Originally, I had wanted to hit The Mighty Dempster Highway which connects Dawson City, YT to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT and the Arctic Ocean via 1,000 miles of dirt and gravel road on my first trip north to Alaska but I didn’t have time. I did make it for Dust to Dawson, the gathering of adventure motorcycle riders in Dawson City, YT though! I didn’t even stay to check out the Tombstone Territorial Park before leaving Dawson and heading off to my adventures in Alaska. So much more left to see in Northwestern Canada.
Joining up with Wendy Again
Imagine how I felt when Wendy and I were chatting in Fairbanks and she was going to leave a week before me to go see Tuk (Tuktoyaktuk) via the Dempster! So much envy! There was so much I needed to get done in Fairbanks before my own departure date of the 24th. I couldn’t pack up and leave to go with Wendy even if I wanted to. Well ‘lo and behold around rolls Friday August 23rd, one day before my departure and Wendy has somehow only made it 3 hours from Fairbanks! She offered her couch in her rig to me for the travels and the rest is history. Off I went to meet Wendy in Chicken, AK the 24th and then to caravan to Dawson City, YT together where I’d travel with her and her rig up to Tuk on the long and the mighty Dempster Highway.
Departing Dawson City
Seeing Kevin over at the Triple J as well as meeting up with Bob at The Pit was a nice little send-off for the Dempster trip. We left the afternoon of August 26th so Wendy could do a bit of work as well as getting some grub in town before being on the road. Things began well. Grabbed some gas for $1.81 per liter outside Dawson at Mackenzie’s Petroleum. Soon after we arrived at Tombstone Territorial Park in time to go inside the Visitor Center. It was interesting learning a bit about the area. Similar to the Dalton Highway in Alaska it seemed the road and exploration was initially about oil. Unlike Alaska and the US, it seems like Canada was a bit better about respecting First Nation land and rights.
Side note, but having spoken with some locals about things, I highly recommend diving into the topic more on your own. There’s a lot of details and nuance that I will never be able to have the time here to put into a blurb. Suffice to say it’s not all perfect and things are complicated, as they usually are.
Eagle Plains
After sleeping at a turnout around kilometer 286, we made it to Eagle Plains Hotel and Truck Stop. There we had some coffee and food in Grace, Wendy’s Airstream. It was at this time that I had to inquire about Wendy’s choice of coffee grounds. I couldn’t place the flavor. Ah, it turns out the grounds get re-used for a week before they get replaced. This was also around the time I took over coffee-making (and cleaning) duties for the trip. Caffeinated, we continued on.
I think it’s interesting that one of the longer stretches on the Dempster without services is the first bit. Tombstone Territorial Park doesn’t have any real services there aside from a place to camp. The break and food were good and welcome, though. Their menu is fairly extensive considering how remote it is. The chili dog was utterly fantastic. I’m not sure if that’s because of the chili dog itself or that special spice called hunger. Filled up for $2.49 per Liter and moved on. But not before noting that 5 of Wendy’s 9 cabinet doors have now broken off their hinges. If only this was the only casualty in Grace for the trip.
Northwest Territories
We crossed over into the Arctic Circle for the second time in a couple months, this time with a much nicer sign and view in my opinion. Shortly after that it was into the Northwest Territories of Canada for the first time for both of us. Wright Pass is by far the noteworthy pass of the area. There was North Fork pass closer to Tombstone which was pretty (and I think technically higher elevation?). However, Wright seemed like the more extreme with how it winds up and over the mountains. As you may imagine, the Northwest Territories looked fairly similar to the Yukon Territories.
Ferries and Fort McPherson
Did you know that Wendy’s truck and trailer setup is 50-something feet long? Grace herself is 32 feet. Now, imagine very rural ferries and the setups to get on and off of them. Yup, we had issues. There are two ferry crossings along the mighty Dempster highway. One for the Peel River. It’s just a few kilometers south of Fort McPherson. Then one for the mighty Mackenzie River about 50km or so after Fort McPherson going north. You know it’s not good when the ferry operators tell you to back up and then put it in 4WD. Grace helped to grade the gravel approaching and departing both ferries, though! You’re welcome Northwest Territories Maritime!
Now, in between these exciting crossings, we dropped by Fort McPherson. As we approached we were warned by multiple signs about the alcohol restrictions. We were not allowed to bring more alcohol than “could be reasonably consumed in a day” (have they met me?). Looking this up further it definitely seems like the NWT Liquor Act is fairly restrictive. Or perhaps Fort McPherson has some interesting history going on. Regardless, we were quite disappointed to see that Fort McPherson, as a city, was essentially closed. Not too surprising for small towns, but we were hoping for at least gas if not the famous Tent and Canvas shop!
The pumps had closed a bit over an hour before we rolled in around 9pm. Knowing we had enough gas to make it to Inuvik, we continued on despite the hour. Eventually we bedded down at a flat gravel area shortly after the Rengling River crossing. Well. After we did some more grading of the road with Grace crossing the Mackenzie River, hah.
Introvert in Inuvik
We made it to Inuvik, which is actually such a charming little city. Wendy commented that if I wasn’t tagging along she’d have thought about spending a week or two there, and I have to agree I’d be tempted to stay there as well. It had just enough amenities and civilization to not be painful to stay at for a while having enough people so you don’t see the same 3 people at the bar but also don’t have to deal with too much traffic.
Speaking of bars, we were only in town for a day or two, but when asking for recommendations on places to go the folks we spoke to always subtly tried to steer us clear of The Mad Trapper. I kind of wish we visited it just to see what it was about. How divey of a dive bar could it be??
We did enjoy Alestine’s our first night there, it was fantastic food but… I’m an introvert. I really could have done without the family style seating. The folks were fine, but at the end of a long day the last thing I want to do is answer the same six questions everyone asks. “Where are you from? Why are you here? What do you do? What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?” etc. Regardless it was great having a beer at the end of the day paired with Alestine’s “Whitefish (pacific cod?) and chips”.
Damage Control
Take a note folks. If hauling your trailer to new locations via paved roads is an earthquake simulator, then taking it on roads such as the Dempster or Dalton highway it behooves you to REALLY be prepared to make sure everything is battened down and secure.
After Alestine’s we found a defunct seaplane dock to park at outside of Inuvik to spend the night of August 27th at. The views were great, but boy it sure would be nice to be able to get into Wendy’s trailer! The keyed doorlock wasn’t unlocking. It had gotten progressively worse as we traveled but this was it. We were on the verge of breaking the key off inside of it trying to turn it, then what would we do? Luckily we were finally able to get inside, just to see all the dirt and grime making it’s way past the window seals as well as sour cream covering everything inside of the refrigerator, oops.
Wanting to prevent future issues of not being able to get into Grace, it was time to bring out the dremel. We flipped the lock around so the keyed portion was on the inside, and cut the vanity cover to fit the doorframe and cut up a spare toilet seal to prevent ingress of more snotty road grime. Success! Also cleaned and lubed up the bolt and mechanical bits some, works much better (for now).
Not the Dempster?
August 28th we woke up in Inuvik and hit the final portion of the road to get to Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean for our second polar plunge in as many months. Looking at the map, we were a bit unclear but it seemed like the Dempster Highway (Yukon Hwy 5 / NWT Hwy 8) actually only goes from The Klondike Highway (Yukon Hwy 2) near Dawson City to Inuvik. From Inuvik it appears to be the Inuvik – Tuktoyaktuk Highway (NWT Hwy 10, also the “ITH”). Either way, we’d gone this far. No matter what the road was called we were going to the Arctic Ocean.
The ITH was largely similar to the mighty Dempster, only worse. Not quite as wide, clearly not quite as kept up. The landscape was fairly similar to the rest of the far northern latitudes. Lots of little ponds and bodies of water, lots of tundra with short greenery growing all over it. Some very small rolling changes in elevation.
It was interesting seeing snowmobiles (in summer?) as well as ATVs parked here and there randomly with nothing else in sight. We eventually learned this was so in winter people could park off the (then) ice road of the ITH and hop on the snowmobile to make it to winter hunting cabins. Beyond that as we got closer to the ocean, we saw the looming Pingos in the background. Notably, Canada has the world’s second largest one and is viewable from Tuk. Tuktoyaktuk’s Sewage Lagoon (wtf??) is a perfect place to view the Ibyuk Pingo which is 160ft above sea level, easily the tallest thing within view.
Polar Plunge Part 2
We drove around town a bit to get the lay of the land. The visitor center was basically just a shack. There really wasn’t much to Tuk and the local “restaurant” was just ran from the back of someone’s home with extremely limited hours.
It was time, though. We’d come all this way to swim in the Arctic again, so we edged up to the little spit of land in town that had the famous sign (and another warning NOT to swim). A couple van and truck campers were nearby but we changed in Grace and ran out into the Arctic to get the swim done for the ‘gram. And ran. And ran. It didn’t really get deeper!
Finally I found a spot to submerge myself before my body automatically shot itself back out of the water shivering. Check. Bucket list item done. Luckily I wasn’t really cold anymore since I couldn’t feel much of anything but I couldn’t stop shivering. Ran back to Grace for a hot shower and change of clothes so that Wendy could do her own swim which I definitely would not let her not do, despite how much she was looking forward to getting into the frigid waters.
Locals of Tuk
With that done, we were itching to warm our insides. Looking back to the only restaurant in town it should be open now. We ran over there only to find out that nope, it’s not. A local, seeing our plight and walking the same way actually offered to give us the restaurant owners personal number to ask if they were going to open soon. Declining that, he pointed out their house so we could knock on the door! Also declining that he just called them himself, nope they weren’t open haha.
The kindness of locals towards tourists was lovely, although we couldn’t help but see how downtrodden the area seemed also. We grabbed some groceries and walked a few of the streets, it seemed like there was evidence of substance abuse and just general destituteness of many of the inhabitants. Or maybe that was just me projecting after having overcast / rainy skies for weeks.
The Best Stories are When Things Go Wrong
With the goal of the trip done, the exhaustion of long drive days while towing on a snotty and pot-holed excuse of a road for hundreds of miles was getting to us. We were ready for it to be done, granted the odds of one of us murdering the other were still less than the Dalton trip. As we’re driving on the road south of Fort McPherson it’s late in the afternoon and there’s a warning chime from the truck. Low tire pressure. 10 minutes later the pressure is even lower. We have a puncture. Upon inspection sure enough, the passenger rear tire has a chunk out of the rubber and a small hissing sound.
The gravel up here is tough on tires. Very tough. We have a spare tire, but maybe we can air it up and limp it to a place we can spend the night at, or even Eagle Plains. Out comes the mini air compressor. We fill it up and continue on the road, with the tire pressure monitor pulled up watching it. It’s slowly losing pressure again but we’re able to make it the 80 ish kilometers over the next hour or two to Eagle Plains.
Despite it starting to get late, I insisted on wanting to have a bite to eat at the bar and a drink before starting the arduous process of unhitching and getting the spare tire out for the change in the calcium chloride muddy sludge that is the dempster. While it’s raining.
The drink was glorious and the best. Frank from Quebec was a gem of a bartender. Some great music on his playlists! Enough procrastination, time to crawl around in the grime. There was some “fun” in figuring out how to get the spare tire down, as well as how to remove the beauty ring covering the wheel nuts in the dark. Y’all, just some advice: never discount a good quality waterproof jacket, some latex gloves, waterproof boots, and just SOMETHING to put on the ground for any kind of incidents.
The worst part of all of this though is that I couldn’t get the wheel off! The grime had cemented the wheel rim to the hub. No matter how much I pried and tried I couldn’t get it off. After having the cold and wet mud soak through my jeans I finally gave up and we decided we’d put it back together and have the local shop change it. A good sledge or pneumatic hammer against the inside of the tire would likely knock it loose pretty easily – we just didn’t have one.
By this point I think Wendy was solidly done with the whole trip. I’m wired weird though and found this just part of the adventure. I also like working on things, and it was nice to have my hands busy even if they were muddy and cold. It probably helped that it wasn’t my truck, also! The next day the crisis was averted. Had the tire patched and off we went with no more drama.
We did make it to Dawson City August 29th and got another bite at the Triple J and a last drink (and shirt!) at The Pit. We retired to Yukon River Government camp gladly, resolving to sort things in the morning where I’d depart for Whitehorse and Wendy would find a campground in town with hookups to work at for the week. What a trip. Definitely bucket list material, hope I remembered it and memorialized it well here.