Eagle Plains to Inuvik - Wednesday August 31, 2011

How's this for Mud?

Well I guess it was inevitable that some "less-than- stellar" weather was going to catch up to us! We have been living a charmed life on that score now for 20 straight days and like all runs-of-luck, they run out at the most critical moments. (i.e., when you happen to be on the most challenging part of the Dempster Highway).

After a not so great breakfast at the Eagle Plains lodge (the cook obviously had no idea how to poach eggs) we packed up yet again and hit a wet and very slick road with a consistency of hot fudge. Glad we have 4 wheel drive! Off course, like most public works organizations that supposedly operate in the best interests of the travelling public, the local highway maintenance crew was out plowing up the wet road just outside of Eagle Plains and making it worse.

"Aortic Cat"

Fifty-three kms to the Arctic circle carefully climbing into the Richardson Mountains as we went. We arrived there without incident and were welcomed by a break in the clouds.

And the fall scenery was as usual, "Amazing".










We met Karen and Marvin at the Arctic Circle pull-off. They were expertly changing a flat tire on their twin axle trailer when we arrived and were on their way home to Inuvik after being on holidays for six weeks. I had been wondering how people with large rigs handled flats and Karen (who has a class 1 truckers license) showed us a trick whereby you run the inflated tire on the side of the trailer with the flat up onto a block of wood just high enough so that the flat tire clears the ground and then place a jack under the axle carrying the flat tire and away you go!

While we were admiring the view, Tony from Germany showed up on his motor cycle covered in mud and obviously having the time of his life sliding around on the road behind us. (Crazy!!).

We all left the pull-off together with Karen and Marvin in the lead ( let the experienced drivers show the way). About a mile later we saw them pull over and bail out of their vehicle, Karen with camera in hand and Marvin climbing the ladder to the roof of their trailer. Unfortunately we arrived too late to glimpse the two grizzlies Karen managed to photograph disappearing over a nearby ridge.  Clearly their willingness to leap out of their vehicle meant that these people do not see grizzlies as being a threat to life and limb. This was confirmed when Karen related that she had won a photo contest a couple of years ago with a picture of a grizzly feeding off a dead caribou a mere twenty feet away from her. (Crazy!!).

The road meandered up into the clouds until we reached the Yukon/NWT boarder, at which point we began our decent, through what was now a dense fog, into the Mackenzie Delta where the weather (according to Karen) was beautiful.

As we traveled down hill (slowly at first) the visibility and the road began to improve until we emerged at the first of two ferries that cross the winding Mackenzie river just south of Fort McPherson.  As you can see from the following picture this cable ferry is little more than a landing craft with a gate that drops onto the available dirt embankment.  The captain has to frequently maneuver the boat into position depending on the type of vehicle attempting to board. In our case we had to be very careful and attentive to the position of our trailer hitch as we boarded and disembarked (still managed to drag the hitch foot on the ground, fortunately with no damage).

 

After a quick lunch at the brand new but unmanned travel information centre on the other side, we headed off to the second ferry some 57kms further north at  a pretty town named Tsiighetchic (pronounced siga-chick).

Tsiighetchic

According to a young member of the road maintenance crew who accompanied us across the river on the ferry, Tsiighetchic is a "dry town" (i.e., no booze). I later learned from a communicative seven year old in Inuvik, that this really meant that there was no liquor store in town. She (Brittany) was from  Tsiighetchic and was staying in Inuvik with relatives while her dad was trying to "sober up"! Tough stuff for a seven year old to give voice to.

The 122 km road from Tsiighetchic to Inuvik, through the delta, was well used, well maintained, straight, flat and boring. Known as "rabbit alley" because of the many arctic hares seen along the way, the road was good enough to allow speeds of up to 90km/hr. (my speed, everyone else flies along at 120kms or more). At this point after almost 9 hours on the road (counting wait time at the ferries) we were happy to make the final reckless "dash" to our final destination.

The scenery perks up a bit as we approached Inuvik and the fall colours (to the extent that they exist up here, mostly yellow) were on the verge of being at their best.

We finally moved on to paved road at the point where the Dempster intersects with the turn-off to the Inuvik airport. After a few yards I was wishing we were back on the gravel road as this portion of the highway was in immediate need of repair as it heaved and turned like a roller coaster making the trailer hitch groan despite the road's smooth appearance.

But we had made it!

Welcome home to Inuvik.