Don't Throw Your Life Away - Battling Marine Debris from Alaska to Panama

[Voyager3]

So for me to say that Alberta is also very pretty would mean that I'm in Alberta. And if I did say that, it would mean that you all need to be caught up again. So we'll pick up at the tail end of this waterfall hike. I really would like to grab somewhere with wifi for the amount of pictures I would like to put up, but I won't get it all done tonight anyway. I sometimes use my phone as a hotspot for these.

Anyway, so there are big problems to address, but maybe we can just touch on the easy ones. Individuals. Now, I've noticed some things. There must be a few different kinds of nature-walk...patrons? Nature-walkers.

There are those who are just aloof, and don't realize they accidentally dropped their tissues.

There are those who probably mean well, and generally do come back and grab that bag of poop they hung in a tree. The thing is, they forget. Hanging it in a tree is fine if you don't forget. If you do, it hangs at face level for others to find.

There are of course smokers who almost never do anything else with their butts than just flick them wherever they are when they're done.

There are the nefarious types who when they're done with their pre-packaged shots toss them knowingly off to the side because they can't be bothered to take care of anything, why should they?

And the ones I have tried the hardest to understand over many years of traveling a lot and picking up after people....the ones who when they are done with their drink, will go out of their way to try and hide it. Under a rock like here, in a bush like on my last report coming back into the Oregon badlands. In this case it's Mike's Hard again, so we can make fun of them again like I've seen on a couple of my other posts here and on FB or Instagram, but it could be anything. The question is why? Mind you, this is a short trail, a little over a kilometer with trash and recycling receptacles at the parking lot. This was found about halfway. It's certainly less difficult to carry an empty can back a few hundred meters (listen to me, eh?) than a full one. I once was at a lookout at Joshua Tree and saw cans chucked over the railing there, so I went to go get them. Besides the obvious ones, I found a crushed beer can wedged in some rocks out of sight from above. I don't know if they finished up top and walked down to hide it, or walked down to drink it, and rather than carry it back up decided to hide it. But again, there were bins mere yards (there we go, I'm still American) behind where the view was.

And of course there are the indifferent and see this and don't help. It could be they can't be bothered, think the responsibility shouldn't fall to them, don't want to bend over, don't have something to carry it in, see it and think the people who take care of the trail will find it......we've all been there at some point. Even now on this trip I sometimes walk by a piece like the first one in the leaves and have to actively remember that "yes, even that piece....stop, you're right here. No one else will." And then I carry on.

These things are all pretty easily fixed. We don't have to change much, we don't have to argue about what we should ban next. I saw 4 other people on the way back. What if they all just picked up one? Or two?

If we want these places to stay nice, we have to work a little harder at it.





Each piece on its own maybe isn't that annoying or an eyesore, well the poop hanging at eye level was. They might not even be easy to find like the drink can. But altogether it's ugly. I don't like ugly.



And controversial they may be for some reason, things like this might just help bring about a shift in the collective use and the way we think about certain parts of it. Also, go to the NWT Brewing Company. Not just for this, but the food and beer are excellent. Just remember, it's awfully far north to ship beer ingredients, so draft beers are like 8 bucks up here.



SEE!!!! This is why we want to try.



They really are everywhere.

I was now heading south. In a matter of a day or so the it got very unusually cold with some weather moving in, and I wanted to make some progress down and get ready to go east. I didn't see any big snow, but the flurries were fun. Also being able to stop just about anywhere anytime at any angle because there's no one out here.



And when I had to cross the stupid (lovely) Mackenzie River, rather than risk getting stuck, I decided to just jump it. Here you can see me making sure my line is right, which I didn't do last time. Come to Overland Expo East 2018 and learn about walking a new line This kicker should be enough....



Made it!!! Thanks Bilstein for the soft landing.



Also there's a bridge if you want to take the easy way.

And into the night. Unfortunately the sunset didn't photograph quite as highlighter pink as it really was, but it's suitably moody.



Wow, I think I managed to stand at exactly the same front quarter angle as before. Awfully close, I'm checking the driver's side antenna against the rear of the Maxtrax. Anyway.....

 

[Voyager3]

Well, I missed the 3's, but I did catch this, which is pretty cool I guess



But not as cool as finding one of the I believe 6 C-46's still actively flying. I mentioned the weather, this was still fairly early i the morning and it was already a little below freezing, and then I went and stood behind a big old Pratt & Whitney radial and the wind chill was something else. But the sound and the smell of an old radial was too alluring. I might only have been standing behind one of them at idle, but it's still a 2000hp engine with a big ol' propeller. Lovely.



As some of you may remember I spent a little time in the EMS world as a Firefighter/EMR. I found this interesting in one of the bathrooms of a campground up at Hay River. I believe that one of the things we should be doing more of is focusing on pragmatic harm reduction.



Also plastic reduction



Dog's don't understand why humans throw so much junk where they want to play, this just took a few minutes.



Yo dawg, we heard you like sticks



This place had so many of his favorite things. Sticks, water, and tall grass to bounce around in.

 

[Voyager3]

I've shared this a couple times on FB because it's funny



It's time to start heading south. We'll say goodbye to the Northwest Territories with a couple more waterfalls. The big one is Alexandra and has great access and views. Just look at the canyon ahead of it and imagine how much time it has taken to carve that out backwards.







The other is Louise Falls, which does not have as good access and views, but it's funky.



Now check this out. I mentioned you can stop however you like on these roads for pictures because there isn't any other traffic. You can also chase down flying plastic bags and yes, catch them on your antenna. Next step, just roll down the window and grab it. See, cleaning up the environment is easy and can be tons of fun.



But yes, it has been chilly.



This is how I wake up sometimes.



But some nights it's worth it. There's no way the blurry mess I got on my phone will do the aurora justice, but after many days of strong lights but heavy clouds, I finally caught a break. Clear night in High Level Alberta, and the sky was a seething sea of green. I drove out of the town's meager lights and I was transported beneath some cinematic sea, the kind of green that pirates sail on surrounded by some freshly released ancient curse. I was spellbound. Some swirls were folded on themselves 3 or 4 times like a big St. Patrick's day cinnamon bun, if there is such a thing. Easily half the total sky was dancing brightly and the middle third to the north was boiling. A curtain hanging from far above, the bottom of an iridescent high altitude rendition sunset pink, rippling frantically from left to right as if blown by a cosmic scale C-46. Best I've ever seen. I wish you could have been there.

I did a little more exploring to find somewhere quiet to watch if anything else would happen, but that storm quieted down, and all I found was frozen mud. The act of steering was pretty unrelated to the direction of travel, so rather than have some long story about how I ended up in a 3 foot ditch at midnight, I retreated and slept at a proper roadside pulloff.

Now that we're entering Alberta, the old ebb and flow of natural beauty and local history was about to throw me some of the latter, and I'll need some more time later to gather what I want to share. There are some cool small town museums around here in Canada's breadbasket.

 

[Voyager3]

This next part is a lesson in why we must go into small town visitor centers and ask what there is to do in the area. Manning, Alberta might be small, it might not ever be on your travel plans, but they mentioned they had a little local museum. The Battle River Pioneer Museum. Sounds good.

"What kind of museum?" I asked.

His face contorted slightly as he searched for how to describe it.

So I offered, "Just like a heritage museum?"

"Yes."

What he meant to say was there was no other way to describe it really than an enormous collection of literally anything people living in the area had around their house or farm for the last century and a half and wanted to donate to make sure it was preserved. So rather than something easy to pin down like an auto museum, or a display on a particularly newsworthy local event, I find a lady at the counter who thanks me for coming, tells me where to start and that she'll go back to make sure the lights are on in the rear section. Intriguing.

The front starts off normal enough. Trinkets, buttons, bibles, instruments and posters. A small snapshot into daily life in Manning over the years.















And then I went around the corner past the front counter and started to find more collections, not just individual pieces. Timepieces, model tractors, and more, and it's getting more interesting by the minute. They're all named according to who donated what, from the smallest to the biggest pieces. These are people's lives, not just artifacts. Actually, it fits rather nicely into the Don't Throw Your Life Away theme. This is a look-back into the era before the throwaway life became all the rage.



Did anyone here watch their dads and granddads working the fields in their tractors and want a tractor of their very own?



Or how about this amazing wooden necklace carved from one piece of wood with no joints or seams?

 

[Voyager3]

And so we continue. Local sports trophies, natural rocks, rocks carved into tools, VHS tapes of old good movies, books, photo albums, lighters, shoes, guns, see what I'm getting at here? And we haven't even made a move for the door to the back yet.

















And maybe this view from the opposite side of the door will be a decent perspective of what was next. So what kind of museum was it? Well besides this stuff, there were tools, a couple cars, sewing machines, mixers, toys, clothes, war medals, barbed wire, trunks, furniture, uniforms, a bee hive or two, bicycle wheel aligners, lawn mowers, desks, bathtubs, theater seats, oil cans, wood stoves, typewriters and calculators, an x-ray machine, an incubator, trains, lights, light switches, bullets, radios, stuffed game animals, wood planers, household bottles, traps, eye glasses, radios, TV's, computers.........anything someone thought was cool and worth saving was fair game and is here, preserved.

 

[Voyager3]

How many kinds of barbed wire did you think there were?



View attachment 472790



Yep, even Bobby Harbourne's old baseball uniform.







Even an albino moose, shot locally in '88 I think it was.

 

[Voyager3]

10 points to whoever can guess what this is?

 

[Voyager3]

You all like pictures right?







Anyone here remember watching or listening to things like these? Ok, I'm done with inside. Then the lady said, and if you want there are a couple buildings outside that are open also. Wonderful.

So you all know I like nature yes? But I'm also a fan of machines with patina. I've had many cars with let's say, not quite all their paint. Where else but old farm equipment are you going to find colors and textures like these?















So what's in that building anyway?

 

[Voyager3]

Of course. Sleighs, lathes, snowmobiles, chainsaws....it just keeps going.











Alright, it's over right? No. There are tractors in more buildings and lined up on the property behind. More machinery coming. A well oiled smell, not quite as good as a barn full of fire engines, but tractor people may dispute.

 

[Voyager3]

Phew. And this wasn't even the only museum I went to today. But honestly, I know that was a lot, but places like these don't show up on things like trip advisor. And yet, here they are. Well, this one is closed as of today 9/15. So you missed it this season. I mean this though, don't rush, go find these hidden treasure troves. They're fun.

 

[dwh]

Kerosene engine?

 

[CaptainChaos]

I find myself looking forward to your updates. Absolutely awesome post! Give Jenson a nuzzle for me!

 

[Voyager3]

Kerosene engine?

Which one?

I find myself looking forward to your updates. Absolutely awesome post! Give Jenson a nuzzle for me!

Good I'm glad! I'll do more then, and I will. I was thinking about giving him one anyway.

 

[Voyager3]

I will spare you a large pic dump from the second museum because I simply didn't take as many. I spent so much of my time talking with the people there about Canada. But I will share some Canadian history tidbits. For example, did you know that over 600,000 Canadian men and women served in World War 1? That's a sizable percent of the 8 million total population at the time. This included about 4,000 Natives, or about 1/3 of the eligible native population. Did you also know that Canada had internment camps for "enemy aliens", Canadians born outside the country? Back then Canada was automatically at war when Britain declared as per legal obligations, but Canada decided how much and made important contributions to some of the war's biggest battles like Amiens and thee Somme.

When it comes to exploration, back in the states we learn about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark exploring the continent to the Pacific Ocean, but I have to come up here to learn that Alexander Mackenzie (for whom that river I was stuck in was named) reached the Pacific 13 years prior, and further north. He even accidentally went to the Arctic following that river that he thought led to the Cook inlet in Alaska due in part to a faulty map drawn up by a man named Peter Pond. Oh well, 3 months up and 3 months back isn't that long of a detour.



Maybe I should change my handle to Voyageur3, but of course mine is an homage to the Voyager probes launched in '77 to explore the outer planets.











I suppose I should probably tell you this is Peace River, Alberta. Originally named Peace River Crossing, but changed because it didn't fit on a postage mark. OH, that reminds me, I didn't post much from Chicken, Alaska, but their name has postage roots as well. They originally wanted to call themselves Ptarmigan because they had plenty of those around, but no one knew how to spell it, so rather than embarrass themselves, they changed it to Chicken. Anyway, the whole area is called Peace Country because though the Cree and Beaver fought over the area often, they eventually sorted it out over a peace pipe.





Pretty ain't it? Before we leave Peace River, I have a food tip. Matt's Pizza & Grill has dollar slices for lunch on weekdays. They do now at least, maybe they will when you come through also. If they do, snag a good deal. I had 3 to start, and 2 to wash those ones down. Surprisingly good AND cheap.

 

[Voyager3]

We're off to find a ferry. One of those free local things that have been around for decades slipping back and forth between banks of small swift rivers at funny angles carrying a couple cars at a time. This one is called the Shaftesbury Ferry.











And I finally found a world's biggest something. This town of Falher at its peak produced over 10 million pounds of honey a year. All from this one bee! Just kidding, this isn't a real bee.



I also took a walk around the Kimiwan bird walk in McLennan.





This guy didn't deserve to sit and die stuck in a web for an already dead spider, so he was set free.





I hope you enjoyed all this. I now have a couple days to move slowly, get this done, some other writing, maybe read some, and pick up my mom in Edmonton on Monday. She's going to be accompanying me across Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It'll be nice to have some family around. Pretty soon I'll have to post up some of my favorite spots, tips, things I've learned in the first 10,000 miles of this thing, which is coming up quickly.