On to the Great White North

Saturday morning, June 11, 0900 (day 17 of our trip) – mile zero of the Dempster Highway. The road is all gravel, and variously good condition, washboard, and occasionally potholed. After 71 kilometres we entered Tombstone Territorial Park, which has stark and rugged mountainous terrain. We visited the Ranger station here to have our Dempster Passport stamped (another contest – 8 stamps to Inuvik for a chance at a diamond or gold nugget prize). We also checked on the weather forecast (30% chance of rain, warming up to 18 Celsius – great!) and the road conditions (as good as it gets!). By 1000 we were 15 kilometres further along when a rather large grizzly bear walked across the road in front of us.

Tombstone Mountains

Grizzly

The terrain after that consisted of bare limestone slopes on a winding mountain road followed by barren-looking tundra, mostly above the treeline. Much of the mountain scenery was a bit more rugged than that further south as it had not been worn down by glaciation. A moose sauntered out on the road at one point, where we passed through a boreal forest area of black spruce trees all looking a bit scrubby and growing in various tilted directions (the trees are shifted around by the melting/freezing actions of the permafrost just below the root systems). Several places along the highway were straight, wide, and reinforced, with a windsock and orange pilons to mark the area as emergency airstrips. We saw in the distance a rock tor which had eroded into the shape of an elephant.

Elephant Rock

Moose on the Road

Eventually we climbed onto a great long hill, leaving the mountains for a plain (Eagle Plains). The plains had rolling countryside with lots of vegetation in the valleys and dwarf trees and tundra higher up. Occasional vistas of the Richardson Mountains to the northeast began to show. By the time we'd driven 369 kilometres we reached the halfway point to Inuvik, the Eagle Plains Hotel. It had been specifically built as a costly and standalone place for the halfway point, with fuel, accommodation (both camping and motel), and maintenance facilities. We filled up our fuel tanks here, and had a snack before continuing on. We only had to drive a further 30 kilometres to arrive at the Arctic Circle, at 66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude. Here we met a German fellow bicycling southbound having left Inuvik 5 days previously, and ambitiously planning to cycle to Argentina! For 3 of the 5 days, it had rained and snowed, and had proven to be a tough slog for this tough adventure. When I think of the distances and hardships he will face, I shake my head in wonder.

Finally at the Arctic Circle

Eagle Plains - halfway up the Dempster

We headed for a Yukon Territorial campground at Rock Creek, a further 40 kilometres north. Here was a bit of forested area with a nice stream passing by, and reasonably priced campsites ($12.00/night). As the earlier bear sighting was still fresh in our minds, we didn't pitch the tent, but fixed up the car for sleeping in the back. We had some darkening material on our windows which helped for a better sleep. A bit crowded, but it worked just fine for a night. We had a canned supper and a campfire, and hit the sack.

Rock River Campground on the Dempster

The next morning (Sunday) dawned (okay....actually it was impossible tell when dawn was with the daylight all night long) with a layer of cloud, so we fixed up a light breakfast and coffee and then headed out at 0800.

Continuing northbound again, for 20 kilometres, we crossed out of the Yukon and into the Northwest Territories, as we entered into the Richardson Mountains, a northern extension of the Canadian Rockies. As we passed out of these mountains and into a large plateau, we were a bit surprised to see a shack city with a stage in the middle, the site of the Midway Lake Music Festival .....who knew? A short drive further took us to a cable ferry across the Peel River, a free ferry as part of the road system. Then a short stop at a native Interpretive Centre (another stamp for the passport), and then on to Fort McPherson for a fuel stop. We were surprised to find the price of fuel here is less than it was in Dawson, or in fact in most other places since we'd left. So this will be our southbound fuel stop out of Inuvik. Being a Sunday, the hamlet was closed up, so we didn't see much else here, although we'd heard it to be a very friendly and nice place. Driving yet again for 75 kilometres took us to another ferry crossing. This one is a small motorize ferry which crosses the Mackenzie River at the confluence of the Arctic Red River and the Mackenzie.

Bare Limestone Mountains

Tors on Jagged Peaks

Approaching Ferry across Mackenzie River

Entering NWT

One of several panoramic views

A good crossing on a very big river, and we were again heading north, on our last leg for Inuvik. We were now paralleling the Mackenzie and entering the river delta. I'd expected a boggy treeless terrain, but it was very heavily treed with short scraggy spruce and tamarack, in a wetland area passing ponds and lakes. The Mackenzie is the longest river in Canada, flowing over 4200 kilometres, and it has a vast delta region. The road, however, was mostly straight and graded, and with a short lunch stop, we managed to finish our last leg, arriving at Inuvik at 1430 (Mountain Time – we'd had to change our watches ahead one hour crossing into NWT).

This gave us a chance to visit the Information Centre, set up camp in the campground in town (yes – we are camping again), and take a short walk around town. It's larger than most of the other places we've been to in the past week, with over 3400 people here. I'm presently typing this from our tent, with no wi-fi available, and rain outside (but it's warm at least). So with luck I'll get this posted on Monday morning from the library, and then get our Inuvik adventures filled in later on.