Canada rondrit met CE

[Wellingrwf]

Epilogue Canada
It took some time before I managed to integrate all the pictures from Jamaliah and myself together with the videos. The 2300 pictures were reduced to 890. Still the resulting video is quit long (1:17). I could have split it up into East and West Canada but in the end, I decided that you can fast forward to the section of your interest. I appreciate any suggestions to make future videos of are trips more interesting or give us a like.
If you drive through Canada from East to West you also follow the line of development. In the east, starting in Nova Scotia, you are confronted with the struggle of the French Acadians and how these settlers were forcefully removed to o.a. Louisiana (diaspore) by the English in 1755 so that they could expand their New World colony. This struggle continued and in the end all of French Quebec came under English control. Interesting was to see that along the St Laurance River many fortifications against the American were built. In 1812 there was even a war between the 2 countries.
The industrial area lies around the Great Lakes. In order to make them accessible, canals were dug as bypasses the rapids in the St Laurance River (Quebec City, Montreal). They were also made further inland (Ottawa), safely away from the US border. More canals and locks exist all the way from Niagara, on Lake Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
Up till the arrival of many English settlers after Britain lost is American Colony, the First nation people lived in harmony with the few settlers and trappers which lived in this vast land. In Thunder Bay we visited our first frontier fort called Fort William. It was set up to trade the furs with the first nation people. The furs were transported in canoes made of bark over the many lakes and rivers to the fur trading forts along the lakes and Hudson Bay. These light canoes could be carrier (ported) over the watersheds (sometimes high-water falls).
Further west you come to the Great Plaines around Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton. From here we drove north to find the Buffalo near Yellow Knife on the Great Slave Lake. We could not resist the opportunity of a fight over the Nathanni National Park Reserve and land at the top of Virginia Falls. Here you see small groups carrying there canoe down past the falls to continue their 1 – 3 weeks canoe adventure which ends in the Liard River.
We followed the Liard River further east to Dawson Creek where we met up with the Alaskan Highway. This remote highway was built in record time during 1943 in order for the Americans to get military equipment to Alaska and prevent the Japanese from setting foot on the continent.
At Whitehorse we turned up North on the Klondike highway. This follows the Klondike River which was used by the gold seekers at the end of the 19th century. Before reaching the historical goldmine town of Dawson City we turned North to drive the 880 km road to the First Nation settlement of Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea. The road is unpaved and slippery when it rains. Unlike Prudhoe Bay in Alaska this town is not swamped by oil drillers. Drilling has taken place at some point but there was never permission given to develop the discovered reserves. Therefore, you can enjoy the long drive over the Eagle plains, crossing the Mac Kinsey River to Inuvik, passing Pingo’s and many small lakes on to Tuktoyaktuk.
From Dawson city we crossed over the “Top of the World” highway to Alaska and after 3 weeks re-entered Canada again via the Alaskan Highway. In Watson Lake we turned south to explore the Temperate rainforests of British Colombia. We were told that the island of Haida Gwaii was mostly untouched and still had a large Native population. The pictures will tell you that it is true. Of course, it rains a lot in a rainforest on an island but as real tree huggers we enjoyed camping beneath these giants.
We did not visit Vancouver Island this time but camped for several days on the beaches of Vancouver city. The city has a predominant Asia population. This results in many Asian restaurants and small food stalls. Needless to say, that Jamaliah was in her element.

Instead of crossing the border into the US near Vancouver we drove east on Hwy. 3 following the US border. At Waterton Lakes National Park we then finally crossed the boarder into Glacier National Park in the US.

Here a link to our slideshow: https://youtu.be/ha8ikgdqTmM

You can also read the full blog on rudywelling.blog

Regards
Rudy and Jamaliah Welling

[Brugseb]

Hey R&J
was weer leuk om jullie via Polarsteps te volgen, al weet ik niet of ik zelf van de lange afstanden in Canada zou genieten. Maar sowieso een mooi avontuur.
Het zou trouwens fijn zijn mochten er op dit forum - dat helemaal in slaap is gedommeld - wat meer reisverslagen en -tips verschijnen.
Of misschien een overzichtje van de blogs van verschillende mensen hier, ik geniet altijd van "voorpret" en dat kan ook het lezen zijn van andermans wedervaren op reis en tips.
groets
Bart

[Sunrader]

wat een mooie (droom)trip. maar wel behoorlijke voorbereiding .