Continuing along what NWT tourism calls ‘the waterfalls trail’, we hiked to Evelyn Falls.

After a long drive, we found a great campsite at a baseball park in Fort Liard. Luckily, we arrived just in time to watch a local game. We were then invited to a drum dance at the Kaska First Nations pavilion to participate in the National Aboriginal Peoples Day celebrations.

We had a wonderful evening filled with drumming, dancing, and pole climbing. There was even a $100 prize for whoever could climb to the top of the pole, but no one succeeded.

The dance troupe consisted of a mother and her sons. The eldest son shared the stories behind the dances, and his passion was evident in his dancing, singing, and attempt to climb the pole (he climbed the farthest).
I was impressed to see younger people encourage anyone who seemed intoxicated to leave the pavilion, and even more impressed that everyone complied without complaint.

As I write this, we are traveling north on the Alaska Highway to escape the smoke from the wildfires that started the night before. Fort Nelson is still recovering from an evacuation just last month.