About 40km south of Dawson City is the Dempster Highway junction. There is a lone card-lock gas station with an outhouse and a sign warning travellers that the next gas station is 370km away. There is an electronic board letting us know that the highway is open and reminding us that the North West Territories has additional COVID travel restrictions. A wooden sign stands just ahead of a single lane bridge marking the start of the highway, or should I say, the start of the journey.
The Dempster runs 740km from the Klondike Highway all the way to Inuvik, NWT. It was built over a period of 20 years and its construction was heavily influenced by oil exploration and politics. It was officially finished and opened in 1979. Before its completion, northern communities were serviced by dogsleds and cat trains. More recently, winter roads were built and trucks would drive those roads delivering supplies to communities. In 2016, the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (NWT Highway 10) was extended to enable connection between these two communities year-round. I first learned about this impressive highway when I worked with the North Warning System office. Inuvik is a logistics support location for a number of sites and I was learning about the massive undertaking necessary for getting supplies to Inuvik. I also remember hearing that the “highway was extended to Tuk” and how much that meant for our office since we could now get supplies to Tuk all year-round instead of just on the winter road.
a ‘cat train’
And now I was about to drive that same road about which I’d heard so many stories. In preparation, Erik and I had watched videos by other travellers who’d driven the full stretch and learned from some of their lessons, including:
- bring at least one extra can of gas;
- have at least one spare tire; and
- satellite phones are necessary for communication options – there isn’t cell coverage;
Our original, pre-COVID, plan was to leave our trailer in Dawson and drive to Tuk in two days with an overnight at the half-way point in Eagle Plains. We were fortunate to find accommodations in Tuk for a couple of nights and were really looking forward to swimming in the Arctic Ocean and learning of the culture of the peoples who call the arctic home. The adjusted plan, given that Inuvik and Tuk are in North West Territories and we would have to self-isolate in Inuvik for 14 days before going to Tuk, was to leave the trailer at our Dawson campsite for one night, drive to Eagle Plains, spend the night, see the Arctic Circle, and return to Dawson.
We were pumped full of excitement for the two-day journey and were amazed at what we saw. I’ll admit that I had been expecting to see the same scenery for 6 hours – low brush tundra, some flowers, and perhaps a small tree or two – but the Dempster really proved me wrong!
The first wow moment was when we travelled through Tombstone Territorial Park, wound up mountain sides, and took in some epic views. It was so breathtaking. We stopped at a viewpoint to take in the unusually clear view of Tombstone Mountain.
Next, the highway weaved through the Blackstone range that was outlined by blue sky above and glacial rivers below. We noticed a river flowing red, as were most of the rocks, when we passed by the aptly-named Red Creek for its high iron content. We climbed the Ogilvie Ridge with valley views on both the east and west sides before Eagle Plains, which slowly wound down and then back up and took us through some large stretches of burned forest, one of which had burned just earlier that month.
I remember working on a project with the North Warning System office where we needed to get some material up to Tuk to be placed on barges so that the items would be delivered to remote sites over the summer shipping season. We were down to the final day or two where we’d be able to truck the items into Tuk. Then, on the day it was set to be hauled, we got a phone call informing us of a large forest fire that was blocking the Dempster. I recall being really disappointed that all of our work and plans had been foiled by nature. Here I was driving through the burned remains of the exact spot that had been our project’s undoing. Seeing the expanse of black and bare tree trunks stretching for many km made me reflect back on how little I really understood about what it takes to operate so far North and in such remote locations. I have a new respect for this part of our country and the grit of the folks who care for it.
Eagle Plains (Population 9) is a motel, restaurant, campground, gas station, and full service mechanical shop. It is completely self-sufficient and powered by generator. Our room had two very comfortable queen-sized beds and a working TV!! The luxury! Their dining room and lounge boasted the taxidermy remains of nearly every species of animal roaming the region. The kids got a real kick out of comparing the sizes of moose antlers. We checked into our room, roamed the grounds and tried to burn some energy with outdoor games, and then had a large and delicious dinner (which cost about 4 times more than it would have down south!). We waited until closer to 8pm before we jumped in the car and continued another 36km north to the marker of the Arctic Circle. We wanted the sun to be lower in the sky for better photos so we stayed up past our bedtime and ran around the highway pull-off exploring the arctic flora. It was 10 degrees, sunny, and very pleasant.
On our way to the circle, we officially hit our 10,000km milestone of our trip so we stopped and planted a geocache we had prepared while in Whitehorse. We found what we thought was the perfect spot where others could pull off the highway safely and not have to wander far from the road to find the cache. Everyone was pretty pleased with the unforgettable experience.
The next day we drove back to Dawson, stopping at some of the favourite spots from the previous day’s drive and feeling proud for having made the journey. We still had our extra gas and tires and hadn’t needed any road-side assistance. The whole highway was in great condition, as it had been very muddy the week before and the road crews had only just finished grading and fixing the worst spots. The Dempster is definitely one of our favourite road trips to date!
