We pushed hard today to get to Yellowknife.

The remainder of the Mackenzie Highway up to the junction with Highway 3 to Yellowknife was a good quality dirt road that permitted highway speeds and from a scenic view continued the pattern of previous days, a broad corridor through the forests. Though as we progressed north the trees got shorter which afforded an occasional wider view. We also passed a couple more roadside parking areas with survival cabins.

Highway 3 crosses the Mackenzie River by ferry near the township of Fort Providence an old fur trading town. The Mackenzie is impressively wide at this crossing, the guide book says one mile, and the current swift. Like yesterday the ferry accesses are simple dirt ramps and again the navigation procedure is to slide the craft sideways using the river current. A bridge is under construction at the crossing which will supplant the ferry and winter ice bridge. So far there are a number of steel supports planted in the river and some work has been done on the approaches. Seems like there is a long way to go.

There is a bison preserve near Fort Providence and for the next 200 kms we came upon bison on the side of the road. For the same 200 kms out of Fort Providence the road was flat, and again passed through a forest corridor. But over the final 100 kms into Yellowknife the terrain changed and large areas of pink granite appeared giving the land more of a rolling character.

Yellowknife has a number of modest high rise buildings, something we have not seen for a while. We arrived after 18:00 so most things were already closed hence we did not spend much time exploring the town but headed back out along the highway to the Henne Territorial Park Campground the only campground or RV park in Yellowknife.

The campground turned out to be a bit of a cultural experience. Remember, it's government owned. There is an entrance that bars access until one registers and closes for the night at 22:30. There is an exit gate that also closes for the night at 22:30. The nightly fee is $22.00, even though the showers are not working and the water is turned off. The campground is beside a lake, but access to the lake is prevented by an 8 ft high chain link fence and gates that are locked. All in all we felt like we paid $22 for a night in a prison. Hope the rest of our short stay in Yellowknife feels better than this experience.