Driving the Dempster Highway

The Dempster is Canada’s only highway crossing the Arctic Circle. The raggedy little line that cuts through the western arctic passes through the traditional home of the Han, Gwich’in and Inuvialuit people, where hunting, fishing and trapping are still part of the life for many people living in the area. Growing up, my family frequently roughed it in wild places and I often fantasized about more luxurious accommodations and fancy restaurants.

The grass is always greener though, am I right? Now that I’m older it’s easier to see the charming side of a simpler, more rustic life and the idea of living off the land, eating caribou and berries year after year, looked pretty sweet to me from the passenger side window of our house truck.

As travelers, we pass through places, making observations and generalizations based on the limited interactions we have with locals, the weather, and our own moods, focused on the mishaps we are forced to endure. To really know a place, you have to stay put. Driving the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean is quite the adventure, yet it seems like most people, ourselves included, rush through the experience. We spent nine difficult days on the highway and I admit, it was a huge relief when we made it back to pavement. Still, our short journey through the western arctic left a lasting impression on me that I’m incredibly grateful for.

Construction of the Dempster Highway

The Dempter Highway is an all-gravel highway starting near Dawson City, Yukon and traversing 736 km (458 mi) to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. Construction began in 1959 when oil and gas exploration was booming in the Mackenzie Delta. After two decades the highway was opened in 1979. Just two years ago, the Dempster Highway ended in Inuvik.

Lucky for us, it eventually made sense to extend the highway the extra 138 km (86 mi) as far as it could go, to the small hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk nestled on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway was completed in 2017 after three years of construction. Before the ITH was built it was possible to drive to Tuk, but only in the winter over ice.

The Dempster Highway has been a bucket list road trip for years, and now that visitors can drive all the way to the Arctic Ocean, it’s becoming a lot more popular. So far, thousands of tourists make the trip each year.

This new link to the outside world has no doubt been life changing for the locals. Opening the remote indigenous Inuvialuit community of Tuktoyaktuk (population: 850), year round to visitors for the first time ever, created opportunity for progress and possibility. Drivers can now reach otherwise inaccessible lakes and rivers in the summer, many of which have never been explored. The world got bigger for the people living in Tuk.

The new all-season route brought economic potential where there didn’t used to be any. Artists now have the opportunity to sell their unique pieces to tourists as well as share their traditions. I treasure the pair of caribou antler earrings I purchased while I was in Tuk.

The Dempster highway is an innovative masterpiece requiring constant maintenance. In some places the gravel is 2.4 meters thick to protect the permafrost it’s built over. The road is like a raised bridge with no sides and if the permafrost were to melt, the road would sink. In half a century of road access the Dempster has experienced a lot of changes, but the lands through which it passes have maintained their remote character, a true testament to nature.

Ferries

To get to the Arctic Ocean we had to cross three rivers, the Yukon, Peel and Mackenzie by ferry. They’re all free and open from 9 am to midnight, the operators friendly and usually chatty with us about the weather and road conditions, the thing most present on anyone’s mind driving the Dempster. Getting off the ferries we locked the hubs in and used 4×4 more than once because of the mud. The ferry doesn’t really park either, they just sort of land the barge and hurry you off before they start drifting downriver.

Dawson City, Yukon

Our first ferry crossing took us across the Yukon River into Dawson City, Canada, the gateway to the Dempster Highway. Whatever exciting things you’ve heard about Dawson City are probably true. Rich with First Nations heritage & gold rush history, dirt streets, boardwalks, saloons, healthy food, an art college, mountains and the Yukon River, Dawson City is super unique and just as fun. With showgirls, nightclubs and colorful characters it offers a stark contrast to the solitude of the Dempster Highway. We met quite the storyteller in one bar, a man with a gold nugget on his hat band, around his neck and a fist full of nuggets he calls his Friday night bragging rights.

This is where we checked the road conditions at the information center and stocked up on groceries and fuel before starting out on the Dempster.

Days 1& 2, Tombstone Territorial Park

Our first couple of days were relatively uneventful over mostly flat, dusty terrain. We drove 193.8 km up the Dempster Highway into Tombstone Territorial Park and hiked up Grizzly Lake trail. It didn’t take long for me to realize with just a little elevation the Arctic air was much colder than I expected! The views, and icy wind, took my breath away!

Day 3, Turn back to Dawson

On the third morning, our alternator started squealing so bad we knew we had to do something. Continuing towards the Arctic Circle and beyond seemed foolish so we turned around and drove all the way back to Dawson city for an alternator. Cota replaced it in the parking lot of the NAPA and we headed back up the Dempster, making it almost to our turn around point, all in the same day. It was deflating for sure, spending so much time and money to travel the same miles again, but we were determined to give the Dempster our best shot, without breaking down.

Day 4, Crossing the Arctic Circle

Today was hard, and awesome. We had to replace the serpentine belt on the side of the road, but we had a spare and the nicest local from Inuvik stopped to help and keep us company. Cota was confident we had what we needed but this guy wasn’t leaving until we were back on the road. He told us a little about the politics up north and the cultural diversity in Inuvik. He just spent two months visiting his kids in Whitehorse and was blown away by how friendly people are in the Yukon. Apparently he got a hug from someone at a gas station, and it clearly meant something to him. People aren’t so open in Inuvik, he says, but he understands why. The north is different.

We’re getting closer to Tuk as we transition through tundra and forest and back again. These landscapes are insane, and difficult to capture. We saw a brown bear and a fox today! I’m in love.

Day 5, Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada

I feel like screaming into the wind, spilling tears in the ocean and being held to sleep! 

We both felt frazzled when we finally made it to the end of the road. I’m not gonna lie, there were moments I wondered if it was worth it. Ha, little did I know the return trip would be even more challenging!

Tuktoyaktuk, or more fondly, Tuk, Northwest Territories, Canada lies on the windswept shores of the Arctic Ocean. We have LTE, the best cell coverage we’ve had in months, lol. The skies are clear but the wind is fierce. We see a lot of kids playing in yards but no adults outside. The grocery store appears closed so we keep walking…. there’s a restaurant that serves muktuk, beluga whale skin and blubber.

Being in a place so remote, with the traditional way of life still so intact is heartbreakingly beautiful. These lands belong to people that understand more about the earth, air and sea than I ever will.

…. and I bow in reverence to the wild and those that truly inhabit it

Because the Mackenzie delta around the Beaufort Sea is flat and pingos dominate the skyline, rising from 5 to 36 m, they are often used as landmarks. Pingos are large hills with a solid ice core that can last a thousand years and are usually formed when a lake drains and the remaining water freezes and forces the ground upwards. Frost heaving on an epic scale. Tuktoyaktuk has one of the highest concentrations of pingos, with around 1,350 examples. Ibyuk Pingo, the highest, continues to grow about 2 cm/year, and is estimated to be at least 1,000 years old.

Day 6, Back the way we came

We said goodbye to the Arctic Ocean and turned back with the same 544 difficult miles of return ahead of us.

“It’s easy to love the wilderness when the wilderness loves you back. Everything changes when you feel like the land could swallow you whole.” – The Sun Is A Compass

Day 9, We made it back to pavement!

A lot happened out there…

My job as navigator couldn’t have been easier on this trip. Navigating the Dempster Highway is easy. Just turn north at the Klondike Corner at Mile 0, not far from Dawson City and drive about 900 km until you hit the Arctic Ocean. Cota’s job of keeping our truck on the road proved to be a challenge, even for him.

Losing all 8 studs on a tire in the middle of nowhere was the beginning of a long, fun trip back to pavement and civilization! Did I mention a cracked windshield, air compressor that wasn’t working, squealing serpentine belt, screw in our spare tire and amazing views? 

It felt really good to hit pavement today. 

I don’t know what’s more amazing, Cota’s MacGyver skills or his unwillingness to give up. I always learn so much on these adventures!

We drove straight to the car wash and spent $20 washing the mud off, then showers and laundry. Now we’re at a bar with floors so uneven it’s a wonder my drink hasn’t slid off the table. 

Tomorrow we look for studs and hopefully patch up two of our tires and hit the road again soon, eh?

Day 10, Repairs in Dawson City

Oh, Dawson City, your pink hotel with the quirky local’s bar was my favorite. All your crooked, sinking, sloping, falling buildings were comforting in a way. They fit my mood I suppose. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes when we encounter friendly people on the road. And how utterly deflating to be at the mercy of assholes and businesses that don’t care. Yesterday sucked.

Almost losing a wheel (twice) on the Dempster hwy was bad, but getting to Dawson and finding the only two tire shops not having what we need and not interested in helping us, hurt way more. 

I sat in a ditch with Hunter for a while, cried twice, lost my temper at Mr. dick face tire guy, watched Cota work his ass off making it possible for us to get out of dodge, and tried my best to stay positive. This road trip has been a doozy. Bucket-list, once-in-a-lifetime, adventure worthy pilgrimage in a way. But c’mon. When Cota says he’s relieved to be in AAA range, you know it hasn’t been easy going. 

It felt like we had more mechanical issues on the Dempster than we’ve had in all our years on the road. My anxiety was through the roof more than once. But thinking about the moment I first spotted a gull as we neared the Arctic still brings indescribable joyous tears to my eyes. I did such little research before we left and had no idea what to expect. For instance, the sea wasn’t even salty. Discovering that by taste was so rad. But yeah, I’m happy to stay on pavement for a good long while, even though I know we won’t…