Inuvik



Inuvik's colourful housing...

...the "Igloo" church...

 

...a mosque...

 

...the community garden...

 

...and the midnight sun.

The adventure is over leaving us again with great memories of the journey as well as a number of new friends who shared the experience.

 

Dempster Highway - Part 2

One degree overnight in our tents, add a little drizzle and rain...

Most of the road surface was quite good...

...but some of it was a real gumbo that instantly gummed up the wheels and chain and gears.

Nine out of 24 bikes ended up with broken derailers or hangers, many of
whom finished with their bike rigged for a single gear

Day 5 0n the Dempster, crossing the Arctic Circle

 

Cold and not much sun on days five, six, and seven on the Dempster, but
the scenery was wonderful with its vastness and subtle colour variations.

We were disappointed that we didn't see much wildlife although we saw evidence
that indeed there was some...

...and this partridge watched from the grass at the side of the road and scurried away.

A foggy crossing out of the Yukon into the Northwest Territory...

 

...then we descended out of the cloud into more great views.

The cold must have kept the mosquitos away for a lot of the trip,
but they were around in great numbers this night so we used the
mosquito jackets, here Henk trying to eat with it

Ferry crossing of the Peel River as we continue into the Mackenzie valley

...more fog...

...then a descent to the Mackenzie River...

...and the muddy bank to catch the ferry to cross to the east side

 

Suddenly it's our last breakfast in camp...

...bags in the trailer for the last time...

...support crew finishing the last breakfast...

 



...and that afternoon under sunny skies we reach Inuvik

The Dempster Highway - Part 1 - first 4 days

Sunshine for the beginning of the Dempster Highway, both of us here with
Greg and Eve from Columbus and Henk and Louise.
The six of us stuck pretty close together on the Dempster

Ursula - the sunshine now gone...

...and later some rain, Rae uncharacteristically wearing his raincoat.

The second day on the Dempster we enjoyed some great scenery and saw
a little blue sky though not much sunshine.

Rain never seemed to be far away

Some sunshine and spectacular scenery for the start of day three on the Dempster

Our day three camp - sunny right now but we also had some fairly heavy rain
showers during the evening.

Lots of small very beautiful plants clinging to life here.

One o'clock in the morning, sun just set...

The next morning in camp, damp, cold, not much visibility...

...and no better on the road so we went the support vehicle following behind to protect
from overtaking vehicles. A very slow 15 km before we were clear of the fog. A
lot of mud on the roads that day, dirty bikes and people by the end of a long day.
Fortunately, we had showers at Eagle Plain that night.

Dawson City

Here it is... Dawson City... dirt roads that they water to keep down the dust... boardwalks so you keep your feet clean. Our day of rest almost over. Tomorrow it is the first of eight successive days on the Dempster Highway, average just over 100 km per day, probably okay when dry, but it won't be all the way and we hear that it can be tough going if it's wet.... and no electricity or internet until Inuvik on August 9th

 

 



to Dawson City - part 2

 

day 4 - foggy start

 

trying to move the Yukon... either that or a bit of stretching in the middle
of a long day into a strong headwind

The mountains will be where we are at the end of the first day on the Dempster