Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada

Welcome to Part 2 of the journey. I've titled this one based on our intended destination of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT.

Where was I?

Day 4 kicked off in downtown Dawson City, relatively early, but without too much stress. This day we didn't have a daunting, or even relatively undaunting, drive ahead of us. We had maybe 20km to drive to the airport. For Dustin and I, this was a cakewalk. But for Mike, and his fear of flying, the next 3 days would be the toughest of the trip.

When we got to the airport, we discovered it had small town charm. And it definitely was cozy. There was no shortage of parking, but a few less amenities than we were used to in our respective travels. But that was all part of the experience. Flying in the north is fun because the airports are small, there is no security and the planes are almost always older than you are.  Oh, and the runways are not always paved. Poor Mike wasn't enjoying the uniqueness as much as I was. Regardless, we made our flight and headed north for Inuvik.




We arrived in Inuvik to discover a surprisingly big airport, but some horrific weather. The temperature had dropped to 3 degrees and the cloud ceiling was close to zero. This was obviously going to cut into the enjoyment of our time in Inuvik, but more importantly was threatening our trip to Tuktoyaktuk.

While Inuvik has a great airport, with may navigational features that allow landings in poor weather, Tuk does not. We needed clearer weather for our flight or we were fubar'd. More on that later.

Anyways, we had the rest of the afternoon to tour around Inuvik. With the rain and 60km/h winds, there wasn't a whole lot of outdoor activities that were available to us and frankly there aren't many indoor options either. So we did what many of the locals would do. We went to the grocery store. For me this was interesting because I was expecting to see a void of fresh foods. But I was surprised to see that the store was full of all the regular groceries you would expect and even had a department store, complete with snowmobiles.



We continued to wander around town, looking for souvenirs, stopping for lunch at Alestine's (a restaurant/bus), visiting the Town office, and seeing the sights that Mackenzie Street had to offer.



A few side stories.
1.  This is a vehicle of a couple that stayed across the hall from us. They drove the Dempster Highway, successfully, the day before we were meant to drive it. The day we were meant to drive was the day the ferries closed and the road was closed off. This is what their vehicle looked like after making it and sitting in the rain for a day. Needless to say, we made the correct choice in not attempting to drive the Dempster. This vehicle was built up for the road and still relatively new. Our car was not prepared and had over 300,000 before the trip started.

2. Because Inuvik is built on permafrost, which tends to heave frequently, the services that we would normally bury in the ground, are all found above ground and need to be heated. That results in these pipes weaved in between all the houses.

The evening turned out to be fairly quiet as we quickly ran out of things to do, and a desire to remain outside in the rain/wind. Plus the next morning we were hoping to fly to Tuk.

On that front, by nighttime we were almost certain we weren't going. We spent a large part of the day checking the weather and speaking with the operator of our lodge about the prospects of getting to Tuk. Turns out the bad weather had prevented flights from going up for a few days already and the forecast for our travel day was for more of the same.

Now, our original travel plans (which included driving the Dempster) allowed us to have a spare day to go to Tuk, in case of poor weather. With our decision to fly up, we lost our spare day and any flexibility for poor weather. We had one day to fly. If we didn't go that day, we weren't going. We went to bed hoping for the best, but already expecting the worst. We figured we had another day to spend in Inuvik.

After awaking, we headed for the airport to go through the usual bad weather protocol that had been outlined to us. Our flight to Tuk was scheduled at 9:30am. Weather reports were received by the airline at every hour. If the weather was bad at 9, our flight would be delayed. They would check again at 10. If good we fly, if bad we wait till 11. The last weather check would be at 12. Either way, we figured we'd be spending the whole morning at the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, we were immediately turned around. The weather was bad enough that the airline just told us to go back to our lodge and that they would call us at 12 for the final word (expected to be bad). This was actually worse news than we anticipated. Not taking that news well, I decided to go for a run. The weather was still terrible but I didn't want to spend more time in the lodge and needed burn off some energy. So I ran. And ran. And ran.

I had covered all of Inuvik and was looping around a lake when my phone rang. It was around 11:30am. It was Dustin. Somehow the weather had cleared enough to fly. Our flight was going!! This was great news, but now became a major logistical problem.

It wasn't 12 so I wasn't expecting the call. No one was. Dustin told me we had to leave in 10 mins. Unfortunately, I was 15 mins from the lodge and covered in mud. I told him I would go as fast as I could. I headed out for the highway and in an amazing turn of luck, the second car that passed me pulled over. The driver door opened and I saw the lodge operator step out. She told me to get in the car. She was rushing back to the lodge to pick me up and take us to the airport. She was just as surprised to find me as I was to see her. The ride back saved me. I had enough time to grab my pre-packed bag and change out of my running clothes.

I was high as a kite on adrenaline. I had run over 17km in a new town, half watching for wildlife, and now after 24 hours straight thinking we weren't going to accomplish our goal of going to Tuk, we were going.

The next hour was a blur. We walked into the airport and immediately got on an airplane and headed north. Poor Mike. This plane was even smaller than the last, but somehow it was another smooth flight and before we knew it, we were safely in Tuktoyaktuk. Once in Tuk, we took our Day 5 photo.




We were picked up at the airport by Aileen, our local guide, and our tour of town began immediately. We went to her house, where her husband Billy started to share stories from their yearly trips spending months in the bush trapping. This included explanations of traps, pelts and various pieces of clothing that he'd created from fur. The most interesting was of course polar bear pants and mitts. It sounds crazy and looks even crazier.

Following all the learning from Billy, we went inside where Aileen had prepared a traditional Inuvialiut lunch for us. This lunch caribou soup, donut, beluga whale, dry whitefish and muskox. Not all of the items were things that I would normally eat, but after a 17km run in the morning, I was hungry.

After driving around town some more, the next major stop on our tour was to visit Aileen's smokehouse which had a great beachside location on the Arctic Ocean. This meant that our desires to get to the Arctic Ocean were a success. We'd made it. But that wasn't enough for us. We had to go in. Dustin and I had discussed this earlier and had planned accordingly. We were going swimming. We had to. We would never be back at the Arctic Ocean again.

We brought our swim trunks, our towels and Aileen was nice enough to let us borrow her smokehouse as a change room. The change room was necessary, not because of modesty, but rather because of the still terrible weather conditions. Temperature was 3 degrees, still, wind was gusting to 70 km/h off the ocean. And it was raining. With the water temperature around 0 degrees, we wouldn't have long to stand outside in the cold and wind before we had hypothermia. So we borrowed the smoke house to fend off the wind/rain.

Mike, being the oldest, and now seemingly the smartest, decided he was only going to go up to his knees in the water. We did this first and took a phenomenal group photo. This turned out to be a great idea because it allowed Mike to head back to shore and capture photos of us freezing in the water. Here's what it looked like. For context, Mike left all his other clothes on and just rolled up his pants. This gives an idea of what type of clothing was necessary to stay warm outside, in comparison to what Dustin and I were wearing. Somehow, we managed to get out of the water, changed and back in the warm van safely. What an experience. It was awful, freezing and completely exhilarating.


The rest of the day we spent viewing the rest of town. Here are some photos that give you an idea of what Tuk looks like. We even managed to climb one of the pingo's in town for a better view.




The day went by extraordinarily fast, but at the same time we took in so much more than we ever thought we would. It was great to learn from locals about their way of life, their relationships with government and their history. Every time I spend time in the north, I'm always fascinated by how different their everyday life is compared to mine.

We were also surprised by how amazing it was to just look at a map showing us where we were. We were on top of Canada.

Too quickly, we were back at the airport, waiting for our flight back to Inuvik. After getting back, we headed out for pizza to celebrate our successes. We made it to the Arctic Ocean.



Sleep came easily that night. The next morning, we had our final flight of the trip, back to Dawson City and back to the car. It felt like we had been away from Dawson for a week, but it'd barely been 2 full days. We even got to see some sights out the window including the Mackenzie River delta and snow-capped mountains.



That's it for Part 2 of the trip. Part 3 starts in the afternoon in Dawson City.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

I could have really put any numbers of titles in this post. Right now I am in Edmonton, in the comfort of my own home. But a few weeks ago, I was off exploring northern Canada and USA. I choose Dawson City because it marks the end of this post and the first phase of our trip, which was mostly driving.

Some context to start before I outline the trip.

My wife's cousin and uncle (now my cousin and uncle) spent many lunch hours together over the last year. During this time, my uncle (Mike) explained to my cousin (Dustin) and I (Gibby) that he always wanted to drive north of the Arctic Circle. After some initial discussion, we all figured that was something we could accomplish. A few more lunches together over the holiday season cemented the idea and next thing we knew we were booking vacation time, hotels and flights.

The intention was to drive as far as we possibly could. Our target was to drive to Inuvik, NWT then fly up to Tuktoyaktuk so that we could see the Arctic Ocean.

On August 28, 2015 we packed up the car and began on our way north. Before we left, we started what would become a daily tradition. That was to set the camera on top of the car, with a timer, and to take a photo of the three of us in our morning location. Day 1 was in Edmonton with hot temperatures lingering from a warm summer. But before we left, Mike and I spent some time exploring the maps of the north, discovering a town called Skagway (foreshadowing!).

As we began our drive, we immediately were overwhelmed with the distances that awaited us. We were seeing signs that told us we were hundreds and thousands of kilometres away from our desired destination. Seeing a sign for Alaska or Whitehorse seemed pretty much unattainable. Undeterred, we carried on for a quick first day that took us to Grande Prairie, AB.

Day 2 began early. Before the sun was up, early. This photo is highly enhanced so you can even see our faces.

That was because we had planned an almost unthinkable 1,535km day of driving. That would take us all the way through northern British Columbia with a finish scheduled in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Again, we kept seeing signs that told us we had over 1,000km to go, but we were buoyed by the certainty that the views would be beautiful and we would see many sights along the way. Some of these initial sights included:

  • Moon set
  • A giant beaver
  • Peace River valley completely filled in with fog
  • The Mile 0 sign post of the Alaska Highway






After passing through Fort St. John, we formally entered the wilderness. Gas stations were spaced out by hundreds of kilometres and houses became a distant memory. That did provide us with some endless vista, and somehow a total lack of wildlife.


Crossing into British Columbia also meant we immediately were welcomed with constant construction that would persist for hours. Trying to take it all in stride, when we were stopped for long periods of time, we were allowed to walk around and even take care of some minor vehicle repairs (the molding was loose from a trip to the car wash).



Passing through Fort Nelson meant that the price of gas had officially sky-rocketed ($1.449/l) and that we were heading into the mountains. Even better views followed. As did the presence of the changing seasons. The further north we got, the more yellow leaves we saw, but we would soon find out this was just the beginning.



And after a wildlife drought of hours, we finally started to see animals again. We started out with a stone sheep, then eventually we encountered dozens of buffalo.


Before we knew it (just kidding, it took forever) we were in Yukon. For each of us, it was the first time we'd even been in Yukon. The fun part was that this photo of the sign actually came after we crossed the border a half dozen times because the road zig-zags across many times before finally settling in the Yukon. Our first stop was for gas in a small town called Watson Lake. This town is best know for it's Sign Post Forest, which thankfully for me was located adjacent to the gas station we were filling up at/eating at. I ran over, snapped a few photos and headed back to the car (no time to waste).


As the hours continued to pass by, we exchanged control the car several times and eventually saw the sun set. So from sunrise to sunset, we had been driving. 17 hours later, we made it into Whitehorse with just enough time to get into the hotel pub for a shot of Crown and a frosty mug of Kokanee before it closed.

Day 3 began innocently enough. But it would turn quickly. I had been cooped up in a car for an entire day so I felt the urge to head out for an early morning run while Mike and Dustin slept. While on my run in Whitehorse I discovered the riverfront, many murals and had some leads on places we could go for breakfast. Since today we weren't planning on driving all day, we had time to actually sit and eat a meal.




After checking out, we got in the car and headed for a local breakfast spot where our trip would take an unexpected turn. We ordered our breakfast and continued to talk about our next 2 days of the trip. These were planned to be drives to Dawson City and to Inuvik. The latter being the toughest day. We must have been talking loudly because several people in the restaurant overheard and unsolicitedly came over to warn us about our plans. Apparently the Dempster Highway (Dawson to Inuvik) had been subject to some awful weather for several days. The people that talked to us had attempted the drive only to be turned around for safety reasons. We had been checking the road reports and nothing indicated the severity of conditions that we were getting through anecdotal stories from our fellow breakfasters. But the enormity of the response made us question our decision to take a small car down a 762km gravel highway.

Despite all the bad news, we still had to get to Dawson City so we decided to head off. A quick stop in front of the SS Klondike for our starting photo of the day, and we were off. While we drove we started calling up north to figure out if flying from Dawson to Inuvik would be a better option. We were immediately told that we should book flights if we wanted to get there, so we did.

What we didn't realize was that our breakfast had made us all very nervous about the prospect of taking our little car down the scary Dempster Highway. And by booking flights, we'd all but eliminated that fear. We all relaxed. That allowed us to enjoy the 7 hour drive we had ahead of us, rather than dread the next day. This relaxation became evident right away as we stopped for a roadside break at the of an old wild fire.




Our relaxation was even more evident at the next stop. I was expecting everyone to take a bathroom break so I wandered up into the hills for a better view of the nearby lake. After returning down to the car, I found Mike and Dustin knee deep in the lake. I was then instructed to get my shoes off and into the water. So I did. Why not. I set my camera on the back of the car and took a picture.

Most of the drive was uneventful for us. The highlights were twofold. First we saw our first moose of the trip. And secondly, we took a slight detour when we saw the Dempster Highway. We knew we couldn't (and shouldn't) take it, but we went 15km up and back and posed for some photos at the start so we could feel like we did it.



For most, the arrival at Dawson City would have been the end of the day, but we had other plans. Part of the reason we wanted to stop in Dawson was to become members of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. With the recent change of our travel plans, we no longer had a long drive the next day so we were freed up to explore the town. We quickly checked into our hotel and headed over to the Downtown Hotel for some dinner and drinks. After a long two hours of eating, listening to saloon piano music and ducking the extremely inebriated locals, an old man with a long beard brought in the star of the show: a severed, pickled human toe. Thanks to the drunken generosity of the locals, we ended up with some free liquor and headed over for our turn at the famous drink.

So here's the deal. You pay $5 and someone reads you a rhyming poem, drops the toe into your drink and you tip it back. There are rules. Several. Most importantly, the toe must touch your lips for it to be considered a success and by no means are you allowed to open your mouth (there's been many toes purposefully swallowed). Should you decide to, or accidentally swallow the toe you face a $2,500 fine. Also the toe is totally black due to it being frostbitten.

We all wandered over, plopped down our $5 and did the deed. Each receiving our own personalized certificate to memorialize the occasion. And to be honest. It wasn't bad at all. The toe is soft, doesn't smell, doesn't have a taste. The only real challenge was that the toe had a tendency to get stuck in the bottom of your glass so you had to give it a tap get it dislodged and give you the desired toe-kiss.




Still not willing to call it a night, we wandered back to our hotel to discover another local lounge that we needed to visit. It was called the Sluice Box which was enough to entice us in for another drink. Their unlimited free popcorn kept us a little longer than we probably should have stayed. But soon we headed back to our hotel room (complete with jacuzzi tub) for some rest before our next big day and early morning flight.


Stay tuned for part 2 soon!!