From Moncton to Fort McMurray and a northern lights escapade in Fort McKay

This marks the beginning of my journey out West to northern Alberta, not unlike during a 19th century gold rush. The familiar landscapes of New Brunswick followed me for an endless four hours as I made my way towards Montréal.

This is a reprise of a 2011 photograph I took when I was on my pan-Canadian road trip. I would then end up in Fort McMurray for a few days, thinking I would never come back. Funny how things work out!

Almost the entire journey West was hindered by what I affectionately call the white wall of death. The following depictions of the white wall of death in Québec are not nearly as scary as the one I would encounter later in northern North Dakota and southern Saskatchewan. Had I been able to take a photo then, it would have been completely impossible to make out any of it. I spent a lot of time (nervously) driving 20 kmph where the speed limit was as high as 120 kmph.

My first encounter with Fort McKay was not spectacularly interesting- it is a very small place, and I was rather nervous to get in trouble with the natives here in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, I was fortunate to find this really nice spot by the Athabascan river from which to capture the northern lights.

My new filipino friend Ghanie and I tried to take a 30 second exposure self portrait:

And on the way back south to Fort McMurray, here’s the natural habitat of angry environmentalists.