The Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk NWT - We did it!!

 We had heard the trip from Whitehorse to Dawson City should be pretty smooth travelling except for some gravel sections of the highway and some potholes. We were advised to take our time and watch out for the orange flags and signage indicating bumps and potholes. We made out pretty well, only hitting one big pothole that jarred us pretty badly. Mark had pressure sensors on all the tires, and we held our breath as he checked the readings. Everything was stable. We knew this trip might take out a tire or two. We had two spares for the truck and two for the trailer. 

Based on conversations and the experiences of other travellers, we decided to leave our trailer behind in Dawson City and make the way up the Dempster Highway with just the truck and our two spare tires, of course! We stopped into the Napa Auto Parts store prior to leaving and got the name of the tow truck guy, just in case we ran into any trouble. 

Here we go!!

We chatted with a couple that had come back yesterday, and they said it was rough going. It had rained, and the road was a mess. At times, they were travelling 20 km/hour. They also said that we would need a car wash when we got back, and they had paid $45.00 to get the caked-on, cement-like mud off the undercarriage. Oh boy… We also met a couple that had posted on Facebook about their experience. They broke their axle on their trailer and paid $6000 to have their trailer repaired and towed. Mark was questioning whether we should even go at all, but I, the adventurer and the one who has no idea about vehicle repairs and maintenance, thought differently. We were only going to drive this once, so we should try to make it to the Arctic Ocean! So we packed lots of emergency supplies, clothing, and food, leaving our trailer behind and headed off!

Bluey1 before the Dempster

We stopped to take a picture of the signpost and got a before picture of the truck… it was already pretty muddy from the trip from Whitehorse, we could only imagine what we would look like in four days! At the junction to the Dempster, we saw this vehicle!

One of the fellows we met at Liard said, “Just because you strap a spare tire and a gas can on the roof does not mean you are a Landrover!” Here we were questioning whether we should go in the truck, and these young fellows were heading out in a Mitsubishi…yikes! A ways up the highway, they sped past us. Mark said, Oh great, now we are going to have to stop and help them if they break down. 

It took us approximately 7 hours to reach Eagle Plains and the boys in the Mitsubishi arrived shortly after us. We stopped at Tombstomb for a short hike and to check out the visitor centre. We were anxious to get on the road, but we plan to try and do a few more hikes there on our return. It was quite beautiful. Other than that one stop, it was white-knuckled driving for Mark. We did get to see a wolf on the road and that was pretty cool. We saw moose tracks, too, but still no moose. 

There was lots of equipment on the road, it seemed to be under a constant state of construction.

We saw a wolf, we caputured a photo before he/she disappeared into the shrubs.

Eagle Plains had only one stop. It was a combination of a motel, campground, restaurant, lounge, gift shop and tourist information station, and it looked like it had been plucked right out of the 60’s. Everything was vintage, but it was dry and warm. We ate in the restaurant and, surprisingly, it was quite busy with tourists and a few truckers, but it certainly wasn’t earning any Michelin stars. My poutine consisted of fries, gravy and shaved marble cheese; however, the hamburger was delicious. Mark asked if I was expecting Quebec cheese curds… I guess I should have gone with plain fries. 

The Dempster Duster Highway! This was the truck bed when we arrived at Eagle Plains, and it had a Tonnaeu cover!

We woke up at 2:15 am to venture out to see the Northern Lights. We drove away from the hotel about 10 km and were rewarded with a great show. We took lots of pictures and may try to venture out again if the forecast looks good. 

We arrived in Inuvik after another 6-7-hour drive. We didn’t see any wildlife today, but we did make two ferry crossings. The road was a mix of smooth, washboard, freshly graded, wet and super dusty. All of the wet cement-like mud has now been covered in a layer of dry dust. We stayed in the Arctic Chalets, which were cute little cabins with a kitchenette. We were pleased that we had brought our own food, as after meandering around the North Mart, which kind of looked like a Walmart, we noticed the chicken breast was $42.00, a 4L gallon of milk was $18.38, and a small bag of macaroni was $9.99. It reminded us of Hawaii, without the beaches, glory and smell of Plumeria (Frangipani) in the air. We get to meet the husky pack and cuddle the 2-month old puppies, they were adorable, but definitely didn’t smell like flowers.

We never did have to help out the young kids we met from Hong Kong in the Mitsubishi; instead, they helped us to take some photos at the Arctic Circle landmark. We saw them again in Inuvik, but we were not staying at the same hotel so didn’t get to chat with then about their drive. I am sure we will see them again in Tuk.

WalmartNorthmart

Cool licence plates here!

A local artist has painted some of the satelites.

A hike at the Arctic Chalets

The church in Inuvik, known as the Igloo Church.

We explored Inuvik some more before we got on the road to Tuk today. We visited the welcome centre and the community gardens. We met Juan from Snowy Prints, who made us up some T-shirts with Indigenous artwork and gave us lots of tips about South America, as he was from Uruguay. It was a lot of the same type of road we had travelled on the past couple of days up to Tuk. The vegetation and geography changed the further north we drove, the rolling hills and mountains flattened out, and the trees got shorter and shorter until they were nonexistent. What dotted the horizon were snowmobiles and ATVs. They were just parked along the road, in fields; they looked like they had been abandoned, but I think that is just where they were stored. Many had sleds attached to them, some covered up to protect them from the elements, others not. 

When we arrived at the Arctic Ocean sign, we met a young man from Japan who had bicycled from Whitehorse. Yes! You read that correctly, he had bicycled! Here we were in Bluey1, our truck, and he had been cycling the last three weeks. What an accomplishment. We couldn’t talk him into swimming in the Arctic Ocean with us, but we did convince another traveller who was on his way out, who felt inspired. After our polar plunge, we headed to Grandma’s kitchen for some traditional food. We had caribou stew, beluga whale muktuk, dried fish, banak and fried white fish. We visited the traditional sod house and climbed a pingo before heading back to Inuvik. 

Mission accomplished! We made it to Tuktoyaktuk and swam in the Arctic Ocean. We still haven’t seen a moose or an arctic fox, but we have to make it all the way back to Whitehorse. We did see some white and brown chicken-like birds along the highway that called back to us; it was hilarious. After some research, I learned that they were Willo Ptarmigans.