Hopefully no one was really trying to track us based on the last blog...we haven't gone there yet! Instead, we took a 950 mile detour north along the Dempster Highway to Inuvit, Northwest Territories...the end of the road and far above the Arctic Circle!! YOW didn't get to go because the road, except for 5 miles in the beginning and 6 miles at the end is all dirt & gravel and when it rains, which it did, gets pretty slick.
The trip was great and quite an adventure...all mountains (including three passes each way), two ferries each way (no way to bridge these enormous rivers) and so many rivers we couldn't count them. In a small way it reminded us of going across the top of Trail Ridge but ever so much more expansive. We crossed the Arctic Circle about halfway. As we were out two nights (went up in two days and all the way back in one day), we stayed overnight first at the Eagle Plains Lodge, which was a glorified truck stop, and then at a cabin just outside Inuvik, the Arctic Chalet. The Chalet was charming...log cabins on a small lake and 30 pure white husky sled dogs!
Inuvik is a newer (built in the 1970s) of about 3,400 people, mostly First Nation (formerly called Eskimo but now they use their original name which I can neither spell or pronounce). Like most native towns, it has a Catholic church but this one is shaped like a huge igloo with a blue cross on top. We'd asked for a recommendation for dinner at the Chalet and was told the dining room at the Eskimo Inn..."poor rooms but great food" and that it was.
Much to our amazement, when we came out the passenger side door was ajar and a native woman was asleep inside! I tried to wake her and get her out but with no success. Harley went to find the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while I chatted with an older native woman...very pleasant but strongly recommended that we do nothing until a officer arrived. We didn't and he did with nothing harmed...and, yes, we thought we'd locked the truck.
On the trip back, the weather improved greatly and, best of all, we saw herds of caribou. They're the most amazing looking animals...the bucks (and most of the groups were bucks) have absolutely huge racks that look like arms raised above their heads with fingers at the top. They were a bit skittish when we stopped but we did manage to get quite close to many.
We drove straight through on the way back because neither of us wanted to spend another night eating and sleeping at the Eagle Plains Lodge...Harley is an amazing driver. So far on the entire trip I've only driven twice, once each on two separate days and for about an hour each time.
Tomorrow we really do plan to go over the Top of the World highway, cross the border, drop off YOW and drive up to Eagle. Hope all is going well at home.
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