The Dempster Highway, partway, and the Arctic Circle

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Even in Dawson City, the sun never really seemed to set. I remember it setting behind the mountains, but I was still able to see it shining off the clouds above. I don't think that ever ended, but I did go to sleep before it would have, so I don't really know. But I woke up a couple of times and it was never dark. It's kind of weird.



I got up early and got paid up, for I had arrived after closing time the night before and had yet to pay for my stay. This was no problem and the woman in the store was quite friendly. I asked about an oil change, but it was going to be 1 in the afternoon if at all. I was getting a bit worried about having put off an oil change for a while. The car is really well past due for an oil change. I was going to be heading up the Dempster Highway and wasn't wanting to be in any kind of major car trouble along the way. It's a long, gravel road and has few services. It wouldn't do to have any sort of car trouble. But it would take too long, so I headed off to see if anyone else could do it. Nope. I guessed I would take my chances.



I gassed up and headed up the highway. It started off immediately into gravel surface. But it was well cared for and there was little difficulty. In fact for most of the way to Fort McPherson, where I stopped, there was mostly easy driving. It certainly has not proven out the dire warnings of the Milepost. But I shouldn't speak too soon. I'm not finished with it yet. And at the mid-point, Eagle Lodge, I checked my oil and the level is still okay, if a little on the low side. I should be able to get back and then have an oil change in Dawson City while I check out the area. As long as I am not too hard on the engine, it should be okay. I hope.



But the drive is magnificent. I'm sure that part of it is that it is so remote. Nobody I know has ever done this. And most won't ever. So I am seeing stuff that others will only say, “I wish...” But the landscape is stunning. The mountains are long and have wonderful valleys in between. There is quite a bit of interpretive stuff along the way as well. And there are stopping points with amazing views. I will mostly let photos speak for me because there is just no way to describe it well enough in words. Even the photos won't really do it all justice. But they can try.



There are a couple of things I will talk about though. The first is the transition from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories. The boundary is along a mountain ridge and the change is quite dramatic. The part of the highway in the Yukon is through land that has never been glaciated. Rivers and whatnot have shaped the land, but there are no deep gullies. The valleys are wide, shallow and flat. There is a fair amount of water, but it is different because it all comes from the spring melt over the permafrost, which makes it all just pool where it can't really get away, unless a river nearby provides an outlet.



There is much less of that kind of water in the Northwest Territories, and as soon as you get over that mountain ridge there is lots of evidence of glaciation and the end of the glaciers. There are deep gullies where glacial melt has carved rivers. The contrast is striking and almost immediate.



It shows up mainly in the character of the Dempster Highway. In the Yukon portion, they mainly had to plow a path, put a few materials in place to make the highway bed and then put in the highway. In the Northwest Territories, they often had to build up a ridge to span a gully and then put in the highway. There seems to have been far more work and materials needed for the portion so far in the Northwest Territories. To date, I have only reached the first of the river crossings, and it may be that as I move further into the territory shaped by the McKenzie River, the character of the highway will change again. Time will tell.



The other major event for the day was the crossing into the Arctic Circle. At kilometer 406 of the Dempster Highway, there is a marker letting travellers know that they have reached the Arctic Circle. It called for proof that I did indeed do that. But other than that there is no difference in the landscape. It just means that I have reached one of the final areas of the earth that I haven't yet seen. I was ridiculously excited to reach that point.



I continued on for a while until I reached the Peel River crossing. There is a free ferry service to cross the river. The guy on the ferry chatted with me for the three or four minutes it took to get across. He was quite nice. He told me he had actually been to Calgary, which was interesting. He also told me where to find a campground. It had been a long day of driving. I could well have continued on to Inuvik, probably without too much trouble. It's only about 190 kilometers left. But I had had enough for the day and it was time to stop.



The campground is run by a really interesting man whose grandfather was present in Dawson City during the gold rush. His father also made runs to Dawson City later with dogsleds and then with snowmobiles. This man also has gone on snowmobile. He did a lot of that before the highway was completed. I hope to talk to him a bit more tomorrow morning, but he is quite a talker as well. There is a little interpretive centre at this campground as well, and I would like to have a look around it, too. He may make that a bit difficult though. I won't probably mind too much, mind you. He is quite interesting.



But the way to Inuvik will be short tomorrow, and I will have a lot of time to wander around and figure out if I can get out to the Arctic or not. I hope I can, somehow. It will be one more ocean that I have experienced. I am really getting close to finishing off that particular bucket list, all the oceans and all the continents. We shall see.

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Photos

The Dempster Highway
it's a lonely dirt and gravel road that stretches on for almost ever, leading up into the Arctic Circle to Inuvik in the Northwest Territoires.

The Dempster Highway
The scenery along the Dempster Highway is stunning.

The Tombstone Mountains
A short way up the Dempster Highway, the Tombstone Mountains stretch away into the distance. This is one of the rare valleys in the north that was never glaciated during the last ice age.

Along the Dempster Highway
The plains and valleys stretch away into the distance. Few people get this far north and they are missing out.

Along a Mountain Range
The Dempster Highway deals with the problem of permafrost by sticking to the top of a mountain range for a long stretch. That ends up better for the traveller because the views are amazing.

Along a Mountain Range
The trees become sparser and smaller the farther north you go. The plains below have almost no trees at all.

Proof!
I drove my little car all the way up to the Arctic Circle. I had to get proof that I had made it.

The Yukon/ Northwest Territories Border
Shortly after crossing the Arctic Circle, the Dempster Highway crosses the border into the Northwest Territories.

Northwest Territories
The landscape of the Northwest Territories is dominated far more by glaciation and its effects. The valleys are deeper and show much more river erosion, and the valleys are more u-shaped.

Fort McPherson Ferry
Just before the highway reaches Fort McPherson, it crosses the Peel River. The government of the Northwest Territories provides a free ferry to make the crossing. In summer. During the winter, there is an ice bridge that allows people to drive over.