Dipping Our Toes and Paws in the Arctic Circle

OMG! Where to start. Reaching Tuk has been on my list since my first failed attempt in 2011. Although back then, it wasn’t really riding my motorcycle to the top of the planet. It was riding to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada and then catching a small plane to Tuktoyuktuk. You see, back then there was no road to Tuk. It ended in Inuvik, and what existed was an ice road to the native community only in the winter. It is roughly 90 miles beyond Inuvik. The Canadians have been trying to build this road for almost 30 years!

We made it here by motorcycle!

That first failed ride on the Dempster in 2011 lead to a second attempt in 2013. This time we were able to reach Inuvik, the end of the road in (2013), but the cost to fly to Tuk was so crazy expensive to see the pingos ($1,000), that we decided to spend that money on a trip to a beach in Mexico. We didn’t go Tuk. We got back to Anchorage, and it was added to that unfinished business list. Someday…

Then I heard in 2017 that the road would be finished and it officially opened to vehicle traffic in November. That is when the plan started to finish the business. Michael and I are always planning the next adventure. Cleary this was it. Thus begin the dance of arranging the details and securing lodging. In remote places like this, it is better to always have a reservation. The businesses are very accommodating to changing road conditions and allow you to flex your stay if you get delayed. If you aren’t in the reservation group though, it would be a lot more stressful. There just aren’t places to stay. This is the only place I would say the campers and small RVs have it gold. I would not tent camp here because of all the mozzies.

Start of the Tuk section of the Dempster Highway

So here we are the morning of trying to realize this dream with a flat tire. We learned there was a tire shop that would open at 9am. This already put us in a bind. Assuming we could get in first and they could fix it, would take us two hours. This late delay would put us on the road at the earliest around noon. We knew the road was bad in some places, and figured it would take us maybe 3 hours to get to top of planet, and then 3 hours back. Add an hour for screwing around at the top, and we are looking at another long day. If we couldn’t find a tire shop to fix the tire, then Michael would have to do it himself. We had found a local that would open up their garage to us to fix the tire ourselves, but that would take longer without the right equipment to take the tire off the rim. I am running car tires on the back of the motorcycle and side car. This is not as easy as fixing a motorcycle tire. If we ended up doing this ourselves, then it would take much longer. Too long to drive north, but we could at least get back to Anchorage. Plan B – chartering a plane was hatching. After chatting with several folks, we would need to cough up roughly $1800 to take the three of us up to Tuk. No rental cars available. We could get a RT ride, but that was $1500 on account of the bad road. I was hemming and hawing about paying $1800 for the plane when I got word that the tire shop was going to be able to fix it right then and there. Thank goodness! We were on the road by noon!

Road grater damage

We knew there are no services really in Tuk. No cafes or restaurants and no hotels. There is only one gift shop but two small grocery stores. Things close early. The town is just ready for the world to drive in. It has been off the road for a very long time. We stopped by the grocery store in Inuvik and loaded up with pre made sandwiched and apples, and general snacks. I even got Rasta a couple of pieces of cheese as a special treat. Rasta is being such a sport, and seems to be enjoying herself. Aside from a hideous mozzie bite on her snout that makes her look like the wicked witch of the north she is doing great. Her princess carriage is very nice. She does not like to wear her hearing protection.

We also decided to strip down our operation. We left the KLR in town on account of the marble gravel and snotty mud reports. We left all our gear except emergency gear and rain gear in Inuvik. This was going to be day trip. A fast out and back hopefully.

The southern part of the road was like what we have been seeing. The landscape didn’t look much different. Sure enough the road was skittle strewn. There were places of really rough riding; washboard ruts for miles. There was only one pullout on the entire road even though signs said there were. This is a new road and they seem to still be building it. There were no places to stop your camper or motorhome. No places wide enough to turn around. No outhouses. Nothing. This is truly new remote road. It was like a raised gravel strip, maybe 20 feet above the tundra, with soft gravel shoulders on both sides. No one wants to ride too close to either side. Everyone wants to ride in the exact middle. Luckily there was not much traffic. There were about a dozen large belly dump diesel trucks still moving gravel and dirt. Otherwise going up there we saw less than a dozen vehicles both directions included. There were place of grating going on. These areas were extremely difficult to navigate. I imagine this will always be the case. As Michael said “F**king graters suck.” We did have good weather going up to enjoy the view.

Pingos!

This is actually the first pingo I saw.

The road was a strip of gravel winding around the lakes and between them. Water everywhere. The NWT safe to pass sign looked like an alien face from far away.  The sky was amazing and loud. Even in bad weather.

Road winds around the lakes

We stopped at the one pullout on the road. There were tundra flowers everywhere. This was Michael and Rasta’s first time to walk on real tundra (spongy). It was also the furthest North Michael has ever been. I am fortunate enough to have gone to Barrow, now called Utqiagvik, in the past. We needed to use our helmets as mosquito a net.

Michael and Rasta play on the tundra

Flowers grow wild across the tundra

The northern part of the road felt magical! It was truly stunning. I felt like I was looking left and then right and then left to see it all. It was a rolling landscape of vivid greed with bright blue water everywhere. Pingos punctuated the landscape in the distance. The sky was talking. It was just absolutely amazing. This section of the road is truly one of the most incredible drives I have ever done. It’s right up there with the road to Hana in Hawaii.

Screen shot of my GPS. Road through the lakes!

We reached the outskirts of town, which is truly not a good thing to see. We were warned that the new road enters the community by the landfill. They have not used dirt or fill to manage the landfill. Now that they have the road, they have easier access to fill and trucks. There are plans to clean it up, but right now we got to drive past decades of waste piled high. We definitely noticed the smell. One thing that was obviously absent in our trip to the Arctic Ocean – there was no scent of sea water.

We saw driftwood everywhere which confused us on account of there not really being trees in the north (not for hundreds of miles). So why all the driftwood? Ocean currents must be bring it up here? Thousands of driftwood trees all along the coast. Still no ocean smells.

I have the second largest pingo growing out almost out of my head

The road goes right through town. Typical buildings in the arctic, built high on pilings to allow air flow to pass. Houses directly on the tundra cause a heated footprint to melt the permafrost. This eventually causes the buildings to sink. So they raise them above. Dirt roads everywhere, very few business.

Pictures of the town of Tuktoyuktuk (Tuk)

We drive straight through to the very end of the road where it meets the ocean. Still no ocean smell, the water was silver.

We parked at the end of the road, took photos and celebrated the fact that we road motorcycles to the top of the planet. In Alaska, the Dalton does not reach the Arctic Ocean (as a private citizen). Can you do this anywhere else in North America? We made it! Rasta ran around and found a stick (in a treeless environment) and immediately sat down and chewed it.

We made it to the top of the planet!

to weird to eat

Musk ox burger anyone?

At the end of the road, a tent café exists. The only place in town to get something to eat. We tried the Musk ox burger  – icky. We ate the ham sandwich we brought from Inuvik. We then walked to the Arctic Ocean and touched the water. Rasta tried to go swimming, but got surprised by its chill. She settled for walking around in the water. We all dipped our toes (with boots) and paws. It then started to rain.

Rasta is all excited with the water.

She is getting ready to dip her paws.

The ride back was uneventful and fast. It rained most of the way. We were now in a hurry to get cold beer in Inuvik before the liquor store closed. We passed a couple two up on a fully loaded BMW. They were struggling to keep the bike straight. We confirmed it was good to that we didn’t bring the KLR.

We got to the store in time, but they only had horrible beer selections (American piss water – Budweiser, Coors, Miller), the good beer was not in the fridge. We toasted our success to reaching our goal with hot beer.

Then we talked about driving to the furthest tip of the South American continent Tierra del Fuego shared by Chile and Argentina.

We need to get home first!