To Inuvik We Go

After camping at James Creek, we headed further into the Northwest Territories. The drive takes you from higher altitude in the mountains down into the Peele River valley.

Almost immediately after leaving our campsite, the Dempster follows a narrow canyon for a distance and Sarah spotted a caribou trotting up the road in front of us.

The first ferry crossing is near Fort McPherson and it is a short crossing of the Peele River on the Carferry Abraham Francis. This is a cable ferry, which means the ferry pulls itself across the river on two set cables that cross the river.

We crossed at a busy time of the day with three vehicles total, but they asked us not to get out to film or take pictures.

Then we visited the native Gwitch’in village of Fort McPherson. It was a nice little town and we met a friendly local who talked to us about all manner of things, including hunting and fishing in the area.

After we left Fort McPherson we crossed a short wedge of land between the Peele River and the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie River is the main reason there are even trees and forests in this area. The massive river brings warm water north and allows the tree line to nearly reach the Arctic Ocean.

Some scientists call the Mackenzie, the “Cold Amazon,” because the river has such an impact on the entire area for hundreds of miles around it.

It was good to be back on the Mackenzie, even if it was in the truck and not in our canoes. Even though we were hundreds of miles North of where we ended our paddle trip, the shoreline looked like the place we’d spent 3 weeks paddling the great river.

The ferry across the Dempster is a large, powerful car-ferry, but even this big boat with 1,000’s of horsepower has to work with the current to take vehicles back and forth.

After we crossed the Mackenzie River on the ferry, we made our way up to Inuvik, which is on the East Channel of the Mackenzie River Delta. Inuvik is the largest town in this part of the Canadian Arctic and has a population of about 3100 people.

It is the governmental administration center and transportation hub in this area, so it has some amenities not found in other villages up in this area.

We arrived at about 5:30 PM on  Tuesday, July 25th. We had originally planned to stay at Happy Valley Territorial Campground, which is a small campground right in Inuvik within walking distance to the sites of the community.

Upon arrival, we learned that the campground had no showers and there was no reduction in fees for the lack of services. There was another Territorial Campground a few miles away that had all services functioning, we called for availability of a spot, but a large convoy of Sprinter camper-vans had just pulled in and the camp manager was checking them all in.

We had seen these Uber-expensive Mercedes camper vans when we crossed the Mackenzie River on the ferry. And being stuck amongst them during our drive up the Dempster from the ferry crossing made us very apprehensive about camping anywhere near them.

A dirt road that has not seen rain in months, is not the place to caravan with 25 of your “closest” friends you just met on some Facebook group for people who can afford a $200,000 camper-van (No offense to anyone who owns a Sprinter 4X4, they are sweet vehicles, but some of these folks, I’m looking at you dude with the Florida plates, probably shouldn’t have been on the Dempster).

Sarah turned to me and said, “I want a hotel tonight.” We had been camping out since June 16, so, we got a hotel for our first night in Inuvik.

Unfortunately, the Nova Inn was having water heater issues, so there was no hot water. Fortunately, it was a hot day in Inuvik, so the cold showers helped us cope with the heat inside the hotel room.

It was somewhat comical that the refreshing night in a hotel turned into a sweltering sweat-fest with the room reaching 28 degrees C. The staff was friendly and apologetic, but I have to say it was the most expensive hotel stay I’ve ever had for how horrible the experience was.

We were able to do a load of laundry, and the bedding was clean, so we had that going for us. I think that was the only redeeming feature of the hotel stay. Three cold showers wasn’t enough to counter the heat inside the hotel room.

We checked out of the hotel the next day, it was refreshing to be back outside and away from the oven that was the hotel room. We went to stay at Happy Valley Territorial Park, at least we had shade and a breeze off the Delta.

We walked around Inuvik and saw many historic buildings, like the “Igloo Church,” which is a Catholic Church built entirely with scrap and repurposed materials with volunteer help.

It was designed by the priest who ran the congregation and wanted a church that reflected the culture of his flock. The priest who designed the church had no engineering or architectural training whatsoever and, in fact, only had a grade 5 education prior to joining the rectory.

It is an amazing building and engineers have since done calculations on the strength of the construction. The engineers estimate that is over-built by about 50%.

We visited some shops that sold local artist prints and carvings. It was good to see some beautiful art.

Carvings, like this one of a kayak hunter being upset by a Narwhal, are fantastic in their representation of both man and animal.

Prints like this one of an Arctic Char always make me awestruck by how the Inuit can capture the very essence of the animals they rely on to survive.

Inuvik marks the end of the Dempster Highway. The Inuvik – Tuktoyaktuk Road will lead us North to the Arctic Ocean.

Next stop Tuktoyaktuk!

Stay tuned,
~ Umingmaq