October 26
Good Morning
In September, I travelled to the Arctic Ocean to complete a journey we had started in 2019. I was traveling with two university friends. We had set the goal in 2019 to drive to the Arctic Ocean so a we could say we have driven sea to sea to sea. A new all season road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk was just completed in 2017 that allowed a road trip to be completed. Prior to that, you had to fly in the summer or travel on an ice road in the winter.
It is a 3400 kilometer drive from Edmonton to Tuk, the same distance as Edmonton to Toronto. But the trip includes 1400 kilometers of gravel road called the Dempster Highway and takes 40 hours driving. So we decided to break the trip up and we drove Edmonton to Whitehorse in September 2019 with the intent of completing our journey in 2020. You all know what happened next.
This year, we flew to Inuvik, rented a truck and drove to north to Tuktoyaktuk and then back to Inuvik. We then drove to the halfway point on the Dempster Highway, Eagle Plains, before continuing on to Dawson City and Whitehorse. We spent a few days exploring Kluane National Park from a base in Haines Junction.
I now have a new appreciation for “north”. Tuktoyaktuk is a community of about 1,000, sitting at 69° 27 ‘ North, 500 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. It is located on a low peninsula that extends into the Arctic Ocean. The land is flat and treeless with a few pingos to bring some relief. We were in Tuk on September 14, one day before all tourist facilities were closed for the season. As it was, only Mama’s Kitchen, a food truck, was open for lunch. There were large abandoned work camps from the days of oil exploration in the area. The house are built on piles and the yards filled with vehicles and snowmobiles in various states of repair. Sled dogs bark at you as you walk down the gravel streets and kids rip by on ATV’s. Moose and caribou heads stick out of the back of pick-up trucks and hides are stretched to dry in the sun. Long shadows are still present at noon as the sun is already low on the horizon.
Our morning drive from Inuvik to Tuk was shrouded In fog as the landscape is mainly muskeg and ponds. It took about 4.5 hours to make the 170 kilometer trip with stops along the way. The speed limit on the road is 70 km/hr but it was difficult to go that fast in many places. Our return trip in the afternoon revealed how much water was around us. I was surprised that the treeline was about 70 kilometers south of Tuk. Above Nunavut where I traveled it was only about 100 miles north of the Manitoba border.
We noticed snowmobiles in the tundra along the side of the road. We thought it unusual that the were abandoned there during the summer. We could see small hunting camps off in the distance along the road. We learned in Tuk that the snowmobiles were used in the summer as the preferred method of travelling across the muskeg to get to the camps. Two highlights on the drive were numerous flocks of willow ptarmigan on the road on the drive up that were absent on the drive down and an encounter with four caribou on the way back.
Inuvik is the third largest urban are in the Northwest Territories with a population of around 3,200. It has the appearance of a more modern city although again everything is built on piles that are driven down into the permafrost. Even the sewer lines are on piles above ground. There are plenty of hotels to chose from that cater to the industrial workers. Restaurants in September are limited. The number one rated restaurant is Alestine’s.
We arrived there in the evening to discover it has two tables of four and one table of eight indoors and several tables outdoors. We shared the table of eight with a group from Shell that were meeting with local leaders to discuss on going reclamation efforts. A common question we were asked as we travelled further on south was “Did you eat at the group table at Alestine’s?”. It turns out that that is one of the highlights many people share on their trip to Inuvik. Our conversation that night was lively and I had salmon and chips that were delicious.
Prior to supper, I had my friends drop me off at the sewage lagoons to look for birds (sewage lagoons are often of the best places to go if you have a chance). There were a few around and the setting was beautiful and only a little malodorous. As I walked along the path adjacent to elevated sewage line back to town and along the roads to the restaurant, I was greeted by many locals who were interested in where I was from and what I was doing. Many wanted to talk longer than I had time for. I had the feeling even before we arrived in Inuvik, that this was a place I would want to return to. And that feeling is even stronger now.
Stay Well !
Bob
Stay Well !
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