Along with travelling to Alaska, one of Henry’s dreams was to travel the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, NWT.
Day 1 Kilometre 0 to Kilometre 193.8 - ENGINEER CREEK
Sunset 1:20 AM Sunrise 3:04 AM
After having “rented” spare tires for the truck and trailer. We are off, on our Dumpster, opps I mean Dempster adventure. Prior to departure we had checked in at the Northwest Territories Info centre in Dawson City. They were extremely helpful providing us with maps and advice and our “Passport”. We also spoke to some motor cyclist who had just returned, and the adventure sounded feasible.
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| Beginning of Dawson Hwy |
We check in at Kilometre Zero, which is also the last gas station for 369 kilometres. That might not sound much but when you are driving through several mountain passes and pulling a heavy trailer that is the max you can get out of the tank. So with a couple of jerry cans in the back, well stocked with groceries and fuel in the generator, we set off into the wilderness under cloudless blue skies.
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| One lane wooden bridge |
Within the first 40 kilometres the Dempster highway traverses three ecosystems; the Klondike plateau, the Yukon Plateau north and the Mackenzie Range. As had been promised, the road is challenging. Due to the permafrost and recent rains, the ground is soft; the road is slick with mud. Henry spots a hoary marmot crossing the road; he takes his time and is not at all rushed by the on-coming vehicle. The hoary marmot is said to be a true Yukoner, hibernating for 8 months.
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| Richardson Mountains |
After one month we cross over the continental divide again at the North Fork Summit. We near the Tombstone Territorial Park and the scenery changes. We are now travelling in a tundra valley with rolling mountains around us. We have our picnic lunch at the Tombstone interpretive centre.
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| Tombstone Interpretive Centre - note how small our trailer looks |
We stop at the Tombstone range viewpoint, the prominent peaks lie approximately 20 km from us at the head of the north Klondike River. The skyline is sharp, jagged, Rocky Mountains; the valley is wide with tundra terrain.
We approach the North Fork Pass Summit at 1,400 meters and enter the Blackstone uplands, high, rolling land covered in willow and birch shrubs, dotted with ponds.
It is the rangeland of the Hart River caribou herd, but we do not see any. We pass the Chapman Lake, the largest lake along the Dempster Hwy.
We are now travelling through the taiga range and the scenery has changed once again, we see the northern Ogilvie Mountains consisting of light grey limestone, eroded by water, with Lichens growing on surface, giving a dull brown colour.
Once again we climb a pass, this time Windy Pass summit, 1,100 meters; alpine tundra unchanged in 100,000 years for this area is part of the Beringia, unaffected by the last ice age. One can easily see the difference in the mountain peaks.
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| Red River |
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| Red River |
We come to Red Creek; the smell of sulphur is evident as I step out of the truck to take a picture. This is a highly mineralized area, water has percolated through the limestone, dissolved parts of the rock and the result is water high in calcium, magnesium, sulphate and bicarbonate, sodium and chlorine. To the eye, it is a red river.
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| Dahl Sheep playing |
As we travel along Henry spots some Dahl Sheep by the Engineer creek drinking water. The Dahl Sheep come down the rubble covered slopes to supplement their diet with the calcium and magnesium found in the drinking water at Engineer Creek. They have obviously had their young ones, who are playfully head butting each other. What a wonderful site, they are totally undisturbed by our presence. Till now we had only seen then from a far high on rocky cliffs.
We arrive at Engineer Creek Campground and set up next to Sapper Hill, which has dolomite cliffs. The Peregrine Falcons nest on the ledges of the Sapper Hill, but we do not spot any.
There are 12 campsites at this campground, but we are the only guests it seems. As soon as we step out of the truck we are swarmed with millions of mosquitoes. If I have complained about these insects before, I had no right to till now. There are 30 species of mosquitoes and I believe they all just hatched in Engineer Creek Campground. Henry and I rush into the trailer to apply a generous amount of Watkins insect repellent. It works; they still swarm around us, but don’t land or bite. Poor Tico, he is covered in mosquitoes and tries to save himself by catching them.
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| Peer Anselstetter from Nurmberg Germany |
While enjoying a beer around the campfire, we hear some noise. Henry goes to check it out. A bicyclist, who we passed on the Dempster highway, has just arrived. Since we have more then enough food, we end up inviting Peer Anselstetter for dinner. It turns out he is from Germany. I can not believe it, these German tourist are every where in the north. They are almost as abundant as the mosquitoes. He is very grateful for the meal and company.
So ends Day one of the Dempster Highway. 193.8 kilometres behind us, only 543.2 to go. (Yes only gravel and mud – I wonder why they call it a highway).
DAY 2 DOWN THE DEMPSTER.
ENGINEER CREEK (KM 193) TO NITAINLAII TERRITORIAL PARK (KM 541)
The sun no longer rises, nor does it set we have reached THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
You know there are a lot of mosquitoes when even Tico does not want to leave the trailer. After breakfast he and I go out for a quick walk, and then hurry into the truck. I know this is gross but it illustrates how bad the mosquitoes were. I sucked one up my nostril while breathing; yes I blew air out real quick. Sorry I know TMI.
We cross the Ogilvie River under partly cloudy skies. We see some Tors and tortured rock; these are the product of frost shattering. Water has seeped through cracks in hard bedrock, when it froze and expanded it cracked forcing the rock to crack and eventually fall down.
Tors are found only in unglaciated areas; in glaciated areas the glacier would just have bulldozed the tors into steep smooth rock walls.
I hope I am not boring everyone with too much detail. One of the more interesting facts I learnt is that elephants used to roam the Yukon about 8,000 years ago. Now only their bones remain. We did however see one of these extinct creatures roaming the top edge of the Ogilvie mountains range. “insert picture of elephant rock”
As we leave the Ogilvie Mountain range behind us we start to climb the seven mile hill, the highway climbs up a 300 metre escarpment then travels for 60 kilometres along the continental divide. Water on the right side of the highway flows to the Beaufort Sea and the left side of the road it flows to the Bering Sea. Very cool, the road is on the top tundra plateau, with a view to the west and east of rolling mountains. The road has worsened, in to a washboard, pot hole, muddy strip. The drive is slow.
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| Northwest Territories - Yukon Border |
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| Ferry dock |
Our progress is better then expected so we make it into Northwest West Territories. Yeah, one more down! J Now only Nunavut and NFL-Labrador left before we can say we have been to all provinces and territories.
We spend the night at Nitainlaii Territorial Park. I am taken aback when the camping fee is double that of the Yukon, the showers are out of order, the sites are rather narrow and there is no firewood, but a happy contingent of eager mosquitoes to greet us. Oh well, I guess not every night you can have a great spot. In the park is only one pick up camper (Germans in a rental) and a single man in a tent, who I see bush his teeth and then disappeared for the night. I open up the trailer and the visibility inside is rather poor. From driving the dirt road, there is a cloud of dust in the trailer, and everything is covered in thick dust. YUCK! Guess what happened to my mood? A Menopausal meltdown is not fun, poor Henry. This adventurist lifestyle is getting me down. I take a rag and start cleaning; at least enough surfaces so we can eat. I can’t stand the dirt, mud, dust, bugs, cramped kitchen. I like a clean spotless house. In the back of my mind I am thinking ‘a spoiled brat is what I am’. We have the biggest and best equipped unit on this road and I am complaining. What about the poor people in tents and Peer, the bicyclist from last night? I finished cleaning the trailer, had a shower in the trailer, applied not only Watkins, but REAL moisturizer. After dinner we walked back to the river ferry crossing, several kilometres away. That was what I needed; it has been hard to get enough exercise because of the bears everywhere. I was ready to put on my “happy Camper hat again” I am sharing this on the blog, because I did say it would be the good, bad and ugly, story of our travel. It is not always easy, this adventure. I am also starting to understand why driving the Dempster is such a challenge.
DAY THREE DOWN THE DEMPSTER
NITAINLAII TERRITORIAL PARK (KM 541) to INUVIK (KM 737)
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| Andreas Eller, walking the Dempster |
Beautiful blue skies greet us when we rise. It is Canada Day and I would like to celebrate in Inuvik. Just a few kilometres from our campsite, we see an odd site ahead of us. Henry slows down, and as we come closer we realize it is a man walking, pulling a little cart. (What the F&*?). We stop to talk to him. He is Andreas Eller from Germany (oh no not another one) and he is walking the Dempster highway. He is the man who I saw brush his teeth the night before. Now really, I was wondering about the day, this guy decided to do this. Did he just wake up and say “Where should I vacation this year? Oh I will fly to Canada and walk the 737 kilometres of dirt road in the artic, with no services along the way. I will sleep in wet damp bogs, eat dehydrated food, and get bitten by millions of mosquitoes. On dry days I will walk in dust clouds every time a car drives by and on rainy days I will be splattered by mud. I will not worry about meeting a grizzle, for it might be a blessing if this creature puts me out of my misery. Yes this is what I will do!
We talked to him for a few minutes; he was disappointed that the next few days will be flat scenery, no more mountains. His one leg was hurting him and he did not understand why. He hoped to make it to Inuvik by next week Thursday. He does 30 K’s a day. So we said good luck, and left him.
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| Drunken Forest |
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| Drunken Forest |
The rest of the way to Inuvik was flat; we were now in the most northerly reaches of the boreal forest.
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