Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, CanadaArctic Ocean - Tuktoyaktuk
Driving between hills and lakes
- The road to Tuk opened in 2017 for the 150th anniversary of Canada
- construction started in 2013, most of it was done in winter to preserve the permafrost: a geotextile fabric was placed between the ground and the construction material
- this is the first year around all weather road into Canada’s arctic
- oh and if your vehicle ways over 64500 kg – you can’t drive that road (but then you also can’t go on the ferries)
- Until then Tuk was only be reached by ice road in winter
We are now on the gravel road leading
to the Arctic ocean: yes there is a “end of the road” and we will drive all the
way up. It is not really flat, there are like little hills and between lakes –
and as further north we come the more lakes are there – the road goes near the
Mackenzie Delta until we come to Tuk which is like on one of the last spots.
Sometimes the road was gravel –
sometimes it was dirt, then twice we had to slow down because a grader worked
on the road. The lakes are super cool they glitter in the sun, they are deep
blue, they sit in between the little hills and valleys – it is going on endless
like 2 hours worth of driving or 140km. Once in a while you can find a few
trees (and we wonder how they survive with the permafrost)
A break with the skidoos
At one time we decided that we need a
break and there was a pullout with a lot and lot of skidoos and hangers with
skis – we were wondering why they are all sitting out there in no-where so far
away from town. Some are really old, and some are newer. Also when you walk off
the gravel the ground is super soft.
We see Pingos
And then as we drive we see the first
Pingo: it’s a little hill – it looks like the earth has a pimple. And then we
always check out if we can see another one. Until we come to the rest stop to
look at two Pingos: one is the largest one in Canada.
By the way here is also a lot and lot
of driftwood – really cool to see with the blue ocean and the Pingos in the
background.
It’s not a hill it’s a Pingo:
- They are a Canadian Landmark – which is unique as they are the only Canadian landmarks: that means it is to preserve unique natural features which are considered outstanding, exceptional, unique or rare
- Those are hills with an icy heart – inside clear blue ice covered with moss and turf: within the “park area” are 8 Pingos of different stages of growth or decay
- Ibuyk with 49m high is Canada’s highest Pingo and the 2nd largest in the world, it grew and is now slowly beginning to slump
- Ok so how does a Pingo grow: under an arctic lake is an unfrozen bottom (the lake in the water thaws the permafrost). When a lake drains, a small residue of water remains then the former lake freezes, but the remaining water slows the freezing process of the permafrost around it. The water in the ground freezes and expands, as the extra water cannot escape (because of the permafrost on top of it) it pushes inward towards the center. As the freezing front advances the capsulated lens of water is under pressure and the thin layer of permafrost above it gets pushed upwards and the pingo begins to grow. The pingo is fully grown when its solid frozen and the unfrozen ground becomes permafrost. The inside of the Pingo is nearly pure ice.
- The global warming causes erosion of the shoreline up here on the Tuk Peninsula. Kilutquisaq is a Pingo on the coast which is nearly eaten away by erosion and lost 35 m since 2004
- Overall there around 11.000 pingos in the world, some in Russia, Greenland, Alaska and the highest concentration of 1350 are on the Tuktaytok Peninsula – right where we are
We come to Tuk
As we approach the town, the very first
thing you see and drive by is a huge dump station – and then we can see over
the little lakes all the houses along them – it is really unique to see. Paul
was not so impressed when a truck made the road wet so it is not so dusty, as
he thinks then the truck gets dirty (haha – wait until we drive back). We
nearly missed the Tourist info as it is such a tiny little one-room cabin. We
got a info-paper and discovered that the campground is 63 $ (Wow!!!!). so let’s
check it out first.
The town at the Arctic Ocean: Tuk
- It means “it looks like a caribou” according to a legend a woman saw caribous going into the water and turning into stone. At low tide you can see reefs today resembling the petrified caribous (Paul was not so convinced about that)
- In the old days here lived the Tuktoyaktuk’s most of them died from a flu epidemic brought in by the American Whalers – then the Dene’s settled here – it was originally the home of the whale-hunting Karnangmalit Inuit
- The Hudson Bay also established a Trading post here in 1937
- Then it became a base of the oil explorations in the Beaufort sea (we wondered if the huge tanks are still from that)
- Today around 1000 people live here
- It is always cold here, even in the warmest month it can have freezing temperatures at night
- And since 2017 it is easily accessible
It’s windy at the Arctic Ocean
We arrive at the end of the road and
there is the sign “Arctic Ocean” we park the truck near it and when we get out,
it nearly blows us away because it is so super super windy!!!! When we open the
back of the camper the door it nearly flows away – wow!!! Mandy didn’t even
attempt to come out it is way to windy for her – such a chicken!!!!
We still make it possible to get our
pictures taken. We even wonder down to the ocean – the wind is blowing and the
waves are super high. But we discover the water is not too cold (compared to
the wind).
But we decided that we will not stay
here – it is too cold and all we would do is sit inside our camper. So let’s
have coffee in the blown around camper.
But we made it all the way to the end of the road and the end of the continent.
The coldest ocean on earth: the Arctic
Ocean
- It is the worlds smallest but also the coldest ocean: here is the north Pole
- Most of it is covered by sea ice and it is completely frozen in witner
- It is in the land of the Eskimos
- The arctic ocean is surrounded by 6 countries: Canada – Denmark (Greenland) – Iceland – Norway – Russia and the USA
- On aug 2007 two Russians were the first one to be in the water under the North Pole
A dip in the ocean
As we have coffee Gine said: we put on
our shorts and we walk down to the ocean and go in with our feet as the water
is not cold and we have to dip our feet in. And that is what we did!!! We even
brought a stone back from the arctic. Back inside and the warm shoes put on and
we decide to head back to the “warm Inuvik”.
The highlights of Tuk
Gine walked a bit more along the ocean
to see the end of the Canada trail, enjoy the windy and wonderful blue sky
views on the Arctic ocean, as well as the old wooden boat: our lady of the
Lourdes Ship which looks super cool.
- Once it was the only link to the outside world, it sailed the Beauford sea and delivered supplies to the Catholic mission (today the boat sits near that mission). It was also the ship that took away the children to the residential schools
The red chairs of the Pingos
On the way back we stop at the Pingo
day use area and here are some of the Canadian red chairs – so yes we sit in
here. Here is also the point where you put in your paddle board to paddle to
the largest pingo – as the wind is so strong it nearly rips out the door of the
car we decided it is likely not the best to try to paddle today!!! And we are
fairly sure today it would be more than 30 Min of paddle
A rainy dirty way back
Ok as we started to head back we
discover loose gravel and sidewind, makes the whole truck move sidewise – wow I
can’t imagine that guy on the motorcycle we passed. And then it starts to rain
– so what is now worth: the muddy slippery road??? At least after coming back
we can truly say our truck is super dirty!!!! We did the drive in 2 hours – and
were a bit late or on BC time back for supper.
Sunshine in the Parking lot
As we park in Inuvik, the first thing
we do is clean the handle on our camper so that we don’t get dirty everytime we
go in and out. As well Paul is cleaning the window so we can look outside. And
then the sun shines inside our window – what a perfect ending of the day!!!
2025-05-22