Drivin' down the Dempster...lookin' for adventure

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Today I got to drive down the Dempster Highway to the Peel River crossing just past Fort Mcpherson with Jolie and Sean. We collected some water samples from the Peel River, the Arctic Red and the Mackenzie river. The Dempster Highway is extremely dusty, as you can see in my photos! It is a one of a kind drive though. Our first "stop" was to catch the mini ferry across the channel where Arctic Red and Mackenzie merge. From here we drove straight to Fort McPherson.

Fort McPherson is a Gwich'in community along the Peel River, connected to Dawson and Inuvik by the Dempster Highway. There are only 900 people in this community.

The highlight here was the burial site of the Lost Patrol. The RCMP Lost Patrol consisted of Inspector Francis J. Fitzgerald, Constables G.F. Kinney, R.O.H. Taylor and a guide, Special Constable Sam Carter. They had set out from Fort McPherson, Dec. 21, 1910, heading for Dawson, Yukon Territory, a trek of roughly 800 kilometers. Failing to find their way through the mountains, the lost patrol had turned back to Fort McPherson in a desperate race against cold and starvation. The grisly discoveries of the bodies of Taylor and Kinney, then Carter and Fitzgerald, were all made within 50 km of Fort McPherson on March 21-22, 1911.

Just outside Fort McPherson on the way to the Peel River crossing we stopped to visit Robert. Robert runs the Johnny D. Charlie Visitors centre and he is full of random information, tea, coffee and a bathroom. Very Neat Dood!

We drove to the Peel River ferry, sampled during the crossing and then turned around and headed back North. On our way back to the Mackenzie crossing we saw a MOOSE on the road, there is a photo on here of it in the distance.

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