Day 4: Saskatoon to High Level

We have headed NORTH… finally! We arose to a wonderful weather forecast and were eager to get on the road. We knew we had a very long drive ahead of us (the longest section of our journey - 1300km). We were treated to starry skies while exiting Saskatchewan. It really is the land of the living skies! We counted 5 shooting stars and we think we saw a lynx (or some sort of bobcat-looking animal…).

We crossed the border at Lloydminster, SK/AB. It’s a unique border town because half of it is in Saskatchewan and half is in Alberta. This could be tricky knowing there is a time difference between the two provinces, but the town just chooses to operate under one (I think it’s the Alberta time zone - mountain time).

We arrived in Edmonton just as the sun was rising (5 hours after we left our hotel room!), but with the time change it was only 8:30. Yay! Not far past Edmonton, we made the turn north and into new territory for both of us! It was quite uneventful though. Most of the drive up to Valleyview, Alberta reminded me of my 2 field seasons in this area of Alberta. Oil wells, gas pads and logging trucks, etc. The views were all too familiar to me. In Valleyview, we turned onto another highway that would take us to Peace River.

We were surprised by how flat and open this section of the drive was. It was flatter than Saskatchewan! There is still tons of farming in this area (interspersed with oil wells). The roads are long and straight! Then we arrived in Peace River to realize just how high we had been travelling. Peace River is, not surprisingly, a town that the Peace River runs through! You drop down into the valley with the river. It was beautiful and kind of reminded me of the badlands topography. After a quick fill up with gas, we were off for our final leg of the journey to High Level, AB.

This leg was also very, VERY straight (at one point there was at least a 50km stretch of road with not a single, slight curve) and very farm-y. Eventually it turns into forested land and the small towns get fewer and farther between. We arrived in High Level just after 4PM - way earlier than Google Maps told us we would! Thank you, high speed limits.

We are currently enjoying our fancy suite at our hotel after being in the car for so long, and we will get to bed early to prepare for the final leg of our journey to Yellowknife! We expect to arrive tomorrow afternoon… FINALLY!

Wildlife sightings update: Lynx(?), Great horned owl (WOOT! Or do I mean HOOT?), bison (fun fact: we do not have buffalo in North America, only bison), bald eagle, grouse, many magpies, horses, ponies, sheep, donkeys, cows…

Today’s milestones: Alberta (and our final time change!), started heading NORTH, and we saw our first sign for the Northwest Territories!!!