To the Arctic Circle! – Return of the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood (8-16-19 & 8-17-19)

Days 12 & 13 of Lupe’s 2019 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!

8-16-19, 6:02 AM, 36ºF, at the Mount Haldane trailhead – Chili bean!  Chilly enough to fire the G6 up to get the heater going.  Might as well drive a bit.  Minutes after waking, Lupe was headed S on the Silver Trail.

Mostly cloudy, with darker stuff to the W.  SPHP didn’t drive far, 15 km?  After crossing the Minto Bridge over the Mayo River, SPHP pulled into the rest stop on the other side.  Chili for breakfast.  American Dingoes love chili!  Lupe happily scarfed down her share.  SPHP moved the G6 close to the river where she could watch a flotilla of ducks.

The sky darkened.  Mist, then rain.  Hah!  The decision to climb Mount Haldane (6,023 ft.) yesterday had been a good one!  A beautiful day hadn’t gone to waste.  Apparently, if yesterday had been spent driving to get into position for a different peak this morning, Loopster would have gotten rained out anyway.  As it was, after two big days of peakbagging in a row, a lazy day was in order.  Let it rain all it wanted!

8-16-19, 3:36 PM, 57ºF, Silver Trail at the Minto Bridge rest area – Rain tapering off, and the trip journal caught up.  About to get underway again!

8-16-19, 4:09 PM, 51ºF, Five Mile Lakes campground – No rain here!  Still heavily overcast, though.  Lupe got out for a look at the lake.  Nice, but certainly nowhere near five miles long or across.  The name must come from being five miles N of Mayo.  Turned out that the picnic ground was at a separate location a short drive from the campground.

The picnic ground was empty when Lupe arrived.  The lake wasn’t far away, but wasn’t in view, either.  No matter.  SPHP heated up a can of clam chowder for supper.  American Dingoes aren’t thrilled with clam chowder.  Loopster sniffed around the edges of the boreal forest and found a squirrel to bark at instead.

8-16-19, 7:42 PM, Gravel Lake – Lupe’s 2019 Silver Trail adventures were behind her now.  Along the N Klondike Highway, a short stop was made for a look at Gravel Lake.  Big, round, and probably shallow, Gravel Lake appeared to be merely an over-sized pond.

However, a plaque about lodgepole pines contained amazing information.  These days Gravel Lake is about as far N as lodgepole pines are found in the Yukon, but 1,000,000 years ago they grew as far N as Old Crow.  The virtually unbelievable part was that lodgepole pine seeds can remain dormant for 10,000 years before sprouting!

8-16-19, 8:31 PM, 55 ºF, at the start of the Dempster Highway – At the S end of the Dempster Highway, SPHP fueled the G6 up at the automated gas station.  No quibbling about price, even if one wanted to.  Not a good place to get stingy, anyway.  Last chance for gas between here and Eagle Plains – 369 unpaved km away!

In 2018, Lupe had traveled the entire 737 km Dempster Highway all the way to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.  She had even pressed on taking the new all-season road (Hwy 10) to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean, 845 km from here!  Whether the Carolina Dog would get that far on this Dingo Vacation or not wasn’t decided yet.  Adventures were in the works as far as the Richardson Mountains N of the Arctic Circle.  Beyond that, the crystal ball was hazy.

At any rate, the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood was on her way back to the true Arctic!  To commemorate the occasion, she stopped by the big Dempster Highway sign before heading N.

8-16-19, 9:39 PM, 50 ºF near Dempster Highway km 26 – Now that it was about over, Loopster saw the first hint of blue sky she’d seen all day.  For a moment sunshine was on a hillside!  Encouraging, although the sun never appeared.  The Ogilvie Mountains were coming into view ahead!  SPHP found a spot to park, so Lupe could get out for a look.

Far enough!  Still light out, but time to call it a day.  With a little luck, the Ogilvie Mountains would be out of the clouds tomorrow.  Although she’d snoozed for hours in the G6, Lupe went right back to preparing for Mount Chester Henderson (6,300 ft.) in the morning.

Not long after dark, though, the mist returned.  Then rain.  Not good.

8-17-19, 6:50 AM, 36 ºF – What’s this?  A clear blue sky!  Awesome!  Full of optimism the American Dingo hit the road N.  Soon she reached the S boundary of Tombstone Territorial Park.  Sunlight was visible on the peaks of the Ogilvie Mountains, yet the sky was much hazier than just a short while ago.  Trees were swaying in a lively breeze.

8-17-19, 8:14 AM, 32 ºF, km 71.5 of the Dempster Highway at the Tombstone Interpretive Centre – What a change!  Cold, windy, with new snow on the mountains.  Mount Chester Henderson lost in the clouds.  The interpretive center didn’t open until 9:00 AM.  A weather forecast posted outside showed sunny with highs of 12 ºC and lows of 0 ºC the next several days, but that was for Dawson City, not here.

No local forecast, but there was one for where Lupe was ultimately heading – km 450 of the Dempster Highway.  That had to be Wright Pass in the Richardson Mountains on the border of the Northwest Territories, or close to it!  Unsurprisingly, the Wright Pass forecast wasn’t as good as Dawson City’s – highs of 3 or 4 ºC with lows of -3 to 1 ºC today and the next 3 days.  Most days cloudy with periods of rain or snow.

So what did you find out, SPHP?

Mainly that we should wait for the interpretive center to open, Loop.  The forecast for Dawson City, which isn’t too far away, is decent, but that’s way down by the Yukon River.  Maybe the rangers can tell us a little more about what to expect up here?

Breakfast was lukewarm.  The cold wind made it nearly impossible to heat anything up.  SPHP returned to the interpretive centre shortly after it opened.  A surprisingly busy place, but that was due to the weather.  Everyone was cancelling hikes and backpacking trips, and wondering what else there was to do?

A local forecast?  Nothing official, but the ranger SPHP talked to said to expect little change.  Overcast, high temps near freezing, and a 60% chance of rain or snow every day for the next 3 days.  Improving after that.  They did have a new extended forecast for Wright Pass, which was at least somewhat encouraging.

What’s the verdict, SPHP?

What we see is going to stick around awhile, Loop.

Mount Chester Henderson isn’t happening then, is it?

Nope, don’t even want to leave the G6 in this frigid wind.  No point in it, anyway, with the mountain up in the clouds.  Same situation for anything else we might consider around here.

So what now?

I’m pondering that, Looper.  Seems we’ve simply hit it wrong.  Our timing is off.  The safe bet is to just chalk it up to bad luck and head for Alaska.  Somewhere skies are blue!

We’ve come such a long way, though, SPHP!  Are we really going to give up on everything we were going to do along the Dempster Highway just like that?  Aren’t there any other options?

Yeah, we could just sit here or go to Dawson City waiting for the weather to improve, but that’s not in the cards for at least 4 more days.  Even then, no guarantees.  Only one other thing I can think of, but it’s a gamble.  We could keep heading N.  Things aren’t any better in the Richardsons, but if we can make it over Wright Pass, we could probably go all the way back to the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk!

Oh, the Arctic Ocean would be grand!  And that would chew up a few days, SPHP!  Maybe it would warm up by the time we headed S again?  We might still get a shot at climbing a mountain or two in the Richardson Range!

Exactly, Loopster!  The extended forecast does show improvement at Wright Pass on the 21st – sunny and 9 ºC.  Cloudy with showers the next day, but then mostly sunny and 11 ºC on the 23rd.

And even if none of that works out, remember Greg and Svetlana from Mount Lorne?  They invited us to go to Grizzly Lake with them on the 23rd here in Tombstone Territorial Park.  Maybe that would work?

Certainly a possibility.  So what do you want to do, Loop?

Well, as the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood, I feel some responsibility to make an effort to return to the true arctic.  Can we just keep going N and see how things turn out?  Not many Dingoes have ever been to the Arctic Ocean twice!

You can say that again!  Darn few have been there even once!  Actually, if we get there, you will have almost made it to the Arctic Ocean 3 times.  Remember Deadhorse, Alaska?  Since they didn’t allow Dingoes, I had to take the Arctic Ocean tour as your personal representative, but you were within only a few miles of the Arctic Ocean then, too.  Alrighty, then.  I sort of feel the same way you do.  Shall we gamble?

Onward, SPHP!

Cold and windy out, but road conditions were fine.  Even beneath leaden skies, the scenery was spectacular!  No rush on such a day.  The G6 made many stops at favorite points.  The first was at the famous viewpoint overlooking the North Klondike River valley only a couple of km beyond the interpretive centre.  On a clear day, Tombstone Mountain (7,192 ft.) could be seen at the far end.

This wasn’t a clear day.

The Carolina Dog went past Goldensides, over North Fork Pass, and saw the lower slopes of Angelcomb Peak.

8-17-19, 11:39 AM, 30 ºF, Dempster Hwy km 95 (Bubbly Pond) – A longer stop was made at the Bubbly Pond pullout, the lower portion of a two-tier parking area on the E side of the Dempster Highway.  Even colder here, but low enough to be protected from the wind, so it didn’t seem bad at all.

Lupe got a chance to sniff through the bushes, play with a stick, and show off how fast she could run!  Naturally she visited the bubbly pond, too.  Before hitting the Dempster Highway again, she topped it all off with a leisurely counter-clockwise sniff clear around the perimeter of the big parking area.

Surfbird Mountain (km 98) was low enough to be out of the clouds and had only a skiff of snow.  Farther on, Loopster made stops at the E Blackstone River rest area (km 107) E of Peak 5262 and Chapman Lake.

The Carolina Dog barked at wild horses in the E Blackstone River, but they were too far away to even look up.

Despite the endless gloomy sky, optimism grew.  All was well!  The G6 rolled on.  So much fun to see these incredible places again!  Lupe had been this far N on the Dempster Highway only once, but that had been just a year ago.  Memory was still fresh.  Suddenly being here again felt fantastic!  If only the weather would turn, fabulous adventures awaited!

A quick stop at Windy Pass (km 152) recalled the tremendous day Lupe had climbing Windy Pass Peak, Distincta Peak, and Peak 5906 last year.  The Carolina Dog also got a chance to stretch her legs at scenic Engineer Creek (km 168 & 172) and the bridge over the Ogilvie River.

Shortly after passing Churchward Hill (km 225), the situation began to change.  A light rain set in.  No problem, at first, but Seven Mile Hill where the Dempster Highway climbs out of the Ogilvie River valley wasn’t much farther, and proved to be muddy and slick.  Low traction caused the G6 to struggle and slip.  No guardrails.  A tad unnerving!

Snow was in the air by the time Lupe reached the Ogilvie Ridge rest area (km 259) at the top of Seven Mile Hill.  Not sticking much … yet.

I don’t know, Looper.  We better talk about this.

Thinking about turning around, SPHP?  We got up Seven Mile Hill alright.

Yeah, we were doing great, but now it appears we’re heading into weather.  Hasn’t been a speck of blue sky all day.  Rain is one thing, but the snow scares me.  We’ve got 5/8 of a full tank.  If we go much farther, we won’t have any choice, but to continue on to the Eagle Plains hotel where the next fuel is.  If we wait too long to turn around, we won’t have enough fuel to get back.  The G6 isn’t any good in snow.  If conditions worsen, we might easily end up stranded.

How much farther to the Eagle Plains hotel?

Still 110 km to go.  Will take hours bumping along at a snail’s pace.

Can we stay at the hotel, if we get there, SPHP?

Sure, if they’re got room.

Well, we can go a little farther, can’t we?  If it starts snowing harder, we’ll turn around having given it our best shot!  If things improve or stay about the same, we can head for the hotel.  How’s that?

A little dicey, but makes some sense.  At least there aren’t any more hills as big as Seven Mile Hill before we get to the Eagle Plains hotel.  OK, we’ll go a bit farther and see what happens.

8-17-19, 4:05 PM, 35 ºF crossing the Eagle Plains – No turning back now!  Not enough fuel.  A mix of snow and rain all the way since leaving Ogilvie Ridge.  Fortunately, still warm enough so nothing was sticking.  The Dempster Highway was a rough, pot holey, sloppy mess, but firm.  The G6 crept along, jolting and splooshing through the puddles.

Despite how slowly SPHP was driving, no vehicle going N passed the G6.  Scarcely any traffic at all.  Occasionally a vehicle heading S appeared.  Lupe actually had a few peakbagging objectives along in here, minor hills that should have been easy climbs, but SPHP couldn’t even find them in this weather.  Not leaving the highway in this cold, foggy soup, anyway.  No way!

8-17-19, 5:38 PM, 33 ºF, Eagle Plains hotel – Nothing dramatic happened.  Just a dreary, damp, marginally above freezing day.  The G6 made it!  At Eagle Plains fuel was $1.70 CAN per liter, roughly $4.95 US per gallon.  A bargain.  Fill ‘er up!  Confidence restored.

Any rooms available?  Yes!  $160 CAN per night, tax included.  Sounds good!  Only one person?  Yep, and a Dingo.  Sorry, no pets.  We have 2 pet friendly rooms, but both are taken.

No soft warm bed.  No spacious room.  Lupe was crushed.

A check of the latest weather forecast on display in the hotel wasn’t as good as the one back at the Tombstone Interpretive Center.  One day of sunshine ahead 4 days from now with a high of 6 ºC.  The next day 8 ºC, but cloudy.  Then a 10 ºC day, but rainy.  Until then 3 more days of gloom with rain, snow, and temperatures within plus or minus a few degrees of freezing.

Only one thing to do.

8-17-19, 7:03 PM, 33 ºF, windy, leaving the Eagle Plains hotel – 36 km to go.  Barely raining now, so the road was a bit drier.  After crossing the Eagle River, the G6 had an easier time climbing the steep hill out of the valley than last year.  Kms clicked away.  The lower, snow-covered slopes of the Richardson Mountains came into view.

The Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood was coming!

8-17-19, 8:18 PM, 33 ºF, breezy at the Arctic Circle (km 405) –

Congratulations, Loopster!  You’ve made it back to the true arctic for the 4th year running!

Thank you, SPHP!  The mountains are all snowy!

Yeah, and the forecast is lousy.  Not going to stand much chance of getting any peakbagging done in the Richardsons.  Maybe Peak 3850 just S of Wright Pass on the way back from the Arctic Ocean?  That’s about it.

We’re going on to Tuktoyaktuk?

All depends on if we can make it over Wright Pass tomorrow.  If we can, I think you’ll be seeing the Land of the Pingos again.  Still a long way, but we’ve already come so far.  Why not go for it?

The American Dingo was more than willing.

The plan was to stay at the huge pullout at the Arctic Circle rest area for the night.  Lupe hadn’t been here too long, though, before it began to snow lightly.

8-17-19, 9:50 PM, 32 ºF, at the Arctic Circle – A few vehicles had come out of the N.  SPHP had been chatting with several people who stopped.  Two women had just come from Inuvik.  They’d made it over Wright Pass, but the road was treacherously muddy and slick coming up from Rock Creek.  A man made it over the pass, too, but had picked up a nail in a tire.  Had to stop every 20 km to air it up with a compressor.  He agreed that Rock Creek was a mess.

A friendly family in a motorhome were the only ones still heading N.  Still optimistic, they encouraged Lupe before continuing on their way.

The last tail lights disappeared.  Twilight fading.  Alone at the Arctic Circle!  A year ago, it had rained incessantly all night here.  Fortunately, it had been just warm enough.  A degree or two colder, and there would have been feet, not inches, of snow.  No telling how long the G6 might have been stranded.  Hadn’t happened, though.  The next morning Lupe had pressed on, eventually getting all the way to the Arctic Ocean.

Outside the G6, the snowflakes racing by in the wind were now huge.  The ground was white.  An inch already.  Snowing hard and sticking!  Almost no visibility.  Close to blizzard conditions.  If this kept up …

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