Course 0-0-0 True

Temp -15C. Thin BKN AC. Winds calm with IC. About 15 cm of fresh snow from yesterday's storm. 


Awoke to a Wintery wonderland after a delicious meal and gracious hospitality with Russ's inlaws. The clock reads 0930 when we start under sunny skies. Our route today  takes us Northwest through the Swan Hills to Lesser Slave Lake then West to the mighty Peace River. From there set course 0-0-0 true for the NWT border. 
By mid morning we're passing the Swan Hills with some vestiges of blowing snow from last night's storm greeting us at the ~4000 foot pass. Amazing country, and surprisingly high, at least for your author. I can see how a small grizzly population survives in the Swan Hills. 
Crossing the Peace at 3:20 pm, the traffic increases as does the low temperature gradient (sorry, another meteorology moment) to produce an impressive mirage on the road surface to guide us on our course. 
We're getting some use from our GPS tracking software and that's where the course comes in. Sometimes it's 0-2-0, sometimes 3-4-0, but since making the turn at the mighty Peace River, we're keeping the sun at our 6. Next stop Fort. Simpson.

View from inside

Compass is never wrong?

Mirage

Keeping the windshield clean

I dunno who 12' Davis is either

Cleaning up after the storm

On the road again

The  mighty Peace River

Starting Out

March 14, 2013

Temp -14C. OVC skies. Light snow. Light NW winds.

This whole “keep the sun at your 6 theme” is a bit dubious with a start like today. Overcast skies and snow with lots more in the forecast. Yesterday it was +14C, this morning the thermometer reads -8C. That just reminds me I’m living in Alberta.

The arctic front is hung up over central AB and we’re heading straight for it. With heavy snowfall warnings up for Edmonton and points N, we’re heading for our first stop in Gibbons before driving into the Boreal wilds of Northern AB tomorrow.

Once we get North, we’ll be in the cold and dry air and on our way. We’re trying to keep the windshield clean for the camera and this weather pattern should help.

Have a look at some of the pictures.

The Cast

First the cast of characters...

Russ Higginson, meteorologist, married. Lives in Victoria, B.C, lovely wife, nice dog
Aaron McCay, meteorologist, married. Lives in Calgary, AB, lovely wife, no dog.


The vehicle: Toyota Tacoma 4X4, studded tires, and a lot of miles. This vehicle is not immune to rough travel and a lot of it off the paved road. In 2008 I personally spent 8000 km in the right seat driving across AB, B.C, YT and NWT to the town of Inuvik on the Mackenzie delta. In addition, Russ and his lovely wife Tara have had many adventures driving to far-flung places such as Arizona and Haida Gwaii. Needless to say, it's mastered.

And its drivers are too, having taken overland driving courses in the desert and even doing a self-drive in land rovers across the glaciers on the south of Iceland! NWT will be a piece of cake right? Well...
 

NWT Ice Road Trip March 2013

Welcome to Russ and Aaron's NWT Road Trip blog, or as I'd suggest if we have to give it a title the "Keep the sun at your 6 O'clock" tour.

My name is Aaron McCay and this blog will follow the adventures of Russ Higginson and I as we go out on the land. First, about the format. Russ and I are meteorologists hence the weather write-up each day. As a past supervisor once said:" weather forecasting gets in your blood after a while". Consider this blog my detox.
This trip, like a lot of them, was dreamed up on a  night shift while working in the arctic weather office in Edmonton. A road trip down the Mackenzie river valley in winter? A chance to see the land before the pipeline? Why not?

So it begins... Feel free to follow along.