Month: October 2019

Dempster Highway

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The Dempster Highway is our connection to Southern Canada. It is a 737 km rough gravel road that is often closed due to weather, washouts, or accidents. It is known for chewing up tires and windshields, which I can confirm by personal experience. It takes about 10-12 hours to drive between Inuvik and Dawson City. There are two river crossings (ferry in the summer, ice road in the winter), which means that the highway closes for several weeks in the spring and fall, during which time we will be cut off from the South by road.

The Dempster is also quite scenic, and has become popular with adventurous tourists who travel it with cars, trucks, camper vans, motorcycles, and bicycles. There are quite a few articles written about it:

Drive the Great Dempster Adventure

Dempster Highway Road Trip – Yes You Can Drive to the Arctic

NWT Geography, Revisited

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Three years ago, we answered some FAQs about our new home. Now that we’ve moved even further north, it seemed like it was time to revisit these questions.

Where did you move again? Iqaluit?

Inuvik. Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut, 2,842 km away. Iqaluit is further south than Inuvik – it’s actually even further south than Tulita! “Inu” means people and “vik” means place, so Inuvik essentially means “people place”.

Are there roads there?

Yes! We can drive south down the Dempster Highway towards Dawson City and beyond, or north on the new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway towards Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean.

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Are you north of the Arctic Circle?

We sure are! You can even drive there from here.

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Are there trees there?

Yes, but just barely. They end shortly out of town and then it’s pure tundra.

Is it flat there?

Inuvik is in a river delta, so it’s pretty flat. There are some rolling hills, but nothing huge. The nearest mountain range is the Richardson Mountains, near the Yukon border. You can see them from here on a clear day.

Is the ground permafrost?

Still yup.

Are there polar bears there?

We’re right at the edge of their range. It’s very uncommon for them to come anywhere near town – they occasionally end up near Tuk, but it’s pretty rare. We’re in one of the few areas in Canada where technically all three species of bears could run into each other. In fact, the island north of us is where the first grizzly-polar bear hybrid was found.