Fort McMurray

I had been dreading the four day trip to Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta ever since it appeared in my calendar. The small city is most famous for the massive oil sand developments but also has a reputation for bar fights, gun incidents, and highly carcinogenic air-pollution.

None of those things would be as worrisome as the fires.

A thousand meters above ground I caught the first whiff of the campfire smell that would cling to me all week, and as the plane broke through the cloud cover we could spot the plumes of smoke rising from two forest fires burning in Northern Alberta. Walking out of the airport 'terminal' in Fort McMurray the air hung heavy with smoke and tiny flakes of ash and the sun shone a dull orange in the afternoon sky. The fact that a forest fire at Slave Lake, only 400 kilometers away, had devastated the town several days before certainly had me concerned and when I turned on the radio in my rental (the only car in town that wasn't a pickup) I learnt there was a fire much closer that was classified as 'out of control.'

I made my way to my hotel, an older Super 8 that will hereafter be referred to as the Super 3 1/2, and was further put on edge by the note taped the the door warning of a bear sighting in the parking lot.

Seriously.. a bear!?! Oh my.

Work responsibilities kept me busy during the first couple of days, but as I commuted through the city I was staggered by the natural beauty of the area. I have now spent time north in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta and I am always blown away by the beauty of Canada''s north. Forests and lakes and mountains provide such an incredible backdrop to some dreary days on the road and although I'm always glad to head home I consider myself extremely lucky to see the Canadian landscapes that I do.

After work the third night in town I had arranged, through a mutual acquaintance, to meet H for drinks. H is an engineer at one of the companies developing the oil sands as well as an avid hiker who lives part time in the city and I had a great time picking her brain about things to do while I was in town. I woke early, and with my first bit of free time coinciding with a beautifully sunny (and relatively smoke and ash free) morning I had a several things I wanted to do.

I contemplated visiting a park not far outside the city thata colleague had told me about. The area sits on a tract of processed oil sand land that has been reclaimed and is now home to a transplanted herd of buffalo. This seemed such a massive counterbalance to the negative feelings I have about the destruction of the land by oil companies and I would've loved to see it but it would've taken too much time so I had settled on a visit to a local artists shop that H had recommended and several hours of exploring the 200 kms of trails that are found in the vast parks within the town. I ate a pretty crummy breakfast at the hotel and headed into the city center on a 'blind tour' in the car.


Fort McMurray is different than any other northern town I've visited. Because so many northern towns have a forestry based economy they mostly in decline and I see so many boarded up buildings and 'for sale' signs that I wonder how much longer the towns will exist. Here though I found myself in a northern city, with an oil based economy and it was booming. Construction was everywhere, with roads and housing in every stage of completion everywhere I looked. The extreme high cost of living was evidenced by one block of 'stacked housing', essentially 2-3 bedroom apartment complexes, were under construction and advertising for almost 1/2 million dollars. Higher end chain restaurants have all claimed their stake and new retail areas are in development.


On the way to the artists studio I passed a sign indicating a Heritage Park not far away and I decided to stop in quickly to see what was to be seen. Unfortunately the park was all fenced in and didnt open for another hour which was too bad because it looked like they had some neat artifacts of the early days in the existance of the town. I scrambled around the outskirts of the park, sneaking peaks and snapping pics through the chain link fence until a school bus pulled in out front and I got dirty looks from a woman I assumed was the teacher.


The gallery had just opened when I arrived I wandered around looking at the paintings by local talent depicting the area in and around Ft McMurray as well as some stunning recreations of the Aroura Borealis, a spectacle that I have long wished to see in all it's glory. The shop belongs Kelvin, alocal resident who has been painting all his life and he took the time to show me some of his work and talk about it even though it became obvious very quickly that I couldn't afford the price tag on even the smallest work. We had a bit of a chat and when I left telling him I was on my way for a hike he suggested a couple of locations that would be worth the climb.


With hundreds of km's of trails to choose from I picked one from a map I had picked up at the visitor center that came with several warnings sheets about bears and forest fires. The eight kilometer trail followed a broad grass and dirt access road for about 1500 meters before ducking into a forest of poplars (?) and white birch trees. Birds called from the branches loudly as I walked and the sounds of traffic faded quickly. I followed the trail for about an hour through the forest until I came out on a lookout with a great view of the Athabasca River. After a short rest I continued along the trail as it started to loop back along the river. There was evidence of bears and deer along the way but I saw neither as I walked along whistling in lieu of a bell. I had chosen this particular trail because it ended at a spot i thought might be interesting and I wasnt disappointed.

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Fort Mac has the largest outdoor excercise area in the world. Workout machines are placed every hundred meters or so along the trail and are free and available for anyone to use. The stations all use the persons on body weight and are safe for children as well as being accessible to the physically disabled. It was a really cool setup and made me think that this was a gym that I would actually use (during the summer)




Walking through forests gives me such a profound sense of peace and it had been many months since I had done so. Physically tired but mentally rejuvenated I got back to my car about an hour later and headed back to the hotel to get ready for work.


I woke up early but fresh the next day and got ready for the flight home. I took my time having breakfast (at least what the Super 3 1/2 hotel 'calls' breakfast) and still had time to take a scenic route back to the airport. I had anticipated getting some great shots of the Athabasca River but the smoke was thicker than it had been for days at there was nothing to take pictures of. Still taking my time I got to the airport and waited patiently for the absentee rental agent to arrive. Grabbing a coffee I headed to the check in counter and announced myself for the 10am flight to Toronto I was told there was no flight at that time.





Hmm.




I asked all the usual stupid questions that I sometimes have to ask. What day is it? Am I in the right town? The right airport? I pulled up my electronic itenerary and realized I had looked at the wrong flight and my intended flight had left 15 minutes ago. Right about the time I was waiting so patiently at the rental counter. Booked on a 2pm flight I now had 4 hours to kill in a very small airport. With my phone and laptop both low on juice I went and searched for an outlet.





Nine hours later I stepped off the plane in Toronto and breathed my first breath of clean air in days (how strange to think of Toronto air as being clean but at least it didn't have ash falling from the sky) and turned my phone back on. A stream of emails, texts and bbm messages flooded my phone and as I skimmed through them it became apparent that the senior staff in Fort McMurray had all resigned after my team had left.




Four days wasted in the Ft Mac and it sounds like someone may have to go back.. thankfully my schedule has already been filled up with trips to poular destinations like Prince Albert in northern BC, Orangeville and Timmins Ontario.

Exploring the Soo.. to the best of my ability.

I had flown into Sault Ste Marie three days ago and had essentially been confined to working in a dingy second rate mall during the day and drinking copious amounts of beer at the Water Tower Inn at night and with less than 24 hours until I flew again out I was itching to spend the little down time I had exploring a bit. I had visited the Soo a couple of times before but this time I was determined to find what, if any, culture existed there beyond the worn out chain restaurants and seen-better-day malls I had been exposed to so far.

I know there are amazing day trip possibilitites in the area, Northern Ont is always beautiful, and the land around the Sault no different and filled all sorts of outdoor adventure but I had work responsibilities later in the day and was confined to town. I decided to do what I never do- research. I spent a few minutes online and browsed through the phamphlets in the room and noticed the location of a few sites with the potential for interest. There is a 6.7 km Downtown Heritage Walk that I could follow and hit a lot of the 'hotspots' and would take me close to a local diner/restaurant/hole in the wall that an uncle had recommended for lunch.

I hopped in a borrowed car and cruised south through town on Great Northern Rd heading, as is so often the case while exploring, towards the water. St. Mary's River serves as the international boundary and I walked for about a kilometer along the boardwalk reading plaques and historical signs. I've found it's a good idea to stop and read plaques when in smaller towns and cities. If someone has taken the time to erect a historical monument there, it usually means something fairly important or interesting actually happened, not like in Toronto where we slap plaques and designations on every other building (but never the right ones it seems). I learnt a lot about the history of the area and the importance of the city and the river and the locks that were constructed to allow passage to Lake Superior.

Tributes and memorials to heros like Roberta Bondar, who made it all the way to space, explorers like Etienne Brule who made it all the way from France and local 'musher' Billy Orazietti, who did not make it all the way across the lake all added to the experience of the 'heritage' walk.

The boardwalk leads right into Clergue Park and my next destination, The Sault St Marie Art Gallery of Algoma. I wandered through the park stopping to check out the various sculptures that adorn the grounds, mostly welded steel sculpture that I'm sure takes skill and strength to create but doesn't generally do much for me in terms of 'artistic' accomplishment. Hoping that the art on the inside is better than that on the outside I head towards the gallery only to find it closed and undergoing renovations. Renovations I assume only beacause of the number of hardhatted overall wearing type dudes clustered around the front- I'm only assuming they were there for a different reason than I was.

The front doors of the gallery were locked with no posted hours which was a disappointment andeing quite finished with the outdoor 'art' I grabbed a coffee and headed back along the lake, making one last stop at the 'quarter for a minute' binoculars to peer across at the American side of the river. The US city of Sault Ste Marie, Michigan has had a strong military presence since the war of 1812 (when First Nation warriors kept taking British troops across the river to burn anything they could find that belonged to the Yankee's) and in my 60 second spyglass tour I could take in several historical forts and the American Soo river lock system that allows passage between Lake Michigan and the other great lakes.

I walked away feeling I had got my 25 cents worth.

Bypassing the 2km hike to the far end of the boardwalk I head back to the car and drive to the next stop of on the tour. The SSM Museum is supposed have a huge collection of Voyageur/coir-de-bois artifacts that I was looking forward to seeing but again I found the doors closed- strike two. The Bush Plane Museum was next and although I had now plan on going in I decided to walk over and see if it looked interesting. Guess what? Closed. Although it was wicked that they were advertising that they were open for brunch on Mothers Day.

Hey Mom. Its your special day! Lets go look at bushplanes!

Getting disillusioned by the city's attempts to lock me out I made one final attempt to expose myself to the culture and history of the Sault. The Ertimger-Clergue Historical Site is the last stop on the 'Downtown Heritage Walk'. A small grassy area close to the Bushplane Museum contains 2 historical buildings. Although the gate was closed (what the hell??) I climbed over a small fence and wandered around the property. The Ertaminger House and the Block House are pre- War of 1812 constructions, surviving that war to become two of the oldest stone structures north of of Toronto. The site also has an area dedicated to native plants and First Nation farming that showed how the early settlers first learnt to use the land and what crops to plant. It was pretty neat but only took about 4.5 minutes to see.

Now finished my tour of downtown Sault Ste Marie I had planned to the Fort Creek conservation area. For once I had brought appropriate shoes and regardless of the fact I was still nursing a sprained ankle and slightly broken foot I had been dying to get some sort of a hike in. Wandering around the city though had already left my foot throbbing and swollen so I decided to skip the hike and headed to get some lunch instead thinking although it was cool and grey it would be nicer sitting in the park to eat rather than going back to the hotel. The restaurant that I was looking for had, in fact, gone out of business a few months back and much to my chagrin I ended up settling for some fairly suspect sushi.

Slighty bummed out by not getting into either the Art Gallery or the Musuem I headed back to the hotel. Thinking I knew where I was going I didn't bother turning on the gps and ended up taking the wrong road back. I decided to keep going for a bit, not in any rush and before long a passed a little strip mall with a roadside sign advertising used vinyl and books. Being a sucker for both I did a quick u-turn and headed in. 'The Rad Zone' was a pretty cool shop, a huge selection of used vinyl that I flipped through withought finding either of the vinyl gems that I'm currently on the hunt for (BB King 'Live in Cook County Jail' and the self titled first Stone Roses LP). They had a huge selection of top 4o stuff from the 70's and 80's, as well as some early punk rawk/thrash stuff that was in pretty crappy condition so I didn't bite on anything.

A used book store called 'Hole in the Wall' was through an open doorway in the back of the record store and I headed back to browse. The bookstore was a maze of shelves and boxes and stacks of books. History, philosophy and literature sections far outspaced those shelves reserved for pulp fiction and I found an impressive 'collectable' section that had some very old and early edition classics. The disorder made it hard to browse but I was quickly taken by the quality of the selection that I hadn't expected in a used bookstore thorugh a door in the the back of a used record store in a faded strip mall on a backroad in Sault Ste Marie.

I stopped when the guy behind the counter said hello and I remarked on how glad I was that I stopped. He asked if I had found anything and I told his I was disappointed that I hadn't but that I thought it was a really great shop. We talked for a few minutes as he unpacked boxes of used books. Just as I'm about to leave he puts a stack of soft covers on the counter and on the top is the jewel...

A copy of Neal Cassidy's 'The First Third' stares up at me. I've been searching for this book all over Toronto for months and grab it off the counter quickly. Neal Cassidy could safely be called the first member of the beat generation. He's the hero of Kerouac's classic beat novel 'On the Road' (my favourite book) and became the busdriver for early Hippie culture. 'The First Third' is his autobiography essentially and I've been dying to read it. I agree $6 is a fair price and I'm out the door knowing he could've charged five times that much and still be underpricing the book.

The rest of my team were all scattering across the country so the rest of my day would be consumed with work. I ended the trip with a evening in a loud blues bar at the hotel where the band were forced to compete with the Stanley Cup playoffs on the big screen for the attention of the audience. I had a great time sharing road stories at the bar with a guy from Ottawa who travels for an naturla gas company. I mentioned I was off to Fort McMurray in a few weeks and his first comment was that I should get in and out of Fort Mac as quickly as I can. He said it's a hard working, very hard drinking town with Roadhouse style barfights and Fightclub type attitudes.

My northern Ontario trips are coming to end and I'll soon be being getting my first look at the North Alberta. I'm already scared.