Canada 5 Arctic

Canada – Dempster Highway – Yukon – Arctic Circle

Heading up the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle and to the Northwest Territories.

The Yukon is such a cool place ! This gravel highway is actually an easy run if you have the time and money for gasoline. It is necessary to gas up in Dawson City because the next gas is in Eagle Plains way up the road. I also suggest carrying a spare fuel container because there are simply no places to get gasoline except for Eagle Plains Service.

Eagle Plains May 2014 – population 8

Fueling up – this old boy has been working at the service center for 30 + years and is a wealth of knowledge about the Canadian outback and he seems happy to talk if he is not busy at the time.   He has some really interesting stories about the life up north.

Here is a newspaper article pinned to the wall in his shop about a new world record moose shot by a man from Dawson City down south near the Yukon River.

Grizzly bear makes a dash across the road – pardon the blur but it was taken through the windshield on a bumpy road without slowing down. I came to setting a camera down on the passenger seat so it is ready for quick shots. Very few turn out but at least I usually get a shot that reminds me of what just went by.  Black bears on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia do not seem deterred and  usually keep grazing on clover as you pass by.

Willow Ptarmigan – a common bird living in the arctic tundra.  They seem to eat a bit of the gravel that lies at the edge of the road.

The ferry crossing the river at Ft McPherson doesn’t usually begin running until the first or second week of June (depending upon the weather conditions).

There were two long flat stretches of highway that were widened to make them usable as emergency airstrips.

emergency airstrip

Bears crossing

Look close and you will see 4 bears – the dark spot up the road is a bear too.

One more up the road

Note the emergency airstrip sign behind the bear

Northwest Territories

Time change – not that it would make a difference.

The ferry at Ft McPherson does not start running until June anyway. I heard a serious bicycler coming down from Inuvik hired a helicopter to take the cyclist and cycle over the river southbound the week prior. Some of those cyclists are serious about biking and I really admire their perseverance!

Moose hiding out in the trees further south. Up north the trees are far and few between.

Canada part 5 – stay tuned

Canada – Yukon – Arctic Circle