Dempster Highway to the tip of Canada

Jumping into Troopy we hit the Dempster Highway, 736km to the tip of Canada ending at Inuvik.  The Dempster highway opened is 1979 and is a road built on a thick base of gravel ranging from 2 to 4 metres high so as to insulate the permafrost in the soil underneath.

It was a very long day taking us 14 hours but the joy of travelling the Dempster was no doubt the scenery. We were blessed with a perfect day of sunshine so travelling conditions as far as the road and comfort for us could not have been better.

Our first stop was at the interpreative centre as we entered Tombstone Park. The point where the truly wild scenery began. The road winds its way around the stark mountains of Ogilvie and Richardson ranges.  A Grizzly bear came running down from the hill, stood up to view what was ahead of him and crossed the road in front of us disappearing back into the bushes.

Our half way stop was at Eagle plains just south of the Artic Circle. The Demster highway is the only road that crosses the Artic cirlce in Canada. Further along we left the Yukon territory  and going into the North West Terrirtories which was when we had to turn our clocks forward. There were two bridge crosses, one across the Olgilvie and the second the Eagle river however crossing of the Peel River and the Artic red river River are both by ferries, a free services. Our last hour of travel was through the Mckenzie Delta  until we reached Inuvik – "the town of ceaseless sunlight". This town is modern, with the highlight being its multi rainbow coloured  buildings. There was good facilities so finding a hotel was not a problem even at our 11pm arrival.  

The following morning we visited the tourist office, had a look through the town and by late afternoon we had commenced our 736 km return trip. Eagles Plains hotel became our overnight stop where we had dinner and a relax in the lounge.  While there a black bear came up to the hotel entrance, peered at us through the glass door so it was a quick dash to the room to retrieve the camera to capture the moment. We got some shots as he was heading back to the bush.

As it had rained our return trip was not as good, the road a little slushy but had dried out a little overnight so not slippery, just rough and rutted from cars travelling it while wet. In areas there was a lot of low lying cloud so our views were hindered but it did not matter, we still saw another grizzly bear, a fox and a range of bird life.

Arriving back at the RV mid afternoon, it was a wash and tidy up of the vehicles before continuing a short distance along the Klondike highway to camp for the night.   Another great experience...  one we would like to do again but in a different season, when the rivers are iced over and become the roads.

    



Artic Circle



Artic Fox



Bear Food



Bush Squirrell





Black bear near Eagle Plains Hotel

 


Bear running away from hotel

 

Capitol Suites Hotel Inuvik



Dempster Hwy



Dempster Highway



Cotton Wood Tree



Eagle Plains Hotel



Ferry Across the Red Artic River

Dempster Highway

Grizzly

Grizzly crossing road

Igloo Church at Inuvik

In front of inuvik Visitors Centre



Thought we had a white troopy



View over range

Road built above permafrost



Rainbow colours of Inuvik



The delta



Ferry across the Peel River

Ogilvie Ridge





We have reached the end of the Dempster

Wildflowers along the Dempster



Houses of Inuvik



Northern Territories



Banks of  Red Artic River  

Birds on the Mckenzie River

Sparrows made there home on the ferry



Rv stored at Klondike Lodge



The Ranges



Across theMckenzie River is Tsiigechic




Mckenzie River



Dempster Hwy




Iron ore Spring

  


Ogilvie River







The Delta

Overlooking Mckenzie Delta from Jak Park

  

Fairbanks to Dawson City

We headed out of Fairbanks on the Richardson highway 12 miles reaching the town of North Pole where Christmas is celebrated all year round.  The holiday theme is found all over town. Streets are named after Santa, frosty the snowman and Blitzen the reindeer. Street lights are candy canes, wreathes and ornaments are displayed on home doors. We visited Santa at his house, looked at all the range of decorations on display and viewed his reindeers in the yard out the back. 

Every Christmas thousands of letters arrive addressed to Santa at the North Pole. Volunteers help to answer each childs letter.

We made our way to Delta Junction which is where the Alaskan highway officially finishes. The Delta is an agriculture area with Barley the major grain grown. There are also small scale animal farms such as elk, reindeer, yak and bison with the average farm size being 500 acres. 

We turned onto the Alaskan highway at Delta travelling this highway through to Tok which is where we completed its 1422 miles. Having stayed overnight at Tok a few weeks ago we did not spend much time here. We purchased some spare globes that were needed for the RV front head lights before making our way to Dawson City along  the Top of the World Highway.

Along this road we said our goodbyes to Alaska as we crossed the Canadian border into Yukon Terrirtory. The travel was slow along this gravel narrow winding road, following the top of the mountains and ridges.  The highway aptly named, as we did feel like we were on the top of the world, the views of beautiful vistas and alpine valleys were magnificent. Crossing the border we had to put our clocks forward one hour.

We stopped off at the small gold mining community of Chicken which is halfway between  Tok and Dawson. No chickens can be found here but there is a lot of history. This remote village has No electricity, sewer or town water and only three stores.  Climbing down the mountain we arrived at the Ferry which is a free service that takes you across the Yukon River into the isolated town of Dawson City.

This city was declared a national historic site in the early 1960’s and as a result the towns appearance remains unchanged. Many of the gold rush era buildings have been restored or reconstructed. We booked into an RV park in the town centre and then walked the boardwalks and dirt streets having a look inside some of the shops and through the visitors centre. Adding to the atmosphere of the town some shop staff wore costumes.

We went for dinner and saw a live caberet show with Gertie and the Goldrush girls at Canada’s oldest Gambling hall "Diamond Tooth Gerties" before retiring for the night. The following morning we drove up to the midnight Dome for our final views over this quaint western outback town and its position along the Yukon River.  From there we headed to Klondike Lodge where we left the RV in storage for a few days ...  Mile 0 of the Dempster Highway ...   
                                           we are off  to the Top of Canada..... 

Russ at Chicken

Chicken Creek

Chicken Town

Dawson City

George Black ferry to Dawson 

Dawson City

Dawson City

View from Midnight Dome Dawson City

Delta Junction end of Alaska  Hwy

Entering Yukon Territory

Leaving Alasksa

Caberet Show at Gerties Gambling Hall

Moose we saw along the way

Welcome to the North Pole

Old miners cottage at Boulder

On route to Chicken

Parked in front of Santas House

Robertson River

Russ and Rob in Santas sleigh

On top of the World Highway

Santas helpers house





20ft Santa statue in front of Santas house



Santa Claus House



Caberet Show at Dawson City



Dawson City



North Pole Street



Please give me a bath.....   

One of Santas reindeers




Paddle Steamer at Dawson City

 


They breed them big in Alaska



Top of the World Highway



Top of the World Highway



Old truck ready to tackle the ice