View Cross Canada in a larger map

July 23. Ridin’ the Dempster!
You know we stayed in Inuvik longer than planned, but it was worth it! Friday was our departure day southbound, and since we planned to drive half-way to Eagle Plains, we took it easy. 370 km even on a dirt road wouldn't be too bad. There were several photo and rest stops and we arrived at the hotel at about 4pm. Then - we learned about all the rain in the preceding 5 days south of us (sunny in Inuvik). The lady at the reception said there was talk that the highway was about to be washed out. The ‘geo-guys’ that had worked there were told to forget about taking the evening off and “get out of there”! The main river, Peel River, was expected to crest in 14 hours. One fellow arriving from the south said he had noticed about 1/4 of the road at km. 220 had already washed out. We had three choices:
- stay and be stuck in a second class place for 2-3 days
- drive on and hope to make it, or
- find out 2 hours further south that we couldn't get through!

We took the chance and just made it! One more car 30 minutes behind us also got through but was told he was the last. There were several tricky spots, but at the worst there was a grader to help. About ¼ of the road on the left (‘downstream’) side was gone. The new waterfall down the cliff on our right sent water about 6” deep across the road. The driver said “follow me closely” and we watched as he created a 50 cm high bank on the right which held the water just long enough for us to drive through – a least 40 metres (130 feet). (We have later reasoned that by then the road was closed to further traffic over a 150 km stretch.) It felt dramatic and exciting and yet Anne-Grethe was able to take some unusual pictures. Take a look!

The drive was 12 1/2 hours on a road that was considerably worse than when we went north. With the trailer it would have been a very tough, perhaps impossible, trip and we would not have made it for several more days. We slept were the trailer had been parked at km zero, and drove 5oo km to Whitehorse the next day where we planned a few days of rest. On Monday we saw on the internet that part of the section had been fixed for 5 km of one-way traffic and then Wednesday it was closed again! We consider ourselves very lucky – and the Whitehorse weather was a beautiful sunny 25C, with cool nights.

Because of the extra time we took both in Inuvik and before that in Dawson City, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot take the time to drive through Bella Coola to Vancouver Island and then Vancouver. We are disappointed in some ways but our decision to take the extra time here in the north was a good one. Over the next few days we shall decide which route to take home. It will likely include Jasper or Banff if we can get campground space.

18 Dempster return

View Cross Canada in a larger map

July 20-23 Inuvik (‘vik’ means ‘the place of’) is a town of 3500 people. None wealthy, quite a bit of poverty, and everyone very friendly – saying ‘hi’ as we passed on the street. The town sits beside the Mackenzie Delta, and it is the east channel that serves the community. From here it is about 160 km to the Beaufort Sea and it widens to about 70 km at the sea. The Delta starts south of Inuvik. As in Dawson, all the buildings are built off the ground and here “utilidors“ (utility corridors) above ground contains water and other services (see pictures) to serve each house. It is not possible to place any infrastructure in the ground.

The ‘Igloo Church’ ( Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church) was built about 1920 by a man with grade 5 education, using no blue prints. Building lumber is not available here and was floated down Mackenzie River from a mission sawmill in Fort Smith NWT – 1600 km upriver. A remarkably beautiful place, and the whole structure rides on a concave concrete platform which sits on coarse gravel insulating the permafrost. The gravel was hauled from 80 km away. A local artist Mona Thrasher, deaf and almost blind, painted 24 inside murals in 13 months. We liked her work so much that we bought a print of her magnificent painting of an arctic wolf.

We spent extra time here to see the town and to fly north (45 minutes) to Tuktoyaktuk. Seeing the huge Delta from the air was special! And all the pingos. No they are no animals. They are perfectly circular mounds created on the permafrost by freezing of surface water. They form in recently drained lake basins or old drainage channels where hydrostatic pressures push water up and the unfrozen saturated sediment progressively freezes. There are over 1400 of them in the Delta and some are 50 metres high (pictures).

‘Tuk’ has a stable population of 1000 people. Sadly the hotel and restaurant is closed, but a B&B operates. We saw one of the old DEW line sites, a military radar post from the cold war. AND - we put our feet into the Beaufort Sea! It was surprisingly warm; we guessed 14C. A young gal on our tour had planned for this by dressing in a bikini under her clothes. She swam! You can also see some pictures of the local community ‘refrigerator – a series of tunnels and rooms 10 metres underground, hacked out of the frozen ground by hand, where the temperature in the permafrost is a constant -6 C.

The next day in Inuvik we went on a four hour boat tour of the Delta. Although the islands are low and flat, one cannot see over them, and so it felt as if we were touring a few of the hundreds of ‘rivers’ that link up to form the Delta. How easy it would be to get lost here, but our local guide Paton knew every bend. There was little wildlife to see at this time of year though we saw a seal, ducks with young ones and arctic terns. The main river, wide and fast, is the highway for all types of barges.

On July 23rd we started south and the beginning of the Dempster was fine. That was about to change!

17 Inuvik & Tuk