The Drive North from Jasper to Fort Smith
On the drive north we saw lots of wild life. Some co-operated for their photos and others, such as a fox, moved too quickly for their photos.
At the sixtieth parallel, we crossed the border from Alberta to the Northwest Territories. This huge territory has a population of just 100,000
people. About 40 minutes after crossing the border we stopped at this waterfall. The water in all these rivers is not colored by mud. Rather,
like the swamps of the deep south, the water is colored by all the vegetation that decays in it.
Since we were ahead of schedule, we decided to go further north across the McKenzie River to the Buffalo Reserve. At the McKenzie River a
free ferry took us across this very large river. Jackie was so intent on viewing the birds that she did not see a half dozen very large buffalo
standing only a few yards from the point where we drove off the ferry until I brought them to her attention.
Signs continuously warned us to watch for buffalo, but for the next hour we
saw no more buffalo. Instead, we had the good fortune to see a pair of Sand
Cranes with their baby chick!
After an hour of driving, I began to
despair of seeing more buffalo. I saw a
truck parked in a rest area and pulled
over and asked the driver if there were
buffalo ahead. He indicate that there
were and we drove on when we
suddenly arrived at a herd of eighty
buffalo including many babies. The
group was strung out and refused our
request to close in for a group photo.