July 14, 2024 – Sunday – Day 21 – Off the Dempster Hwy

It was a bright and noisy night.  However, things did quiet down at some point in the night.  We took a picture of the sun at 12:30 am and it was still up in the sky.  It will be 1-1/2 weeks until the sun sets again.

We slept late but we were on the road around 9:30 am on our way south.  Tuktoyaktuk is an interesting place, but like many places in the world, there are not much of the old cultural left, it is very westernized.  The restaurant had a sign that they only serve hamburgers, chicken and fries.  “No Traditional Food”.  I understand, because it is a much easier life for them.  We could not find many souvenirs to buy, most of the shops were closed.  I guess Covid had a big impact on their tourism.  The road to Tuktoyaktuk was built only 7 years ago, so their tourism was not very mature when Covid shut them down 4 years ago.

The trip back to Inuvik was quick and we spent our time reviewing this week’s Sunday School lesson.  In Inuvik we got some gas and then parked outside the visitor’s center to connect to the internet.  I was able to update the blog and then we also Facetimed the kids to talk with them.  Before leaving town we found a car wash and sprayed off most of the mud.  We probably lost 100 lbs. of mud.

We drove south for about 4 hours and found a campsite at Rock Creek.  It was still a warm day, but it will cool down later tonight.

July 15, 2024 – Monday – Day 22

It was a rainy morning, but we left about 9 am.  Today was a day of driving.  We planned to drive to within a couple of hours drive of Dawson City.  We filled up with gas at Eagle Plains (the gas is $6.88/gal, but it is the only place to get gas).  We then continued south.

Our plan was to drive until 3 pm and then find a camping spot.  We started looking for spots and they were either taken or too exposed to the highway.   We finally found a place on the river after stopping at 5 other spots.  Each campsite was 10-15 minutes apart, so it was 4:30 pm before we finally set up camp.

July 16, 2024 – Tuesday – Day 23

It rained all night, but it stopped before we left camp.  It took us about 1 hr 45 min to finish the Dempster Highway.  It was a relief to end ~1200 miles of dirt road.  I always have that concern that something may break, or we would have other problems, but we had no issues.  When we made it to Dawson City, I noticed that some wires had pulled loose back by the receiver hitch.  I don’t remember rubbing the back end of the van anywhere, or driving through weeds or sticks, but something caught them and pulled the wires loose.  They are the wires for the trailer plug and the rear aux lights, so nothing important.  I quickly used a couple of wire ties to hold them up.  I will fix it more permanent when the rain stops.

We decided to spend the night at the Bonanza Gold campground, just outside of Dawson City.  We spent the afternoon washing more mud off the van ($6), did our laundry ($10) and took showers ($2).  It was raining the entire time we were at the camp.

Later in the evening we went into town to eat dinner at the Gold Pan Restaurant.  I had chicken strips and Eva wanted to try poutine again.  This time it had some tender beef and good cheese on it.  It was much better than the Costco poutine we had a few weeks ago.

After dinner we walked around town a while, but it started raining again so we went back to camp.  We need to find somewhere that has sunshine.

July 17, 2024 – Wednesday – Day 24 – Into Alaska

It was another rainy night and morning, but the rain had mostly stopped by the time we got up.  We took a shower and then parked by the laundry to wash our towels, sheets and a few other things.  We also called Alyssa and Kayla.

We didn’t leave the campground until around noon.  After getting gas we drove to the top of Midnight Dome, a high mount above the Yukon River and Dawson City.  We ended up above the clouds so we could not get a good view of the valley, but it was nice up there and we were able to see the sun.

Next, we ate lunch at Sourdough Joes and filled up our water at the visitor’s center.  We then took the ferry across the Yukon River and continued towards the US border.

The highway into Alaska is called the Top of the World highway.  From the Yukon River the road climbs high into the mountains and continues on top of the mountains for 40 to 50 miles.  The mountain tops are rounded, so the road stays on top and weaves between the mountain tops.  There are a lot of forest and meadows, and everything is green.  Unfortunately, the rain and overcast skies continued as we drove towards Alaska, so it was hard to get a good picture, but it was a very beautiful drive.

The US/Canada border is on top of the mountains and the border patrol people have two little cabins they live in on the mountain top.  We crossed into the US, so after 24 days of our Alaska trip, we finally entered Alaska.

The highway stayed on top of the mountains for another 20 miles until it finally descended into the valley.  We found a campsite at Walker Fort Bridge campground.  This is the nicest BLM campground we have ever stayed at.  There are only a few campsites, but they are large, flat and well-spaced.  The bathrooms are clean and there were no mosquitos.  The rain stopped and the sun came out, so we spent the evening outside eating dinner and playing games.  We are still at a higher elevation, so the night got pretty cold, but there was no rain.

July 18, 2024 – Thursday – Day 25

It was a good night and morning.  We continued on the Top of the World highway to Chicken, Alaska.  This was an old mining town.  We took a picture at the chicken and the gold dredge.

We arrived at Tok around noon.  After getting gas, I spent another $5 to spray more mud off the van.  We also stopped at a gift shop and bought some shirts for the grandkids.  After we ate lunch we spent some time planning our next few days, so it was around 4 pm before we left.

From Tok we turned south and drove about 3 hours until we camped at an old campsite about 60 mile north of Valdez.

July 13, 2024 – Saturday – Day 20

We left camp at 9 am and after getting more gas, we drove north on the Inuvik/Tuktoyaktuk Highway.  This is the last 90 miles to the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk).  This hamlet was founded in 1928 and is mostly inhabited by the Inuvialuit people.  The sun does not set here between May 19^th and July 24^th.

The road north was gravel, but not in bad condition, except where there is a lot of washboard on the road. North of Inuvik the terrain turns into a true tundra.  Everywhere is green with a lot of water.  As we got closer to Tuk the trees disappeared and then it was just grass and pools of water.

After arriving in town we drove to the end of the road at the Arctic Ocean.  We have now been to the El Fin del Mundo (The End of the World) in Ushuaia, Argentina and to the top of the world in Tuktoyaktuk, Canada.  But we have only driven about ½ of the distance in-between.

We ate lunch at Grandma’s Kitchen, the only open restaurant in town and then took dip in the Arctic Ocean. We were lucky it was a warm and sunny day.  The water was cold, but the sun was warm.  Some local people told us there was ice on the ocean until the end of June.  They also mentioned that they had a family of polar bears on the beach just a few days ago.  Too bad we missed that.

We decided to stay at the city campground on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.  The campground was almost full, but we found one of the last spots.  The campground is just parking spots along the northern shoreline.  It was a nice evening, except the campground is on the main road and I think the locals like to drive back-and-forth on the road looking at the tourist, so it was a little noisy.  Hopefully it will calm down before it is too late. 

July 12, 2024 – Friday – Day 19

It sprinkled most of the night and was raining a little when we left camp.  The mosquitoes were terrible at this camp and everywhere on the Dempster Highway.  We had not had any issues with bugs for the past 3 weeks, but they are making up for it now.

We continued to drive north on the Dempster Highway, stopping for gas at Eagle Plains.  This was the most expensive gas we have paid for so far.

About 30 mile north of Eagle Plains we crossed the Arctic Circle and a few miles past that we came across two grizzly bears foraging just off the road.  They were only 20-30 feet away and they just ignored us as we took videos and pictures.  These are the first grizzlies we have seen after seeing 5-6 black bears.

In this section of the highway we crossed two rivers using ferries.  The ferries are run by the government and are free to cross.  The first ferry crosses the Peel River and we were the only ones on the ferry.  The second ferry crosses the Mackenzie River and the ferry is much larger.  Our ferry had 4 vehicles and a semi-truck on it.  The Mackenzie River is quite wide and it took 5-10 minutes to cross it.

From the last ferry we only had 1-1/2 hours of driving to reach Inuvik.  This is the biggest city in northern Canada and is 90 miles from the Arctic Ocean.  

They were holding the Great Northern Arts Festival this week, so we stopped by to look at the exhibits.  Also, while in Inuvik we ate dinner at one of the two restaurants to celebrate Eva’s birthday.  

While walking back to the van we stopped by the only grocery store and bought a small cake so she could have her birthday cake.

There are not many places to camp for free this far north, so we got a campsite at a territorial park at the edge of town.  It was nice because they had showers.

It has surprised us how warm it is up in the north.  It was close to 80 deg today and right now it is 10 pm and the sun is high in the sky.  We are hoping it will cool down in the evening.

The sun was up in the sky long after midnight.  The camper next to us pulled into camp around 11 pm and was using a chainsaw to cut wood at about 11:30 pm.  It was too light (and noisy) to sleep so we took a picture from camp of the sun at midnight.

July 10, 2024 – Wednesday – Day 17

We decided to take is slow today.  We left camp after 10:30 am and only drove until 1:30 pm.  We found a nice spot for lunch on the shore of a lake.  It was far from the highway and nice a quiet, so we decided to spend the night.  Tomorrow we will arrive in Dawson City.

 July 11, 2024 – Thursday – Day 18 

It rained most of the night and was raining when we left camp and headed north on the Yukon Highway.  In this part of Yukon the gas stations are big above-ground tanks with attached pumps.  There are no employees around, you just use your credit card and then pump the gas.  Also, there is no competition, so the prices are quite high.  We paid $5.24/gal at the tank at Stewarts Landing.

We drove through an area that had a recent wildfire. We were worried they would close the road, but with the recent rain the fire was mostly out. We did pass some areas that were still smoking.

We arrived at Dawson City around noon and stopped at the visitor’s center to get fresh water and the general store to get some food.  Dawson City is the heart of the Yukon gold rush.  It is still a mining town, but they have restored some buildings from the gold rush period to focus on tourism.  There are also many National Historic Sites in town.

Our original plan was to spend a couple of days in Dawson City before continuing north to the Arctic Ocean.  However, we check the weather forecast and the forecast in the far north was warm and sunny for a few days.  This type of weather is pretty rare, so we changed plans and quickly left Dawson City to drive north on the Dempster Highway.  We will return to Dawson City in a few days to see more of the town.

The Dempster Highway is known as the Road to the Arctic.  The road goes from Dawson City to the town of Inuvik and then continues to the village of Tuktoyaktuk at shores of the Arctic Ocean.  The total highway is 547 miles of dirt/gravel, one way.  The road to Inuvik was finished in 1979, but the last 90 miles to Tuktoyaktuk and the ocean was not completed until 2017.

We left Dawson City at 2 pm with the goal to make it halfway to Inuvik before camping for the night.  It is funny that the time does not matter much as the sun will go down, but not far enough for it to get dark.  It makes it easy to drive for as long as you want and then still find camp in the light.

It was raining as we started our trek on the Dempster.  We stopped at a provincial park at 40 miles in and the lower half of the van was covered in mud.

After another 60 miles the entire back was covered.  We had heard that it takes $20-30 at the car wash to clean off the mud from the Dempster.

The highway starts in the mountains and forests following several rivers.  We camped ~210 miles from the start and the terrain was rolling hills with short scrubby trees.  It had stopped raining a few hours ago and it was a warm evening.

July 9, 2024 – Tuesday – Day 16

We left camp early and drove on to Whitehorse, Yukon.  This is a gold mining town that was the gateway to the Klondike.  Gold seeking travelers would land in Skagway, AK and climb up the pass to Whitehorse on their way to the Klondike.

We stopped at the Miles Canyon Suspension Bridge on the way into Whitehorse.  The Yukon River passes through a narrow basaltic canyon and the bridge was built at that point.  It was very pretty.

Once in Whitehorse we found a tire shop to replace the valve stem.  This took longer than I thought it should, but they finally fixed it.  We then went to the visitor’s center and later ate lunch at Tim Hortons.  Tim Hortons is the McDonalds of Canada, even though they have McDonalds also.

After lunch we walked to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History.  It is in a large museum, and it was interesting to visit.

After the museum we walked around town a little before going to the SS Klondike, an old stern wheel paddle boat that is also a National Historic Site.  However, it was closed for renovations, so we could only see it from the outside.

We ended up eating dinner at McDonalds inside of Walmart before leaving town.  I was able to get internet there and update the blog.  We left town at 7 pm and found a campsite on a river north of Whitehorse.  We are far enough north that it never seems to get dark.  The sun goes down after 11 pm, but it never gets completely dark.  We usually stay up late because we lose track of time with it being light so late at night.

July 5, 2024 – Friday

We started the morning driving to the Columbia Icefield Center to use their WIFI and update the blog.  After that we continued to drive north towards the city of Jasper.  We first stopped at the Sunwapta Falls.  

Next we stopped at an area where the mountain goats come down from the cliffs to eat dirt.  The dirt gives them the minerals that the need and cannot get on the cliffs.  We were surprised how many mountain goats were there.

We next drove to Athabasca Falls.  This was an amazing water fall that carved a short but steep and narrow canyon.  It was amazing to see the entire river passing through a narrow slot.

We arrived in the town of Jasper at 2 pm.  Our main priority was to find a laundromat and get our laundry done.  It took a few hours to complete our laundry and then we drove to the Whistler Campground where we had reservations for the night.  It was a nice evening.  Jasper is about 3000 ft lower than where we camped last night, so it was a lot warmer.

The next few days will be a lot of driving.  We will be driving from Jasper to Dawson City, Yukon, a distance of 1600 miles.  

July 4, 2024 – Thursday (Happy 4^th of July)

Today we finally had a day with no rain and sunny blue skies.   Eva made French toast for breakfast, and we had an enjoyable morning in the sun.

Later we left camp and drove to Tangle Falls and took a few pictures.  We then took a short hike to the Toe of the Athabaska Glacier.  Well, they didn’t let you get too close to the snow and ice.

In the afternoon we took a tour that took us onto the Athabasca Glacier that is just below the Columbia Icefield.  The Columbia Icefield is the largest icefield outside of the Arctic.  The icefield is like a frozen lake on top of the mountains and then there are 6 glaciers that are pushed over the mountains like frozen rivers from the frozen lake.  The Athabasca Glacier is the 2^nd largest glacier and the easiest to get to.

We rode to the middle of the glacier on the large ice explorer buses.  These 6-wheel drive buses have huge tires to drive over the rock rubble leading up to the glacier and then float on the snow and ice of the glacier.  It was an interesting drive in these huge buses.

We spend some time on the glacier.  We both took a sip of the ice-cold glacier water, straight from the ice.

After the glacier we went to the Glacier Skywalk.  This is a glass bottom arch that stretches out over a glacier fed river in the bottom of a 1000 ft canyon.  It was interesting, but way over-crowded.  They had ½ of the arch closed as they had replaced a few sections of glass.

We made it back to camp in Wilcox campground just before 8 pm and ate leftovers for dinner.  It was a long tiring day.

July 3, 2024 – Wednesday

We left Lake Louise at 8:30 am and drove north to Jasper National Park and onto to the Icefield Parkway. They claim this is the prettiest mountain drive in the world.  Unfortunately, it started raining not long after we left camp.  It was a nice drive, but the tops of the peaks were in the clouds and there was not much sun to brighten the day.  We made a few stops at the viewpoints and took a short hike in the rain to Peyto Lake.  The shape of this lake looks like the head of a dog.

Today was a slow day.  We had been moving non-stop for 9 days, so we found a campsite at Wilcox Creek campground early and relaxed the rest of the day.  It was a little cool outside, so we spent some time in the van, but it was a nice rest.