Down The Dempster

In the morning we drove back to Inuvik to hit the only coffee shop in town before making a point to drive all the way to the end of the road. Technically, this isn’t The Dempster anymore, but a muddy trail leads north of town maybe 20 km to some oil field supply yards.

We made it all the way to the sign that said it was the end of the road. Good thing, because we literally couldn’t have driven any further in this mud. This is also where construction of the new road to Tuktoyotuk begins. Only another 100 km to the Arctic Ocean. We were told work has already begun from both ends and it will be finished in under 5 years. Maybe we’ll be back someday.

The rain was falling, so we decided we may as well start heading south. The forecast was changing quickly and snow was a possibility. In August.

We were held up for several hours at a ferry crossing closed for high winds, so we just made lunch and waited. We drove all day (the sun never sets) and it rained the entire way.

We made it a little more than half-way back down The Dempster in one day. After slowly following a moose and her calf out for an evening stroll on the road, we decided to call it a day and pulled over to camp.