Yukon-Northwest Territories border, Yukon, CanadaWe drove the Dempster
The Western Arctic Visitor Center
As we didn’t take the time on the way
in, we stopped here on the way out: the western Arctic visitor info, it is a
super nice Visitor center as a lot of them in the north here, they are like a
little museum und we could see a cariboo and a musk ox, as well learn about the
native communities up here in the north, see the warm clothes they had, touch a
moose skin they used to make boats.
- The building has it’s form as a traditional arctic coast structure: the gukpik sod house: made of driftwood with sod and clay for insulation
- The commemorative sculpture out front is to express the history and culture of the North: it’s land and it’s people: it’s unity within diversity with symbols of each culture which are shared by all cultures of the NWT
- She had a map showing the ice road to Tuk, as she drove when she was younger (and as per her, it is only slippery in spring when it thaws and you have water on it)
- Half of the world’s population of Muskoxs (60.000) live here on Banks Island – they were once hunted nearly to extinction
- “Telling someone where your favourite berry picking spot is, is like telling someone ‘I love you’”
And we talked with the lady here – she
was raised in Tuk and had a lot of interesting info for us:
- The skidoos along the road are there, because from here they go in the winters to the three large lakes for ice fishing. As it is only 4 month, that they are not in use and the gas is a lot of money to drive back and forth, as well many don’t have trailers – they leave the there
- When she grew up in Tuk, they went in the winter snow-sliding down the Pingos – and as they grow every year they could slide down further
- The coast line is eroding, her parents house had to be moved as the soil erodes away
- Her grandfather was a trapper and she went with him when she was a child and didn’t like it that the little rabbit was hurt and pleaded that her grandfather let it go – which he did, but it likely didn’t survive. He also was once out in the winter with the dog sled and got lost as a storm came out, the only way to survive for him was to kill and eat one of his dogs to survive as he didn’t had anymore food.
The towns of the North:
- The Gwin’in (meaning people) live in Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchick, Inuvik, old Crow and Aklavik – they are also called the Kutchin Indians
- The Inuvialuit are Inuit (meaning the people from the western arctic), they were also called the Eskimos and they live in Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk, Aklavik and Inuvit
- Aklavik: means “place where one gets Grizzly bear”, can only be reaches by ice roads in winter (the road is mostly open from Dec 21 – Apr 28) – it is the most westerly community in the NWT, even the government built a “New Aklavik” many of the residents stayed, here the HBC set up a trading post in 1918. West of the Mackenzie Delta is one of Canada’s most inaccessible areas – it is along the Peel river, many of the 725 people living here follow the traditional way of life
- Paulatuk (meaning place with soot of coal): here in the Smoking hills the coal is burning fed by a deep natural fire – by the way you can only access via air: 394 km east of Inuvik, it’s home to 300 people
- Sachs Harbour is on Banks Island and 525 km by air from Inuvit – it is even further north than Tuk (they have the Muskox’s – which makes it the Muskox-capital-of-Canada), the native name is Ikaahuk meaning “where one crosses to”, it got named after the shio Marhy Sachs of the Canadian Arcitc expedition of 1913, a small community was formed around the RCMP post in 1953, today 135 live here in the traditional lifestyle
Welcome to Inuvik Sign
On the way in we saw this beautiful
welcome sign and we had to stop to take a picture. By now the sun is also coming
our and we have another beautiful day!!!
- The green/blue steel beams are to reflect the Aurora boralis
The tower at the Jak Territorial Park
Our next stop was this park, as Gine
read that there is a tower from which you have great views on the forest and
the river – we drove right up to the tower and then walked up. It is amazing on
how far you can see and we can still only see slivers of this vast area.
Views at Tithegeh Chii Vitaii
Territorial Park
This is our lunch stop: first we walk
the “hike” which is 270m long (really that is a hike), which goes up on a cliff
and from here you have wonderful views on Campbell Lake (wow isn’t that right
around our corner??) and the cliffs beyond, close by is also a little local
picnic area – this was a “hike” as Paul likes them.
- This lake is part of the Gwich’in Territorial Park on the edge of the Mackenzie Delta: the Delts is a maze of shallow lakes and channels
And then we get some coffee and snack
so that we are ready for the next 1.5 hours of gravel road.
We also discovered that we got even
more mud and dirt and as some caves have stalagmites and stalactites – we have
here mudleslites “those are the brown things growing up and down on the outside
of the truck and as per Paul are unique to the Dempster and are a national
historic landmark – guess we can’t clean them off, as they are protected.
Endless northern forest
This stretch is really long, as there
is not much to see, once in a while a lake and otherwise forest, forest and
more forest …. Until we finally reach:
- When I grew up and fell in love
- I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
- Will we have rainbows day after day
- Here’s what my sweetheart said:
- Que sera, sera - Whatever will be, will be - The future’s not ours to see
- Que sera, sera - What will be, will be
Waiting at the Mackenzie Ferry
We waited at least a half hour, as the
ferry was on the other site, went to the town and then here – and see there it
took them another 15 Min as the Ferry got washed down (haha maybe that makes
the river dirty). So we have plenty of time to talk to our fellow travellers…
It is also super windy, and the ferry was cramped full. Yes this is one mighty
river and the views are great – the sun is out – the wind is blowing and it
feels cold.
I may should mention this morning Gine
read, that in Denali & Fairbanks it snowed!!!! Good thing we are not there
anymore – I mean it is summer with July/Aug the two hottest month in the year –
guess up north here you never know.
Coffee at a little lake near Frog
Creek
It is 4 pm NWT time and 3 pm Yukon
time – that means time for a coffee. We found this spot like many others on our
trip on the IOVerlander and it is another gorgeous place. Perfect to let Mandy
out so she can roll in the stones – off the road with a nice lake and even a
place where Gine can run up on a hill.
The Peel River Ferry
On the way there we stopped once, as
here they have those super cool signs “Buckle up NWT” we did try, but were
unable to get the screws out… so we take home a picture and memories of fun. And
once we arrived at this ferry we see the same trucks as on the last one…. This
ferry is super fast and we are on the way again.
It gets windy at the border to the
Yukon
Now it slowly gets towards the
mountains – it is so cool how we can see them as we drive towards them –
through the amazing gorge and then we enter the green mountains – we can even
see some snow on some of the high ones – no wonder it feels so cool. As well
the wind is super strong. Once we arrive at the Border, Paul refuses to go out of
the truck in that cold wind – up here we meet the bicycle rider again we passed
4 days ago – I can’t even imagine doing that.
A windy Campsite with a view
When we drove up, we saw a nice site
and decided that we will stay there and we found it!!! Amazing. We were hoping
for a nice sunny evening where we can sit outside – it is super windy and not
sunny at all. Good thing we make buns which will warm up the camper. Once we
were done – the sun came out and sparkled up the hills around us – but the wind
never left and the whole camper moved in the wind. But then we could enjoy the
view from the warm inside.
2025-05-22