July 9-19, 2013 Ultimate Northern Alberta Trip:

Back: Part 1: Edmonton & The Reynolds-Alberta Museum

(70 Photos)

70.  After supper we decided to hit the highway and begin our 10 hour drive north to Assumption making it as far as Peace River just after dark.

69.  The next morning we picked up a few supplies and left Peace River continuing our journey north to Assumption where Steve is Posted and now lives. This is about 30 minutes outside Rainbow Lake in North Western Alberta.

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65.   After picking up Steve's big white dog Dawson from the sitter, we unloaded the car and went on a tour of the community in one of the Police Cruisers.

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62.   It may not be a big place but it's quite pretty, and I had my first up close look at Bison!

61.   These things are huge, and it was neat to watch them spar with each other just meters away from the truck!

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59.   One of the neat things about being so far North is the extra long daylight hours. My first evening up there I couldn't believe it was still perfectly daylight at 11pm! It was great for getting things done such as cleaning up bikes after a run or having a late Barbeque supper.

58.   The next morning we went out to the Garage (also known as our most Western and Northern Area51 facility to date!) to tackle repairs on Steve's Project Rincon ATV. He's had a temperature light gremlin since he first got the bike and has already replaced the coolant sensor, fan and even the coolant. We now believe the trouble is in the engine oil temperature sensor. Sure enough we discovered the wire connector was cracked and not making a good connection on the sensor.

57.   Steve had a brand new sensor in stock so we went ahead and installed it just to be sure we didn't still have a faulty unit. With the new sensor in place I repaired the wire and made a new custom connector to snugly fit on the oil sensor. I soldered the connector and added silicone sealant to keep the water out, we were ready for a test ride.

56.   We suited up and went for a little cruise near the community on some local ATV trails. I was piloting Steve's Rincon, and he was riding one of the detachment's Polaris ATV's.

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54.   We didn't want to get too tangly & muddy as we had skid plates to install tomorrow on the Rincon. Sure enough the temperature light stayed off and the bike ran great! Looks like the gremlin has finally been fixed!

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49.   We passed away the whole afternoon under sunny skies and warm temps checking out many beautiful trails, many were survey grid lines, and others led to old oil lease sites.

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39.   It was a great ride and although the horse flies were ungodly thick, Deep Woods fly spray in the green can worked wonders and I managed to keep my sanity!

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37.   The next morning after breakfast we installed new skid plates on Steve's bike. He ordered the full package from Ricochet and they are a quality item as you can see in the pics above. With the plates installed we did a little cleanup around the Garage and got things better organized for working on projects.

36.   That afternoon we loaded up Steve's new Clay Target thrower and headed out in one of the Cruisers to a remote pit. We set up the first ever Assumption Alberta Sporting Clays Summer Classic, number of participants: two.

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32.   We enjoyed a great afternoon, I taught Steve some tips for shooting clays, and he gave me pointers for pistol shooting. All in all it was a great afternoon and we managed to get through most of our ammunition and clay targets.

31.   Monday morning brought crappy weather, so we postponed our planned ATV ride and headed out to take care of some errands in Rainbow Lake. We did the ten cent tour arriving home just after lunch. With the weather clearing later in the afternoon, I gave Steve a hand to take care of some yard work.  This is one of the items he's responsible for being the only person currently living in the 4 man barracks facility. We mowed some tall ass grass, cleaned up the yard and stacked up a bunch of stuff for a bonfire later this week.

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29.   After an afternoon of hard work we relaxed in the fly-free gazebo with a few brew.

28.   The next day with the bikes tuned up and new parts installed, we suited up to hit the trails and find some of the infamous Alberta Mud. It took us all of about 10 minutes to completely bury both bikes on what's referred to as the "winter road".

27.   The mud here is extremely thick, slippery, bottomless and a heck of a lot of fun! We made a tangly sideways pull with the new WARN 2500lb winch which got Steve's bike out of the muskeg, then went back to free the Polaris. This bike only had stock tires so it was not buried nearly as bad!

26.   We spent most of the day out on the trails covering mile after mile, some were muddy, some were just great cruising trails. Most of the trails are very straight and quite smooth, I can't recall having seen one rock the whole day. Trail obstacles consist mainly of mud and fallen trees, the trails usually follow gas lines and/or survey lines all across the countryside.

25.   Unfortunately a fallen tree caused some grief for the detachment bike and we got a flat. The tire was not punctured but knocked off the bead, we tried our best to make a trailside repair but ended up limping the bike home.

24.   That evening we relaxed with a few brew and had an awesome bonfire to finish off the night.

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20.   The following morning we took the flat tire and rim (plus two tires & rims from the other detachment bike which had slow leaks) to Rainbow lake to have them repaired. Within an hour we were on our way home with tires fixed and ready to ride. We also picked up some additional supplies to place in Steve's ATV tool kit in case there was any more tire trouble.

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18.   This time we headed further away from the community out towards Assumption Hill, which is really the only hill in the whole area. Similar in height and grade to Long Harbor Hill on the TCH here in Newfoundland, this gravel hill is apparently brutally slippery when it rains. With very slick mud even a 4wd truck needs to make a run at the hill hitting it with at least 80kph to successfully make it to the top! Winter must be a real treat!

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16.   On this ride we again got to try the bikes in some of Alberta's best muskeg bog and even more of the slippery, sticky mud! Steve's Rincon did surprisingly well, after reading reviews that the Automatic 3 speed transmission doesn't work well in mud, I had zero complaints.

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14.   The ATV trails in this area were beautiful as they ascended and descended this Assumption hill across multiple places,  sometimes as a nail biting steep descent, sometimes with switchbacks.

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9.  We had a great ride with multiple stucks, but to my surprise there were even more tangly looking places where Steve's Mud Lite XTR equipped Rincon pulled through with ease!

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6.  That evening we relaxed after our long day on the bikes, had a great supper and crashed on the couch with a few brew.

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4.   The next day was my last one in Assumption. We cleaned up around the house, packed up and drove down to Grand Prairie where I would catch my flight home the next morning.

3.   We went to Mike's Steakhouse for supper and were not disappointed, we ended the evening with some shopping at Wholesale Sports (which in my opinion was even better then Cabela's) and a movie at Cineplex.

2.   My flight home started out well with the first leg bringing me to Edmonton, then began a slippery slope down hill from there. My flight was nearly two hours late leaving Edmonton due to a mechanical issue with the plane. Unfortunately this lined us up perfectly to intercept a brutal thunder storm in Toronto which closed the airport forcing us to land in London, ON. We were stuck in that terminal for 3-4 hours before finally being able to proceeded to Toronto. It was a super sketchy landing with thunder heads lighting up the night sky all around us and down draft turbulence dropping the plane out of the sky.

1.   The terminal was blocked with delayed travelers, we were stuck on the Tarmac for another hour before finally pulling into a open gate. With my connecting flight long gone, I received my new ticket for the following morning. I was please to have this straightened away before the lines got long, I then proceeded downstairs to pick up my luggage. With so many planes and delayed travelers it was a brutally long wait to get my bags. The finally arrived around 3am when I headed back upstairs to get a bite to eat.

By the time I got my bags re-checked and found the gate for my Saturday morning flight, I had been up over 30 hours. I didn't want to take a nap and miss boarding so I popped a couple Red Bulls and toughed it out. Once I was comfortably in my seat on the plane I crashed and cant even remember taking off. This last leg went well and I made it home OK.

All in all it was an excellent adventure. Steve and I have more in common now then we ever have especially with bikes, shooting and the outdoors, we both thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Whether we were visiting a cool museum we never previously knew existed, riding new trails on ATV, or cutting 3 foot high grass, it was all an excellent adventure and I can't wait for the next one!