Day 2 (June 2) - Grande Prairie to Hay River, a good 750 kilometers (written a good week after my arrival in Yellowknife - just catching up on the trip!)

Good road, some rain, some transport trucks, a few campers likely doing the Alaska highway, some local traffic (mostly pickups), the farm land of the Peace River Country gradually transitioning into Aspen Parkland. Beautiful.

Not far out of Grande Prairie is the Dunvegan Bridge spanning the Peace River. In the shadow of the bridge is Dunvegan Provincial Park, one of Alberta's earliest fur trade posts and missionary centres dating back to 1805. Still intact are the Factor's House and the St. Charles Rectory and Church (1867); "Our Lady of Peace" keeps serene watch over a serene setting.

It's been a dry spring - I mentioned that before - and we passed a number of forest fires. Particularly High Level was very smoky because of a fire west of the highway. And the following day there was one near Behchoko of which we could see the flames shooting over the tops of trees. When a fire does not actually threaten a community, however, it is allowed to burn itself out - a reminder that fire is one of nature's ways of rejuvenating a forest.

Of course everyone has to have their picture taken at the 60th parallel - and I'm no exception, as after all this blog is called "North of Sixty."

If you drive rather than fly up, you'll stop at the information centre just behind the sign, and you just might meet Elsie Bouvier from Hay River working the booth. While she didn't know Rosalie directly, she knew Rosalie's sister Karen, who had taught all of Elsie's seven children. Connections - the North just might be a small world in a big space.

One final stop on the stretch between the border and Hay River, the town: Twin Falls Gorge Park on Hay River, the river. Beautiful. Quiet. Wonderfully quiet.

We spent the night with Rosalie's family, Karen and Jack. Supper: lake trout freshly caught in the east arm of Great Slave lake, roasted over an open fire. Delicious!!