Simpson B&B had ridden it on motorcycles some years ago and warned me that it was not as nice as the Deh Cho highway had been.  In particular, large portions of it were gravel, rather than the “chip-seal” or whatever the reddish brown material I saw so much of yesterday is called.  I was glad they warned me.

The Liard Highway's gravel surface

If the gravel is not too deep, you can follow the channels left by the cars and trucks and do ok. But when it is really deep, more than an inch or two, there is no avoiding riding through it.  Riding on this pea-sized gravel is like riding on ice; the cycle goes all over the place.  I am frankly amazed that the tires didn’t lose their grip entirely and spill the bike on multiple occasions.  It was genuinely scary at times.  In certain parts I slowed to 20 miles per hour or even slower, and had to maintain this for miles.  On the whole, the Liard Highway is unpaved for 160 miles, the majority of it this strange gravel.  It was a long, arduous trip.  I eventually made it to the border with BC.  I have never been so glad to see asphalt in my life. 

Left: No Kidding!  Right: Why not just use ball bearings?

On the bright side, it was sunny all day, the first such day in a long time, which makes for good traveling. I also saw about as many large animals as I did cars and trucks.

Left: Black bear (the nicer type).  Right: A family of bison.

I had about another hundred miles to go to make it to Fort Nelson, British Columbia, where ther was that all-important resource, gasoline.  It seemed to me that the transition from NWT’s taiga to whatever British Columbia has instead was almost instant.  Suddenly there were hills, there were tall broad–leaf trees, and everything just seemed greener and more “lush.”  The people in Fort Nelson claim the winters are still brutal (that magic minus forty degree number was mentioned), but my sense was that I was out of “The North” and back in “Canada.”  At least for a few days.  Next I enter the mountains, and wind my way toward the Yukon.