This morning we leave with best weather Dawson City, YT and trace our way back on the Klondike Hwy to the take off for Hwy-5 or better known as the Dempster Hwy. This 735 km (457 miles) gravel road leads to Inuvik, NWT and provides access to the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, another 145 km (90 miles). First we need to stop at the beginning of the Dempster photo documenting the official start of this road.
Start of the Dempster Highway
The road condition is surprisingly good, small gravel, well compacted and a normal road width. We see on our way to Tombstone, YT a helicopter with a water bucket attached, the first indication that wildfires are around or reservoirs getting filled.
Tombstone Territorial Park, YT Information Center
Ogilvie Mountains, YT
Ogilvie River and Ogilvie Ridge
From here comes the first long stretch to Eagle Plains, YT which we reach late afternoon. We fill up with gas (get topped up whenever you can) and continue as there is plenty of daylight left. But we only make a couple of miles down the road before the dashboard informs us of "low tire pressure rear left". And sure enough, we got a puncture. We unload the car, as the spare tire is underneath all the camping gear and boxes to get the "emergency" half size spare tire. We change the tire in the dust, get the flat one somehow into the car, re-shuffle our gear to have room for the important ones, us, and drive back to Eagle Plains. The repair shop is already closed for the day and so we are set on our camp site.
What can I say, ... the culprit below (found inside of the tire)
After a good night sleep (as always in the fresh, crisp air) I'm one of the first at the work shop with my flat tire. The guy there is very helpful and with about 6 to 12 repairs a day he is done in no time. A little hick-up on the installation as my my carjack doesn't lift the car high enough on the gravel ground for the bigger size tire to get on, but we overcome this with one of the shop's lifts, and the tire is back on. Elke and I repack the car and try to bring some order back into our mess, but we are only halfway successful.
Anyway, late morning we can continue our journey North, the day's destination is Inuvik, NWT. Shortly after Eagle Plains we cross the Arctic Circle, 66°33' with us making the obligatory picture, and then head to the Yukon - Northwestern Territory boarder.
From here it goes through Tundra and every so often changing forests and meadows to the Peel River crossing. We see some wildfires developing to the West, one ribbon and a handful of individual patches. We hope they don't develop into something bigger and block our way back.
Wildfires to the West, smoke blowing to the East
A little further along the way we see a Grizzly bear feeding on gras and roots of the lush meadow, completely ignorant to the cars stopping to watch him. He is an impressive size, and we watch him until he disappears in the high shrubs and gras.
Mister Grizzly
Now it's time to catch the ferry to Fort McPherson, NWT. This ferry operates on an as needed base and has no fixed schedule, and we don't have to wait too long before boarding for the short ride across the river. Also around Fort McPherson wildfires develop to the East and West, and we hope they don't spread to block our way.
Ferry at Fort McPherson, NWT crossing the Peel River
Fort McPherson, NWT
Our idea of having lunch in Fort McPherson vanishes quickly into thin air as the restaurant is a gas station shop with cold drinks and chips and candies, but no sandwiches or else. So a roadside stop for heating some water for a Chinese noodle soup has to do. Elke remains in the car as the mosquitoes, wasps, and black flies are at constant attack and even our South Africa proven 'Peaceful Sleep' repellent does little to keep them away. We manage a lunch and continue to the next river crossing at Tsiigehtchic, NWT, crossing the mighty Mckenzie River.
Ferry at Tsiigehtchic, NWT crossing the Mckenzie River
From here we follow a little the canyon it has cut until we reach the Tundra with its hundreds of little or bigger lakes, creeks. Soon we reach the former end point of the gravel road and Dempster Highway in Inuvik, NWT early evening and our first order is to fill up with gas again. Then we criss-cross a little this town of a population of about 3,000 people, mainly to look for a campsite, and secondly for a place for some dinner. This turns our to be more difficult than we thought as it is Sunday for ones, and secondly there are only three (!) restaurants in town. One is closed (looks for good?) so the choice is not difficult and we end up at 'Alestine's', a place we can only recommend. Small menu, but good, and a place one can only love.
Inuvik, NWT
Sculpture at the Inuvik Information Center
Alestine's Restaurant, Inuvik, NWT (the school bus is the kitchen)
Even with the time change of 1 hour ahead we encountered when crossing into NWT, there is still plenty of time and daylight left to make our way to the Polar Ocean i.e. to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, the last town before plunging into the Beaufort Sea. As the main road (Dempster Hwy) in Inuvik is a tar road (only god knows why they did this), changing onto Hwy-10 changes it to a deep gravel road. Even though nicely wide, one feels on it like ice skating, constantly steering left to right and opposite, and when there is a section nicely hardened, then it is a washboard of the finest and one must reduce speed considerably. This stretch of 90 miles is exhausting, but the landscape around us compensates for it.
Once again many lakes, Tundra, and Pingos all around us, and this with the sun standing low it creates a welcoming warmth to the colours of our surrounding. We pass manyso called 'Pingos'. They are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills, 3-70 meter high and 30-1,000 meter in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and do grow. They are formed when shallow lakes drain and the thawed soil underneath freezes from all sides. The moisture in the thawed permafrost expands as it freezes again, creating the dome-shaped mounds of soil with a solid ice core we see.
Pingos on the way to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT
We arrive shortly before 11pm in Tuktoyaktuk, population about 1,000 people, and the first impression is that of a typical oil exploration town, where corporate interests do not have the people living there in mind, which means when the business is done, buildings are left vacant and equipment is just left and dumped in the landscape for the tooth of time to eat it away. So is the surrounding of the town shaped by dozens of dumping sites, abandoned buildings, rusting tanks, pipes, and machinery. And that is also reflected at the First Nation People's homes, same behavior of just keeping the none functional stuff stacked out on the property. Difficult to understand how that can be brought in unison with their believes and traditions and their efforts elsewhere to live respectful and in harmony with their surroundings i.e. nature.
Tuktoyaktuk, NWT
Population about 1,000, ....
... not very much around than fishing, hunting, and oil industry
Anyways, this is another debate, but for today we will have a G&T, sit down at the ocean front and look at the midnight sun. We are tired and exhausted after a long day, but happy to have reached this point. We open the rooftop tent and fall fast asleep.
Midnight sun at the northernmost drivable point in Canada
We sleep a few hours during which the temperatures drop significantly from almost 80°F to about 50°F and lower, and a gusty wind has developed. It's 5:30am and the sun has just shifted from West to East at about the same height over the horizon as when we went to sleep. It's amazing experiencing the constant daylight, but it brings our bio-rhythm totally out of synch. After some coffee to get the body going, we break camp and drive the short distance to the northernmost point to dip our feet into the Arctic Ocean. The fun is short lived as the mosquitos and black flies sense the early breakfast, and we return to the car and head South again. We are the only ones on the road and take our time soaking in the landscape bathed in the early morning sun.
Morning at the Arctic Ocean
Any direction is a long way
We once again make a quick stop in Inuvik to top up our gas tank, and then went on a lookout for breakfast. But we have no luck, and all the places are still closed (9:00am already), even at the airport. So we skip breakfast, check and balance the tire pressures as the TPSM gave a warning again, and make our way to the first ferry transfer. Along the way in the Tundra Elke discovers a Caribou, and we stop and watch it for awhile. It is very easy spooked, so we stay stationary and let it come to us. It is about two years old and very quick on the moves. Very soon it crosses the road and disappears in the thicker bushes.
After crossing the Mckenzie river we stop to help a stranded biker. He has intermittent ignition only and suspects the batterie contacts. I help him and after the repair stay behind him to see if we were successful. But not a mile further he stops again, and we take the bike apart again. After another attempt with cleaning all contacts and the other in the book tricks, he takes off again. No luck again, and we are only about 8 miles away from Fort McPherson. So we change the battery (he got a spare with him!) and once again I stay behind him, just in case. But no need this time, and before we come to the ferry he is gone already to the other side. We see the sky getting more and more hazy as we come further South, and see that the wildfires around Fort McPerson, NWT have crept closer to the highway, but are still a good distance out. This is not the case when we reach the Arctic Circle, the fires seen the day before in the distance have now reached the highway and torched down all the trees to the West. The smoke is still in the air, some places are still smoldering as we pass along.
Smoke in the mountains, above near Forth McPherson NWT, below near Eagle Plains, YT
We were lucky and just missed the blazing flames by a hour or so thanks to helping a stranded biker. Reaching Eagle Plains, YT we learn that the Dempster Hwy going North is closed since early afternoon, and likewise going South from Fort McPherson, and only traffic in this section already was allowed to pass through to leave the area. Since we have lost a lot of time today and had a long drive yesterday, we decide to stay another night at Eagle Plains and make the last section to Dawson City, YT tomorrow.
Late last evening and during the night we have had some good rain and the Dempster going North is open again this morning. We take it easy, have a good breakfast at the Eagle Plains Motel, and then hit the road South to Dawson City, YT. The sky is still hazy and full with rain loaded clouds which release a drizzle or more from time to time. There is not much to see as we hoped for when we came up because of the fires smoke and haze, but of that what we see it is still an impressive landscape. In the Tombstone Territorial Park we look for the Tombstone mountain and Mount Monolith as I had seen a glimpse of them on the way North, thinking coming South I would get a better view of them then. But not today, they were both hidden in the haze and smoke. Not my day.
Ogilvie Mountains, YT
Ogilvie River and Bridge
Tombstone Territorial Park, YT in haze
There is Tombstone Mountain
That's Tombstone Mountain, northeast aspect and Mount Monolith, west aspect
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
With more rain we make the last miles down the Dempster Hwy until we hit the Klondike Hwy and drive into Dawson City. First stop is a wash station to clean the car of most of the dirt, stones, and any other mud we collected on the 1094 miles.
A dirty car
A great trip, definitely worth the pain, exhaustion and rattling and shaking on a road not always easy to drive, but worth for the nature you drive in, the sights and smells, the view points, the shear never ending wilderness. And of course the bragging rights to say "I drove the Dempster Highway".
"I have always befriended animals and have said many a good word for them. Even to the least-loved mosquitoes I gave many a meal, and told them to go in peace." - John Muir in 'John of the Mountains'
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