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Published: June 22nd 2011
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The Dempster Highway.
That small sentence holds a huge amount of intrigue for me. It has been a destination that I have wanted to conquer for a few years now. It was 3 years ago that I decided that I would go up the Dempster, see the midnight sun and then take on the rest of Canada. Since deciding to do the Dempster I have spent time looking into the facts of the road, but more so seeking the experiences of those who have traveled her length. I came into this trip expecting flat tires, broken windshields, battered shocks and bruised body. The stories of others vary from one end of the spectrum to the next, some have made the trip and come off the road with just a rock chip, others have had multiple flat tires, been tossed ruthlessly over washboard surfaces and hit more potholes than they can count. Our story lies somewhere on the friendlier side of the scale.
We left Dawson City on Saturday June 18, gassed up and made our way on to the Dempster. We stopped at the entrance and took our “before” photo with the sign and our truck. No damage to show for
the first part of our trip up here, just a little bit of dust and then we drove over the bridge to take on the road. The first stretch of the Dempster is paved, there are some cabins along here and a wilderness retreat but the pavement soon ends and the gravel road begins.
It was an excellent day to be on the road, sunny, blue skies and warm temps. There must have been some showers the day before as there was no dust behind us and the occasional puddle on the road. The views along the Dempster are incredible, second to none. The road twists and curves and descends into beautiful valleys and forests. At times you can see the road winding its way along for miles in front of you, other times it looks like it ends just feet beyond your tires to suddenly curve to the left or drop down a hill.
We had been driving along for while; the whole time I’m quietly thinking in my head “don’t get comfortable, the bad part could be around the next corner”. The gravel road was so well maintained that in places it was like driving on asphalt. The
washboard, rutted and potholed road I had been envisioning had not even poked its head into reality. I came to the Dempster prepared to battle with the road; instead she took us on like friends.
I drove the stretch from Dawson City to Eagle Plains Lodge, the road was slick in a few areas and you did need to keep an eye out for the occasional pothole, but I was stunned at how an amazing and beautiful drive it was. We stopped a lot along the way to check out some of the views and the Tombstone Interpretive Centre; a beautiful centre with tons of info on hikes and wildlife, make sure to visit if you come this way. As for wildlife in the area, we were lucky enough to drive around a corner and see 3 Grizzly bears running along the Dempster in front of us. BJ was able to grab some awesome photos and I had just enough time to get them running on video. An amazing sight!
At Eagle Plains we ran into Joe, a great guy from Ontario who is riding his motorcycle all the way from Ontario to Inuvik and on to Vancouver. We had
crossed paths a few times on the trip up here and were pleased to see he had made it this far. As it turns out the Dempster had been one hell of an opponent for him the day before. Joe took off on Friday and as he got along on the Dempster the skies opened and it rained and poured. The black portion of the highway that was like asphalt to us a day later was like snot and oil to him. He had to ride a lot of the way with feet nearly touching down for stability, and praying that his bike didn’t over heat as the radiator was caked with black mud and gravel. After a hard struggle he made it to the Lodge and booked a room for a full day of recovery.
An Aussie who was driving the road on Friday in a rented RV also ran into his fair share of trouble, coming off a short hill the black mud started to pull him toward the ditch, he tried to gear down to slow, but didn’t steer away from the shoulder and actually drove his rig off the road. He was okay, but his rig
was stuck and had to be winched out, so his trip up the Dempster ended in Eagle Plains.
After hearing of the troubles the day before, I was extremely thankful for the amazing conditions we were having. We filled up in Eagle Plains (the only gas station along the Dempster) and decided with 24 our daylight that we would see how far we could get in one day. BJ took over the driving and I manned the camera and off we went.
Not far after Eagle Plains is the Arctic Circle. We stopped here and popped a bottle of sparkling wine that Jamie and Nick gave up for our engagement and toasted our success. It felt amazing that we had made it this far, not a lot of people can say they have driven to the Arctic Circle and farther.
So on to Inuvik we decided. We crossed the North West Territories border and headed to the ferry at Fort Macpherson. There are two rivers you need to cross by Ferry, the Peel River and the Mackenzie River. In winter the ice freezes thick enough for ice roads and in spring the ice flows are too great to allow for
a permanent bridge, as each spring it would nearly wash out, so ferries it is.
From the ferries we headed on to Inuvik, the sun was getting low in the sky when we finally checked the time and- MIDNIGHT SUN! We were driving along at midnight with the sun still hours above the horizon. The sun at midnight looked like the sun you get when driving west out of downtown with sun just starting to blind you. By 1am we had our campsite in Inuvik and the sun was still up, the light had changed slightly and was now looking more like early dawn. So awesome that the sun doesn’t set up here for 56 days.
We spent the next day in Inuvik, tried to drive to the beginning of the ice roads, but the gravel road was very wet and we didn’t want to chance getting stuck. Inuvik is a different place, all the houses are built on stilts to keep them off the shifting permafrost and the sewer system is built above ground and runs like a spider web to all the houses. Unfortunately we didn’t find much to keep us busy so we decided to hit the
gym and workout in the most northerly place we could. We spent the night and then decided to tackle to Dempster for our return trip.
The return down the Dempster was just as awesome as the way up. The day was overcast but we didn’t encounter too much rain. Parts of the road were pretty dusty, especially when we got stuck following a few trucks. The road up here is constantly changing, either from weather or from the continual maintenance and grading done. We drove past one fellow who had to change two flat tires from crossing a freshly graded section of the high way. We took our time along this stretch and managed to pass through without any punctures.
So we finally finished the Dempster. Crossed back to the sign at the beginning and took stock of the war wounds we earned along our route:
One large rock chip added to the windshield
Plastic fuel tank guard shaken loose from rear tire well
Broken lens on the fog light
Roof Racks rattled extremely loose
Tire Balance needed
Oil change too (although I almost needed that before the trip)
Canada’s Dempster Highway has now officially been checked off my
bucket list.
Happy girl!
Erin & BJ
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Jamie
non-member comment
AWESOME!
You guys are awesome, loving the photos and the updates, sounds just amazing. Jealous as I sit here at my desk... :( Erin, I'm so happy you're doing this, thinking of you lots and just can't believe. I'm totally smiling inside for you! Love the bucket list!!! GO YOU! Xoxo take care guys drive safe and I look forward to the next update!