2013/06 NWT trip - Blackstone River |
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When we came back to the junction we had two surprises. The first was this dog lying in the middle of the junction. It showed no interest in moving so we just drove around it.
The other was a hand-written sign saying “road open only to light trucks 4500Kg”. We were driving a light truck but it’s rated at 5500Kg. We didn’t think too long about this as the only alternative was a 1000 mile detour through Alberta, but there was the niggling worry that we’d come to some ramshackle bridge with a weight limitation. We never did; the weight limit was on the gravel road itself, but there was no enforcement
anywhere.
We stopped for lunch down on the beach of the Muskeg River, another potential camping spot. The road was exceptionally quiet; we saw just a small bus and a car. There were more animals, lots of wood bison feeding on the shoulder grasses, a couple of bears, and some sandhill cranes.
We began seeing distant mountains, somewhere in the Nahanni, we guessed, on the other side of the Liard River. 
We passed a side road to the hamlet of Nahanni Butte, but it only leads to a winter-only ice road across the river; there’s no ferry so it’s cut off in the summer. Soon after, we arrived at Blackstone River territorial park, the first of many similar campgrounds we were to use. The NWT has few if any commercial campgrounds; the season is too short, the distances too long. In theory, all the territorial parks had opened on May 15th, but we had the distinct impression that the ranger was opening up just for us, his first customers of the season.
Sandie was very keen to put our kayak into the “big lake”, but I pointed out that it was moving quite fast in the middle; it was the Liard River, recently swollen by the South Nahanni, and at least a mile across. If we’d launched there we might have ended up in the Arctic Ocean. Instead, we tried walking some of the trails, difficult as they weren’t cleared, and we gave up at a shattered bridge.
Wild roses seem to thrive in the clearings, tough plants considering the winters. The mozzies and flies were a pain, but there were also dozens of these swallowtail butterflies; they love gathering in the mud.
We braved the bugs and cooked outside with this view of the river and (I think) Nahanni Butte.
Monday June 10th
The ranger had promised to fire up the generator in the morning so that we could have showers. This he did, but it would have been helpful to unlock the doors too! I tracked him down.