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Road to the Arctic Ocean – Driving the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk | Go North Episode 12

9/14/2019

13 Comments

 
In November 2017, a brand-new all-season road was opened from the town of Inuvik, NT to the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, located on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway connected the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean, and became the first and only Canadian road to the Arctic Coast.
When we found out about this road, we knew we just had to drive it!
​Our journey so far had taken us through a variety of landscapes, climates, histories, and cultures. As we neared the midpoint of our journey, it was now time to GO NORTH as far as the road could take us, to the very edge of the map, and find out what new sights and stories awaited us.

The Dempster Highway

Start point: 39 km/24 miles from Dawson City, YT
End point: Inuvik, NWT
Length: 736 km / 457 miles
Fuel: (distance from Dempster junction, milepost)
  • Dempster Junction - 0 km/ 0 miles
  • Eagle Plains - 365 km / 226 miles
  • Fort McPherson – 547 km / 340 miles
  • Inuvik – 736 km / 457 miles
The Dempster highway is an all-gravel highway traversing 736Km of arctic landscape with very limited services at Eagle Plains and Fort McPherson.  The road has two free ferry river crossings (Peel River & Mackenzie River) and terminates at the northern town of Inuvik.   
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This is one of the most remote roads in north America and a safe trip requires some planning. It’s important to make sure your tires are in good condition and you carry a spare or two.  A well-maintained vehicle and supplies for a day or two without support are recommended especially in colder months and if needed spare fuel to be able to make it 500Km or ~300 miles due to the poorer fuel economy you'll get driving this rough road.   
Construction on this road was originally started in the 60's to support oil and gas exploration in the area.  When oil and gas was deemed infeasible construction was stopped, but interest was renewed in the 70's when oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay, AK and the road was completed in 1979 along with a easement for a possible future pipeline.  
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The road makes its highest elevation pass in tombstone park before descending on a plain and heading for the Blackstone and Ogilvie Mountains. The geography of this road is very unique, with sections of the drive winding through the mountains, following creeks and rivers, and crossing long flat plains. We saw wildlife and unique plants that only exist here in the north. 

Tombstone Territorial Park

An hour or so down the road we came to Tombstone Territorial Park. This park is geologically unique and bisects the divide between two watersheds, one flowing to the Beaufort Sea and the other to the Yukon River and out to the Bering Sea.
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This is a popular day trip for people visiting Dawson City, and gives folks a taste of the Dempster Highway and the beautiful scenery it traverses. 
We stopped at the park’s Interpretive Center to explore the exhibits and learn more about the park. Most of the land the Dempster Highway goes through is land owned by the First Nations tribes that have called this place home for thousands of years.  These tribes’ home ranges are roughly located in the same areas as the various massive caribou herds that occupy these lands, as they have been a major food source for generations.  As part of the Land Claims Agreements between Canada and the First Nations tribes, Tombstone Territorial Park was created to protect these lands from future development, while still allowing their use for recreation by the public.  The park offers access to backcountry hiking, camping, mountaineering, a few frontcountry trails and a campground.   
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​At the Visitors Center we were also loaned a guide book that would share information about the road and points of interest, from here all the way to Inuvik. This guide was awesome, and we would HIGHLY recommend you read through it before or during your trip as you drive.

You can find it online FREE here (download to have offline): 

>>> The DEMPSTER HIGHWAY Travelogue

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Red Creek

One section of the drive has noticeable bright red colored rocks on the hillsides and creeks with bright orange brown stains in the mud and surrounding vegetation.  This area is highly mineralized and as water percolates through limestone, gypsum, and sulfide bearing sediments it dissolves parts of the rock that end up in the water.  These waters are high in magnesium, bicarbonates, sulfate, hydrogen sulfide and chlorine.  
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In this area , sheep are common as they come to drink the waters or lick the mineral-rich hillsides to add calcium and magnesium to their diets. We saw sheep everywhere here!
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Eagle Plains

Further on  the road climbs 7 mile hill up to the top of the 200km wide Eagle Plain, an elevated sandstone plain of gently rolling hills.
At 370Km into the drive, we came to our first glimpse of human settlement, Eagle Plains. Here you can get fuel, or stay the night at the hotel. We stopped in to check out the hotel and look over the pictures on the wall that illustrate famous sagas of the past from this area including the Mad Trapper of Rat River and the Lost Patrol. This hotel’s construction presented a challenge in the 70's when it was built due to the permafrost. The engineers located the hotel here as they found a section of bedrock at the surface allowing the hotel to be constructed without the use of costly pilings.
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Richardson Mountains & the Northwest Territories

From here the road winds into the Richardson Mountains which presented as a beautiful treeless alpine landscape. Because we were so far north the treeline was very low and even the slightest elevation made it a challenge for trees to take root. 
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As we crested the top of the mountain pass we were greeted with the welcome to the Northwest Territories sign! The sign provided lots of information on the NWT and encouraged visitors to do some hiking off the road if the weather was fair.
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Mackenzie River Lowlands

From the NWT border the road begins to descend into the Mackenzie Lowlands where the mountains and alpine tundra disappeared behind us. Here the road settled into a lowland of boreal forest spotted with lakes. Because of all the water, here we started to deal with terribly thick mosquitoes (and flies) and we were living in our bug repellent clothing and making quick entrances and exits from the RV to try and keep the bugs out.
This area is so low and flat because it is the river valley and beginning of the Mackenzie River Delta. Two ferry crossings are made in this area, first the smaller Peel River that utilized a cabled ferry, then the mighty Mackenzie river that utilizes a large double ended ferry. Both ferries are free, and were easy to use. In the winter months Ice bridges are used in place of the ferries, but there are periods in the spring and fall when the ice is too thin and the ferry cannot run.  At these times the rivers cannot be traversed.
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Inuvik

The town of Inuvik was a planned community constructed by the government of Canada in the 50's to provide a centralized location for government and modern amenities to the native communities of the northern northwest territories.
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Over the years the town has been supported by a number of different economies including, defense, petrochemical exploration, police and government, healthcare, education, minor tourism and going into the future communications. Inuvik lies far enough north that its location is ideal for  ground relay stations for polar orbiting satellites and has many satellite ground stations around the town. A fiber line that was completed in 2017 now provides the town with high speed data communications for satellite downlinks. Subsequently, this northern community now has blazing fast internet and cell service, which we were not expecting to find this far north, but took full advantage of during our stay.
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Find out how we stayed connected in the North HERE: Connectivity in Canada & Alaska

Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway

Inuvik is technically the end of the Dempster Highway. Now, the new Inuvik-Tuktotyaktuk Highway (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) completes the final leg of one's journey to the Arctic Ocean.
In the fall of 2017, the construction of the new road connecting Inuvik to the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean was completed. This road is the first all-season road to the arctic coast in Canada. Prior to this road, summer access was limited to plane and boat traffic, and an ice road was constructed each winter on the Mackenzie River to connect the town, but now anyone can drive this 138km/86mi road to the top of the continent. 
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We Made It! Tuktoyaktuk

Tuktoyaktuk, or Tuk for short, is a hamlet community of primarily Inuvialuit people. Transportation, oil & gas, and defense industries hold a presence in the town, but fishing, whaling, trapping, and hunting caribou for subsistence is still a big part of life here. After making our way through town, our first stop was at the Arctic Ocean. 
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When we were there, Tuk was still working on figuring out how to handle the new breed of tourists that the road was bringing in. They had just put in a few designated RV spots right along the Arctic Ocean, and while they were a bit pricey at $60CAD per night for dry camping, we took the opportunity to stay in one for the night. Aside from the mosquitoes, staying here was an incredible experience. Being so far above the arctic circle in the summer, the sun never even made it near the horizon and we stayed up until 3 in the morning when the sun started to rise again.
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Check out our Live Video Stream from Tuktoyaktuk! 

Land of the Pingos

​Tuktoyaktuk is the Land of the Pingos! It is home to the Pingo National Landmark of Canada that protects 8 of these mounds of earth and ice. As leftover water from a lake freezes, it expands and pushes upward. This one behind us is the Ibyuk Pingo - Canada's largest pingo, second in the world to Alaska's Kadleroshilik Pingo near Prudhoe Bay. Ibyuk stands at about 49m/161ft, is growing at about 2cm per year and is estimated to be about 1,000 years old!
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The landmark has a boardwalk that gets close to these, but requires a boat to access. We joined a few other travelers who had an inflatable kayak and Although our paddleboard was really only designed for one, we made it work with both of us to get out and see these pingos!

Arctic Ocean Plunge

After our paddle adventure there was one final thing we had to do before leaving: take a dip in the Arctic Ocean.
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It was exhilarating - we couldn't really believe we had really done it after talking about it for over a year!
Yes, it was chilly. But we had a toasty warm RV and a long hot shower waiting for us, thanks to our Truma appliances! We had cranked the VarioHeat furnace up to 79 degrees and the AquaGo water heater  was set to 'Comfort' mode (check out Why We Love Our Truma AquaGo for more details) so we had as much hot water as we wanted (after this we drove back to Inuvik where we could dump and refill our tanks). These things definitely helped us make the plunge!

Boondocking Along the Dempster

As we made our slow way back south, we enjoyed the many amazing boondocking spots available to us. There aren't very many places that have hookups, and besides one night where we had electricity in Inuvik (it was only a couple dollars more than dry camping at the Happy Valley Territorial Park), we were able to live off-grid for the entire time, generator-free, thanks to our Battle Born Batteries!
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Learn more about our Battle Born Lithium-Ion Battery set up here: Truck Camper Lithium + Alternator Charging
These quiet, peaceful places provided some of our fondest memories of the trip, like paddle-boarding with the dogs on the Ogilvie River, and fly fishing for Arctic Grayling on the Blackstone River.  
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As the pinnacle and centerpiece of our northern travels so far, we exited the Dempster Highway after nearly three weeks of touring feeling exuberant and humbled by the experience.


We were so pleased that our planning and vehicle build had lived up to and exceeded our hopes and expectations in delivering us back to the start safe and sound, with memories that would last a lifetime!
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The Go North Expedition is made possible by Lance Camper Manufacturing, Battle Born Batteries, Truma North America, Dometic, LivinLite.net, Hellwig Suspension Products, and viewers like you through Patreon. Thank you!
13 Comments
Mona
9/16/2019 12:24:25 am

SUPER INTERESTING video! So well shot and narrated! Its as close as I will ever get to the northern most point in Canada!! Happy to see you both thriving on your journey!! Safe travels!!!!❤ Mona:)

Reply
Caitlin Morton
9/16/2019 02:15:06 pm

Thanks, Mona! So glad you enjoyed and that we could bring you along for the ride :D

Reply
DEBBIE KERR
9/16/2019 11:42:19 am

Congratulations!! You made it - all the way North!! I would love to do the same thing some day with the same set up - you 2 are such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing :) Such a beautiful landscape - so unique - words could never do it justice - Very quality video and story. I love how you talked to the people of the land and they haven't seen a polar bear in 5 years!!! These folks are living climate change ..... Safe travels :)

Reply
Caitlin Morton
9/16/2019 02:18:56 pm

Thanks, Debbie! Climate change is very much visible in the north, and the locals are waiting to see what happens next with it. It has affected their hunting, fishing, and whaling, and also has been melting the permafrost. Thanks so much for watching :)

Reply
Thomas Knutson
9/16/2019 10:18:46 pm


Regarding climate change - we were surprised that our local guide stopped along the boardwalk at the Pingo viewing area to take a picture of the Arctic Cotton. He had never seen it growing so extensively!

Thomas Knutson
9/16/2019 10:06:41 pm

Wow. You captured the road and the towns along the way perfectly!

Great production values, and interesting facts about the area.

We camped near you in Tuk, and enjoyed this very much.

Reply
Caitlin Morton
10/28/2019 03:12:38 pm

Thanks, Tom! So glad you enjoyed the video and your time in Tuk!

Reply
Harold McCarty
9/18/2019 10:49:38 pm

Can u add a/c to the camper? Would u sell the rig and camper? Like price(s). Thanks.

Reply
Caitlin Morton
10/28/2019 03:14:49 pm

Hi Harold, thanks for the questions. The Lance 1172 does have an A/C unit, it is a Dometic rooftop A/C. We used it just a handful of times over the summer. The truck and camper were on loan from Lance Campers as a part of this project and we'll return them to Lance when the trip is over and move back into our fifth wheel RV. Not sure what their plan is for the rig at this time :)

Reply
Francine link
9/22/2019 02:07:56 pm

Congratz! You did it. As we watch your new vlogs we are concurrently watching your solar install series as we just bought 8 ( lightly used) Valence 12v 138 ah batteries with BMS systems.We are now looking at installing solar and needed components. We have printed out your diagrams and working from there. We could really use your recommendations as we have some questions as we are planning on installing on our 5th wheel and taking to the road for 6 months at the end of Oct. Tom-please email us.

Reply
Caitlin Morton
10/28/2019 03:19:12 pm

Hello Francine! Thanks so much for watch and so glad you're finding the info useful for your own solar installation. Unfortunately, Tom doesn't do solar consultations anymore as we've both been 100% focused on the Go North project this year. We've been recommending people contact AM Solar or OTG Camper for help.

Reply
Bruce Bowens
10/22/2019 01:39:28 pm

Love all your videos and particularly your Go North series . We are planning to go to Alaska & Canada in June 2020 in our 35' 5th wheel, including the Dempster Hwy to the Artic Ocean. I am interested to know while you have reaped the benefits of a truck camper on your trip, knowing what you have experienced, would you do it in your 5th wheel and be able to find boondocking spots for such a rig? Thanks, keep up the great work. Peace & Happy travels.

Reply
Caitlin Morton
10/28/2019 03:27:48 pm

Hey Bruce, while very possible to find boondocking for a fifth wheel of that size (very similar to ours) there would naturally be fewer options and/or not as tucked away. We personally would not do it in our fifth wheel due to what we know now about the various roads, and that was always our plan to do it in a truck camper. We'd definitely change our route if we ever did take a 5er. We did see one fifthwheel on the Dempster, and in following them on instagram they had quite the issue with dust in the rig from that trip! Safe travels and have a great time!

Reply



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