Part 2 of Day 16 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
12:25 PM, 55°F – On the way out of Inuvik on Highway 10, a sign along the new all-season road said it was 148 km (92 miles) to Tuktoyaktuk, a little farther than other information SPHP had seen saying it was only 140 km. Whatever. Lupe was already thousands of miles from home. 5 miles extra, if that’s what it actually was, didn’t make a bit of difference.
What did matter was the sense of excitement. Lupe was on her way to the Arctic Ocean! Last year she had almost been there, going all the way N to Deadhorse at the end of the Dalton Highway in Alaska. Loopster had been only half a dozen miles or so from Prudhoe Bay, but Dingoes hadn’t been allowed on the heavily restricted ocean tour, so she’d never actually seen it.
SPHP had taken the Arctic Ocean tour as Lupe’s personal representative. Nice, but that wasn’t the same as actually being there herself. Having traveled so far, the American Dingo had been forced to leave Deadhorse resigned to the notion that there was no way she was ever going to see the Arctic Ocean, despite how close she’d come to it.
And then, in April this year, SPHP happened upon the electrifying news that Highway 10 from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk had officially opened for the first time on November 15, 2017! Lupe could get to the Arctic Ocean, and not just on a brief guided tour. In Tuktoyaktuk, the Carolina Dog could go and hang out by the Arctic Ocean as long as she wanted to!
For years it had been possible to drive to Tuktoyaktuk from Inuvik, but only in the Arctic winter by taking an ice road on the frozen Mackenzie River. However, the frigid ice road was now history. Highway 10 was open all year around. And that meant 2018 was the first year ever when it was possible to drive clear to the Arctic Ocean in the summer at anywhere other than Deadhorse, Alaska.
Unrestricted access to the Arctic Ocean! That had changed everything. The Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood simply had to go! And so now here she was a year later, once again way up N of the Arctic Circle, this time in Canada’s Northwest Territories on brand new Hwy 10 heading for Tuktoyaktuk, Land of the Pingos, to see the Arctic Ocean for herself!
Exactly what Lupe would see on the way to Tuktoyaktuk was a mystery.
12:42 PM, Hwy 10, km 10 – Leaving Inuvik, Highway 10 went straight N. Off to the NNW, a low blue ridge could be seen in the distance. For a while, Lupe was getting closer to it. This ridge was part of the Caribou Hills along the E boundary of the giant Mackenzie River delta, only glimpses of which could be seen to the W.
12:54 PM – After going N for a while, Highway 10 turned NE away from the Mackenzie River and the Caribou Hills. Lupe was beyond any tall trees now. Only a few stunted trees remained, but plenty of tall bushes were still evident. Mostly, though, this was a region of gently rolling open tundra dotted with small lakes.
So far, the highway had been smooth. SPHP was easily able to drive the speed limit of 70 km per hour (43.5 mph). No amenities had been seen yet, not even a single pullout alongside the road.
1:28 PM, 53°F, Hwy 10, km 48 – Lupe had just gone by a sign saying 100 km to Tuktoyaktuk. The highway had deteriorated right after her last stop, becoming wet and soft. Ruts and potholes were forming, but even they were soft, not jarring. Hard and jarring might have been better. SPHP drove near the middle of the road in order to avoid the super soft shoulders. Getting stuck in the mud would not be good!
Out on the tundra, a last thin, scraggly forest struggled for survival.
1:43 PM – Thankfully, the road soon improved again. Not as soft or muddy. Lupe seemed to be going N or NNE most of the time. No more trees, but still a fair number of large bushes. To the NW, Loop could see a long ridge. Maybe still a part of the Caribou Hills? In any case, the ridge was far, far away. Still lots of lakes around, some of them larger than the lakes seen up to this point.
2:09 PM, Hwy 10, km 64.5 – The road has been good. Must be close to an airport. Loopster has been all excited about three fairly large airplanes flying low close to the road. The first one seemed to be landing, and the other two taking off. Three lakes are L of the road in a hilly area. Have also seen a much larger lake off to the NW, possibly Parsons Lake, and a huge one to the E.
2:33 PM, Hwy 10, km 80 – Passed a sign saying “Tuktoyaktuk 70” a couple of km back. Lupe is over halfway there! So far, so good. The road has swung E, and Loop has a better view of the huge lake ahead. Believe it is part of the Eskimo Lakes.
3:16 PM, Hwy 10, km 123 – Saw a sign in the rearview mirror saying 110 km to Inuvik a few km back. That puts Lupe only 35 km from Tuk!
SPHP had expected this territory to be almost perfectly flat, nothing but lakes connected by vast swamps, but up until now that hasn’t been the case. Loop has been traveling through an area of rolling hills. She has seen a great many small distinct lakes. Most don’t seem to be connected, sitting isolated from one another at different elevations in depressions surrounded by higher ground.
The terrain has recently flattened out, though. Off to the E, about 0.25 mile from the highway, is the first ice hill Lupe has seen. This is a pingo, another sign that the American Dingo is getting close to Tuktoyaktuk. Pingos are dome-shaped, earth-covered hills with a core of ice pushed up from the permafrost, and can be over 150 feet high. Most pingos look like isolated, over-grown anthills.
3:41 PM – Up ahead, Highway 10 passes between two lakes. Tuktoyaktuk has not appeared yet, but can’t be much farther.
3:59 PM, 50°F – Two pingos are in sight, one of them quite large. They sit beyond a lake, or what even might be an arm of the Arctic Ocean! A few buildings and towers of Tuktoyaktuk are in view. Almost there!
4:13 PM – The American Dingo has made it! Lupe has reached the Arctic Ocean! A commemorative sign welcomes her to Tuktoyaktuk, Land of the Pingos, but she isn’t quite to Tuk yet. The village is still a bit farther.
No matter. It’s a joyous moment! What had been impossible a year ago has come to pass. Loop and SPHP walk down to the edge of the Arctic Ocean to relish and capture the moment.
The village of Tuktoyaktuk was still another 5 km. Nearly surrounded by land, what Lupe had seen thus far at Tareoknitok Lagoon didn’t look like open ocean, which it wasn’t. Might as well go on to Tuk, and see what the Arctic Ocean looked like from there.
A little past the Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk sign was a side road on the L that went to the Pingo Canadian Landmark, a park that protects Ibyuk and 7 other pingos out of more than 1350 pingos known to exist in the Tuktoyaktuk region.
Lupe did not stop in at the Pingo Canadian Landmark just yet. SPHP kept driving. The next thing Lupe went by was the Tuktoyaktuk landfill. Not a good first impression, and a sad sight to behold.
No trees grow in the Tuktoyaktuk region, but a huge pile of driftwood was seen jammed up in a cove. The highway curved past a number of widely scattered long, boxy industrial buildings reminiscent of some of the things Lupe had seen in Deadhorse, Alaska last year.
Entering the village of Tuktoyaktuk, Highway 10 went past a big pond. A L turn onto Old Airport Road led to an another opportunity to get close to the ocean.
Tuktoyaktuk sits at the SE corner of Kugmallit Bay, a much larger bay of the Arctic Ocean than Tareoknitok Lagoon. This time Lupe really was next to the open ocean!
A little park at the far N end of Tuktoyaktuk at the end of Beaufort Road turned out to be an even better place to see the Arctic Ocean. This park was as far N as any road in Canada went, and apparently the area where tourists were supposed to go to see the ocean. Lupe was on a peninsula surrounded by water on 3 sides. Tuktoyaktuk Harbor was to the E, and Kugmallit Bay to the N and W.
Taktoyaktuk’s visitor information center was located in a small shack on the L (W) at the park entrance. Toward the R (E) was a monument to the Trans Canada Trail. Picnic tables with fire pits were set up right along the Arctic Ocean, and the park also featured an open air covered shelter.
Lupe went to check out the tiny visitor center. Dingoes were welcome! Lupe could come right in! The friendly young man staffing the center even awarded Loop with a certificate for having traveled the highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. The certificate had been pre-signed by the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, too.
SPHP was given a street map of Tuktoyaktuk and a brochure. The young man took the time to highlight the locations of various attractions and services available. Restaurants, bed and breakfasts, the grocery store, the gas station, churches, etc.
The park wasn’t crowded at all. Only a few vehicles here, but the young man at the visitor information center said that response to the opening of the all-season road to Tuktoyaktuk this first year had been above and beyond all expectations. Day use of the park and its facilities were still free, but on August 1st, they had started to charge $20 per night for tents or overnight parking.
Since use of the picnic tables was free, Lupe and SPHP went and claimed one. Dinner by the Arctic Ocean! So much fun! Lupe met a local dog that may or may not have been a stray. The dog was friendly, and for a while things went well, but when her new friend showed a keen interest in Lupe’s Alpo, the Carolina Dog bared her fangs.
To prevent a fight, SPHP persuaded Lupe to get in the G6. The other dog was bigger, and Loop was quite happy to comply. She could have her Alpo in peace, and still see the ocean.
When SPHP first heard about the all-season highway to Tuktoyaktuk, a big dream had been not only for Lupe to see the Arctic Ocean, but that maybe she would even be able to walk for miles along the beach. Maps of the area, and what Lupe had seen once she got here, had sort of ruled that possibility out. The shoreline was irregularly shaped, interrupted by many coves, some of which were in people’s backyards, boggy, and/or otherwise inaccessible.
That didn’t mean there might not be somewhere to explore the ocean, other than at the small park. After dinner, Lupe and SPHP set out to see if such a place could be found. Heading back S along Beaufort Road, Lupe went on by the visitor information center. A little farther on the L was a big wooden ship, Our Lady of Lourdes, which had once upon a time plied these waters.
After passing a few houses, Lupe came to a cemetery with a white picket fence on the R (W) side of Beaufort Road. S of the cemetery, a side road led toward an apartment building. By going around to the back side of the apartments and continuing S, Lupe was able to reach a nice stretch of ocean shoreline.
Loop and SPHP proceeded slowly S along a beach of small stones. What a remarkable evening! Here was Lupe, sniffing and exploring along the Arctic Ocean at the far N edge of the continent!
Waves rolled in on a gentle breeze. The beach was gray. The ocean was gray. Most of the sky was gray, too, except where the unseen sun colored a few clouds yellow off to the NW. Some of the same pingos Lupe had seen on the way into Tuk were in view.
No one else was out here walking the beach. Lupe did come to a lady from Tuktoyaktuk, who was busy cooking hot dogs and making s’mores on a driftwood fire for 4 girls. One of the girls, Lydia, was quite smitten with Lupe. Since Dingoes are fans of love and praise, the Carolina Dog graciously allowed Lydia to pet her and speak kindly to her.
Meanwhile, SPHP asked where all the driftwood came from since no trees grew around here? The woman said all the driftwood floats down the Mackenzie River, and gets carried to Tuk by currents, or during storms or windy days.
The shoreline eventually curved back to the E toward some houses. This was about as far as Lupe could go.
On the way back, SPHP picked out a stone for Lupe to keep as a souvenir of her evening stroll along Kugmallit Bay. The stone was tan with a few white stripes and a white spot. It was rounded and fairly smooth, but had little pock marks, too. Nothing too extraordinary about it, except where it came from.
Walking slowly, the whole stroll along the Arctic Ocean took only a little over an hour. Still, it was a wonderful time. The evening was drawing to a close, though. Lupe and SPHP left Tuktoyaktuk, and went to the Pingo Canadian Landmark near the welcome sign on the way into town.
Lupe saw a beautiful sunset over Tareoknitok Lagoon before settling in for the night. What a memorable day for the American Dingo! Looper’s Arctic Ocean adventures in the Land of the Pingos weren’t over yet, though. Tomorrow she would have all day to explore Tuktoyaktuk, and take another stroll along Kugmallit Bay.
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
Deadhorse Alaska – the Arctic Ocean Tour & Sagavanirktok River Walk, Alaska (8-21-17)
Want more Lupe adventures? Choose from Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska Adventure Index, Dingo Vacations Adventure Index or Master Adventure Index. Or subscribe free to new Lupe adventures.