Dempster Highway

One of the primary reasons for returning to the North this summer, which will be the third summer in a row we have spent at least some time above the Arctic Circle, was to travel the Dempster Highway. We passed right by it last fall when winter overtook us and we had to turn south. The highway is currently the only road in Canada which reaches the Arctic Ocean, albeit only in the winter. In summer, the gravel road ends at Inuvik and then only an ice road is available in winter to reach Tuktoyaktuk, on the Arctic Ocean. All this will change next year (fall 2017) when the last piece of gravel road between Inuvik and Tuk will be opened. We didn't mind missing out on driving to Tuk because we had already spent time there last summer when we visited via sailboat.

It was a good time to travel, we had spectacular weather, only one day of rain. It takes about two days to drive the 736km from the start near Dawson City to Inuvik.

All the guidebooks had dire predictions about the road condition and warned motorists to be sure and carry a spare tire, even two. The reality was that the gravel road was much better than most we had traveled on in Alaska and elsewhere. It was dusty in places, there were some potholed areas, you had to travel slowly and watch carefully. Early on we saw a tractor trailer where a moment's inattention had caused him to catch the edge of the road and the whole rig was completely flipped over upside down in the ditch. It was a soft landing and it didn't look like there was any damage, although a crane would have to be brought from somewhere far away to right it. The road is built high with many layers of gravel to keep the supporting permafrost underneath well insulated. There are few guard rails or shoulders and the road is narrow, but, certainly easily driveable. We saw all types of vehicles on the road: a few bicycles, many motorcycles, small passenger cars and surprisingly, many European vehicles, mostly German, some Dutch, Belgian and French. Some were small RV type vehicles, but, there were some extreme vehicles as well. They looked like armoured tanks festooned with spare tires and more suitable for an epic, Mad Max-style off-road conquest rather than the excellent gravel road we were on. We asked one German couple how they got the vehicles here. Apparently, they ship them on cargo ships from Europe to Halifax and drive across Canada from there. Some of them traverse the entire American continent from top to bottom.

The highlight and really the only reason to drive the highway is the landscape and scenery. You pass through two Canadian territories, two mountain ranges, cross two large rivers (by ferry) and travel through five different 'ecozones'. First the Boreal Cordillera, then the Taiga Cordillera, the Taiga Plains, the Southern Arctic and finally the Northern Arctic. All are unique and beautiful in their own right. The area known as Beringia is an unglaciated landscape, thus, the mountain tops have not been scoured and there are many 'tors' and unique erosions on their tops. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

This picture is of 'Elephant Rock', one of the mountaintop rock formations.

Here is the Peel River cable ferry crossing, in the boreal forest.

Here is a view of Tombstone Mountain, in the Territorial Park of the same name.

We were disappointed not to see caribou, but, it wasn't the right time of year. Thousands of barrenland caribou cross the Dempster during their spring and fall migrations.Maybe next time?

In the boreal forest zone we saw bear, moose and ptarmigan. This black bear was on a mission to somewhere and marched down the middle of the road and right by us without even a glance our way.

This curious moose just stood and stared at us until we made the first move.

There were human interest stories as well. We visited the graves of 'The Lost Patrol' at the Anglican Church in Fort McPherson. The Dempster Highway was named for Sgt. WJD Dempster of the Northwest Mounted Police, who, in the winter of 1910-11, was sent to search for the 'Lost Patrol'.