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October 4, 2009
Day Eight
Monday September 21, 2009
The weather to which we awoke at Eagle Plains was much more pleasant than that to which we had arrived. The sun was shining through a veil of cloud cover and the temperature although cool was pleasant. We packed away a solid breakfast and a healthy dose of coffee and once again hit the road. This time the road was more forgiving as it had frozen up a bit and been freshly graded to the north.
The first stop, only about 30km north, was 66° 33' 39"N, otherwise known as the Arctic Circle. It truly felt special to be able to pass through that level of lattitude, something that Canadians hold so true and integral to our identity. I wish that every Canadian had the opportunity to make the same journey, to cross the same imaginary boundary, to see the great endless expanse of our north...
Whoa, got a little deep there. We took a few photos at the Circle and then hopped back into the truck as we were greeted by the cold breath of the north. Pressing on, we happened upon the second of our grizzly sightings. This one seemed larger than the first and was happily devouring the leftovers from a gutted animal, most likely a caribou taken by hunters. The only company the grizzly shared was a brazen raven partaking in a tiny share of the offal (term I learned from Nat, referring to the entrails of a butchered animal.
Just after driving through Wright Pass (there's a plaque in his honour - he was a highway engineer who surveyed most of the Dempster) we came to the last of the border crossings we would make on the trip, Yukon/Northwest Territories. At this point we'd already seen Alberta/BC, BC/Yukon, and Yukon/Alaska. There was a good deal of snow being blown around and drifting at the pullout, so in addition to taking some photos I took to cleaning off the headlights and the brakelights of the Tacoma. After the Yukon portion of the Dempster and the previous day's rain and snow, there was a significant coating of mud over everything. On top of using some snow, I pulled out the plastic dustpan to aid in scraping away the muddy coating.
Traveling further, we came to the end of the Richardson mountains - the most northern section of the Canadian Rockies. From the last set of foothills we were given a spectacular view of the Mackenzie Delta and Peel River valley. The snow dusted hills disappeared and were replaced with endless forest skirting wide rivers flowing north. We descended into the valley and crossed on the Peel River ferry. A few km's up the road we stopped in Fort McPherson for some needed supplies - especially windshield washer fluid.
The landscape in this northern section of the Dempster reminded me a lot of Northern Ontario. The trees were smaller, of course, but it was that similar forested, swampy land broken only by lakes and the occasional camp or exploration track leading out into the wilderness. After a final ferry crossing, this time of the Mackenzie itself, we were on the home stretch to Inuvik. It should be noted that on such large rivers with vast amounts of water flowing by, the landing berms for the ferries are constant works in progress. Even in Dawson City there was earth moving equipment on hand at the ferry landings to be able to rebuild as needed. The difference between the river at Dawson and the Peel and the Mackenzie was that the equipment on the larger rivers was nearly constantly running to ensure a proper landing zone for the ferry. With fresh gravel and water seeping in from below, there was usually a need for a touch of gas to stay out of trouble when loading and offloading. I was amazed at how easily some of the semis were able to load and offload. Experience obviously counts for a lot.
Before we could celebrate our arrival in Inuvik we were flagged down by a gentleman heading back to Fort McPherson. He'd pulled up with a flat tire in his work truck, a long one-ton, and discovered he had no jack. We lent him the new 20 ton bottlejack we picked up before leaving Dawson and he was back on the road in 20 minutes. Although we'd prepared for the worst conditions ourselves, it was definitely paying off for a few others lacking our good luck. We arrived late in the afternoon to Inuvik and stopped to admire the sign notifying the end of the Dempster. We had made it without major dramas and were left with the debate, "what to do now?", and "do we camp or find a room?". After another long day of driving and near zero temperatures, the decision was easy - spoil ourselves with a comfy bed and warm showers.
End of day eight
Posted by Dr.Unk at October 4, 2009 2:40 AM
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