Tag: Inuvik

Part 2 of Day 15 & Part 1 of Day 16 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!

8-18-18, 3:11 PM, Dempster Highway km 465.0, boundary of the Yukon Territory & Northwest Territories – Reaching Wright Pass (3,133 ft.) was a momentous occasion!  For the first time, The Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood stood gazing E into the mysterious Northwest Territories, and saw – nothing.

Not exactly nothing, but so close to it, that it amounted to the same thing.  Fog!  Nothing, but fog.

American Dingoes are explorers and adventurers by nature.  However, they prefer to be fair weather friends with the great outdoors, and this wasn’t it.  The 40 mph W wind driving the cold, damp fog over Wright Pass felt frigid.  Didn’t take Looper long to see all the fog she needed to see!  The Northwest Territories could remain a land of mystery a bit longer.  Against the gale, Lupe and SPHP retreated to the G6.

Too bad conditions weren’t better.  Peak 3850, an easy climb on a decent day, was just S of Wright Pass.  Better yet, Mount Sittichinli (5,164 ft.), the high point of the entire Richardson Range was only 12 km N.  Neither were going to happen today, though, that much was clear.

May as well forget peakbagging.  No sense in just sitting here waiting.  Who knew how long the weather might stay like this?  272 km (169 miles) to Inuvik!  Onward!  SPHP fired up the G6, and Lupe’s adventures in the Northwest Territories were underway.

3:27 PM – Loop had scarcely left Wright Pass when SPHP drove out of the fog.  The Northwest Territories!  There they were, right outside the window.  Had to stop for this!

A magical scene greeted the Carolina Dog.  Beneath an ocean of gray clouds, a pale yellow-green land, barely brightened by feeble, filtered Arctic sunlight, sloped away toward low hills and dimly perceived mountains on a horizon still obscured by fog.  The impression was one of untouched remote beauty, a severe peace and solitude, and perhaps most of all, of unpredictability.

Was it going to rain?  Was the sun was about to break through?  Or was this contest between shadowy gloom and hopeful brilliance destined to an endless ebb and flow?  Hard to say.  The Northwest Territories looked like mystery and adventure, a land where anything might happen!

SPHP congratulated Lupe on reaching the Northwest Territories, then it was back on the road again.  The Dempster Highway wound NE, at first out onto open territory, but then back into the mountains again for a while.  From a peakbagging standpoint, what could be seen from the highway was encouraging.  The Richardson Mountains were not rugged.  On a clear day, the Carolina Dog ought to be able to climb almost any peak she wanted to attempt.

The road itself was a bit of a surprise.  The Dempster Highway had been firm, but rough back in the Yukon.  Here in the Northwest Territories, the highway looked virtually brand new.  Wide and smooth, and covered with plenty of gravel.  If anything, the Dempster Highway was almost too soft, especially near the shoulders.  With little traffic to worry about, SPHP simply drove near the middle.

4:17 PM – Even before the highway left the Richardson Mountains for good, there had been signs the cloud cover might be beginning to break up.  A few miles beyond the mountains out in open territory again, Lupe basked in sunshine for the first time in 2 days near a small lake.

Was this Midway Lake?  Didn’t seem to be.  The little lake was a pretty spot, but not very big.  No signs or facilities, either.

The road was drier and firmer here.  Must not have rained nearly so much as back in the Yukon.

4:40 PM – A few km past the small lake, Lupe did see Midway Lake S of the highway.  Midway Lake was considerably larger, but SPHP hadn’t stopped for it.  From up on a ridge a few km farther on, the terrain sloped gradually down to forested lowlands to the E.  Somewhere out there was the Peel River, formed by the union of the Blackstone and Ogilvie Rivers, which Lupe had already come to back in the Yukon.

Beyond the ridge, the highway lost elevation.  The road finally made a sharp curve to the R (SE), and went down an escarpment marking the edge of the Peel River floodplain.  Once down, the highway curved back to the L (E), and passed between a couple of lakes.

The American Dingo was ready for another sniff, so SPHP parked along the highway.  Together Loop and SPHP took a quick stroll back to see the lakes.  Both lakes were larger than the sunny one Lupe had stopped at a little while ago.  Exactly how big they were was impossible to tell.  Thick forest lining the shorelines hid at least part of each lake from view.

Satisfied with her inspection, Lupe returned to the G6.

5:24 PM, NWT km 74, Peel River – A couple of vehicles had gone by as Looper made her exploratory trek back along the highway to see the lakes.  Upon returning to the G6, it turned out that the Peel River was just ahead.  The only way across the river is aboard the MV Abraham Francis ferry, a free service.  Both of the vehicles that had gone by were already aboard.

The ferry was about to leave, but SPHP was instantly waved forward.  The ruts in the bank of the Peel River were so deep that the G6 scraped bottom.  No damage was done, and the G6 managed to make it up the boarding ramp to barely squeeze in behind the other vehicles.  Lupe was aboard the MV Abraham Francis!

Before she even realized what was happening, the Carolina Dog was crossing the Peel River!  The whole process took only a minute or two.  The ferry ride was so smooth, that only by looking out at the scenery was it possible to tell that the ferry was moving at all.

Once disembarked on the far shore, SPHP parked the G6 so Lupe could go check out the Peel River.  As wide as the river was, it was amazing how quickly the ferry had crossed it.

2 km E of the Peel River, Lupe had a good time sniffing during a stop for water at the Nitainlaii Territorial Park campground.  At NWT km 86, a drive-through tour of Fort McPherson made less of an impression on her.  The drive continued as the Dempster Highway headed E through lowlands that the map showed were full of lakes and swamps.  However, Lupe saw little except forest until she reached the Mackenzie River.

7:22 PM, 56°F, NWT km 142, Mackenzie River – The Mackenzie River was enormous, even larger than the Peel River!  Not really a surprise.  The Mackenzie drains nearly 20% of Canada, and is the largest river in North America that flows into the Arctic Ocean.

The Dempster Highway reaches the Mackenzie River just downstream of its confluence with the Arctic Red River.  Approaching the Mackenzie, Lupe could see a short section of the Arctic Red.  On a bluff overlooking the Arctic Red River, the village of Tsiigehtchic was in sight.

Lupe was in for another free ferry ride!  The MV Louis Cardinal ferry serves 3 points on the Mackenzie river – the Dempster Highway on both sides of the river, and the village of Tsiigehtchic.  Without the ferry, the village would be completely isolated from the Dempster, or any other highway system.

This time, there was a bit of a wait for the MV Louis Cardinal to arrive.  Loopster took this opportunity to escape the G6 for a closer look at the magnificent Mackenzie River.

Crossing the Mackenzie River aboard the MV Louis Cardinal was another fun, incredibly smooth ride.  The trip across the giant Mackenzie took a little longer than at the Peel River, but was still soon over.

The Dempster Highway now headed N.  E of the Mackenzie River, Lupe was in a region of flat, featureless wetlands.  Forests of Black Spruce and Tamarack lined the highway for miles, generally concealing ponds and lakes from view.  Intermittent light rain fell.

8:40 PM, 52°F, NWT km 178, Rengling River – The only significant change in scenery came at the Rengling River valley.  The Rengling River was so pretty, and so different from the rest of this region, that SPHP stopped to let Lupe out of the G6 for a few minutes.

After crossing the bridge over the Rengling River, the Dempster Highway climbed right back out of the river valley.  Lupe’s journey N on the dull flatlands resumed.

9:20 PM, 52°F, NWT km 207(?) – Since leaving the Arctic Circle, there had been no rest areas along the Dempster Highway.  Other than infrequent villages, campgrounds, and highway maintenance areas, rare pullouts and occasional unmarked side roads been about the only places to get off the highway.

It was getting late.  When SPHP spotted a wide parking pad tucked into the forest on the W side of the highway, that was it!  Lupe could stay there for the night.  Still enough daylight to take a nice little walk, too.

From the end of the parking pad, an overgrown abandoned road led into the forest.  Lupe was quite happy exploring it, but didn’t get far.  Swarms of mosquitoes put an end to her parking pad forest adventure, as SPHP insisted upon retreating to the G6 for the night.

8-19-18, 7:50 AM, NWT km 207(?) – Daylight in the swamps!  Yeah, well, the Carolina Dog could just forget about any mosquito-infested stroll this morning.  Her overnight parking pad was quickly abandoned.  Back on the road N again!  However, since Loop had been cooped up in the G6 most of the last day and a half, SPHP kept an eye out for an opportunity to let her burn off some energy.

8:25 AM, NWT km 232, Tithegeh Chii Vitaii overlook, Gwich’in Territorial Park – Happily, an opportunity came sooner rather than later.  At the top of a rise, a parking area appeared on the L (W) side of the highway.  A sign said this was the Tithegeh Chii Vitaii territorial viewpoint.

There was nothing to be seen from right along the highway, but a real trail, not a fake mosquito one, disappeared into the bush.  Information posted at the trailhead indicated that the trail was supposed to lead to a view of Campbell Lake from bluffs several hundred feet above it.

Lupe was all for exploring the trail, and it didn’t sound like a bad idea to SPHP, either.  Why not?  Looper needed to get out and do something.

Lupe had scarcely begun when she came to a junction.  A map posted back at the trailhead had shown that the fork to the R was a shorter spur trail, presumably to a nearby viewpoint.  The fork to the L would lead to a longer loop overlooking Campbell Lake.

Since long was what the American Dingo wanted, she went L.  With a name like Loopster, she was going to do the whole loop.

The trail made a gradual descent, crossing a boardwalk over a marshy spot.  Within 5 minutes, Lupe reached a second fork.  Again she went L, taking the long way to Campbell Lake, though it hardly mattered which way she went, since this was where the loop trail began.

A long boardwalk led up a hillside.

Sometimes on boardwalks over wet spots, or stairs on steeper terrain, but most often just on the ground, the trail led through a boreal forest.  Loopster came to a line of cliffs, perhaps overlooking an ancient river channel, for another parallel set of cliffs was nearby.  There wasn’t much to see yet, although at one point Lupe caught a glimpse of the Dempster Highway back to the E beyond a lake.

The trail went SW for a while, but eventually turned W.  Lupe mostly gained elevation at an easy pace.  When the trail began to level out, she started getting some views.  The Carolina Dog had made it to a line of bluffs overlooking the far S end of Campbell Lake.

Even farther S was another big bluff, a continuation of the line of cliffs Lupe was already on top of.  To the W was a gray and green patchwork of low islands, swamps, and open water.

This view was intriguing.  On the Dempster Highway, Lupe had been traveling through lowlands which looked very much like this on maps, but all she had seen from the G6 was forest.  These bluffs enabled her to actually see the pattern of wetlands from a bird’s-eye view.

The trail turned N.  By now it had deteriorated to the point where it was braided and much harder to follow, but the American Dingo could tell where it was going.  For a while, she continued to gain elevation as she followed the line of cliffs.  The farther N she went, the more she could see of Campbell Lake.

The best view of Campbell Lake wasn’t from the highest point, but at the far N end.  From across the lake, a cool, humid W breeze swept over this viewpoint.  The sky was uniformly gray.  Campbell Lake stretched away to the N beyond vision.

And that was about it.  From here, a long stairway led down to a valley.  At the base of the stairs, a much shorter section of trail than the way Lupe had come led back to the highway.

Even at a leisurely pace, the whole trek to see Campbell Lake had taken only a little over an hour.  3 km farther along the Dempster Highway (NWT km 235.0) SPHP spotted an entrance to the Gwich’in Territorial Park campground.  A short drive through the campground, which was open, but seemingly deserted, led to an access point along the E shore.

Having seen Campbell Lake from on high, Lupe went down to a plastic floating dock to experience the lake up close.

August, yet not a soul was around.  No boats on the lake.  No activity at all.  Small waves rocked the dock only a little.  A landlubber at heart, the Carolina Dog abandoned the dock to sniff along the shore.

11:05 AM, NWT km 266.0 at Jak Park – Satisfied with her tour of Campbell Lake, Lupe returned to the Dempster Highway.  Her next stop was at Jak Territorial  Park where a 10 meter high lookout tower provides views of the Mackenzie River delta and Richardson Mountains.

Unfortunately, although the campground was open, the lookout tower was not.  It had fallen into disrepair.  Although the tower looked sturdy enough, access was blocked.

11:25 AM, NWT km 272.0, Inuvik – At Jak Territorial Park the end was near.  6 km farther, the American Dingo reached the official end of the Dempster Highway.  She was 737 km from where the Dempster had started E of Dawson City in the Yukon Territory.

Naturally, a quick stop was mandatory at the commemorative sign on the outskirts of Inuvik.  After that, Lupe would be free to explore Inuvik, the only town (population ~ 3,500) amounting to more than a tiny village along the entire Dempster Highway.

In Inuvik, signs listed a number of attractions, including the Western Arctic Visitor Center, the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, Ingamo Hall, a golf course, a campground and more.

Most of these attractions weren’t going to be Dingo friendly.  Lupe settled on Our Lady of Victory Parish, also known as the Igloo Church, as what she most wanted to see while in Inuvik.  Loopster couldn’t go in, but she could at least sit on the steps outside.  The igloo-shaped exterior was what made the church famous in the first place, anyway.

A year ago, Inuvik, at end of the Dempster Highway, would have been it.  No way to go farther N except by boat, plane, or the winter ice road on the frozen Mackenzie River.  However, in November, 2017, a brand new all-season highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk had opened up!  In 2018, for the first time ever, it was possible to drive N all the way to Tuk from Inuvik in the summer.

The G6 guzzled expensive gas ($1.77 CAN/liter) at the North Wind gas station, and then, at 12:25 PM (55°F), the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood left Inuvik heading N on the new all-season highway.

140 km (87 miles) to Tuktoyaktuk, land of the Pingos, and the Arctic Ocean!

Links:

Next Adventure                    Prior Adventure

The Dempster Highway Travelogue Guide

Northwest Territories Ferry Information

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