Dawson to Inuvik

Dawson to Inuvik, North West Territories,
The Dempseter Hwy is the furthest northern Hwy that we will have taken. In fact it is as far north as you can go on a hwy that is open in the summer.
In winter there is an ice road that connects Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk but it is closed in the summer months.
The Dempster is 736 km long or about 450 miles of dirt road and the first gas station is 369 km or about 225 miles from the Hwy. Needless to say potties are a long ways apart and not the type of road for Dr. E’s gps on potties on the way to work. The trip takes about 12-14 hours (for us in the jeep 14 going) and is not for the faint of heart (one flat tire and lots of potholes and slippen and a slidin). The views are spectacular and you don’t see any other real people for miles (on average one vehicle per 30-45 minutes of travel going the other way.).
The first half is the worst road with going down long valleys with the river beside you. Next you come to large valleys where you can see 80 to 100 miles of valley all around you with nothing but tundra and black tundra fir trees. The first sign of civilization id Eagle Plains where the government has built a gas station, govnt offices for Indians and roads, a motel, and restaurant open till 9:00 pm, and the ever present tourist gift shop.
Better fill up here with gas because you have traveled 225 miles. I thing that this stop built at a cost of $3.5 mil was done just so that you could get an atta boy so you won’t turn around and go back and the mechanic who tells you the road gets better from here on.
So, you grab a bite to eat and continue to the Artic Circle (note that at the Equator you are traveling at 1740 Km/ hr as the earth spins and here you travel at 740 Km/hr) . Now if only you could drive faster than 45 mi/hr that would be something. But you continue on and come to the border of the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territory. Here is where you find out you have a flat tire some 80 miles from nowhere. You change to the spare tire and hope to god you do not have another flat.
Ft McPherson is next and the first of two ferry boat rides. This one is the fast one and you must make all haste because the next ferry at Tsigehtchic closes at 12:00 midnight and you are fast approaching that time and there are no motels etc out here. You make the second ferry and catch the next to last ride across the two rivers there (this is at the confluence of the McKenzie River and the Peel River) and the same ferry takes you across both. Just think you have only 2 more hours of driving to get to Inuvik and it is only 12:00 pm. But fear not the sun never sets this far north and you can see it wandering around in its lazy circle in the sky.
We press on and finally Inuvik (which surprisingly is a large town.
The sunset photo was a 2:00 am and the sun never went below the horizon.
There are mountain sheep and the jeep now has 3 pits and a crack.
Lorne