We just returned from our nine-day RV journey to Inuvik, NWT via the Dempster Highway (click on the photo links). This is a spectacular drive from Anchorage, crossing over the Top of The World Highway, crossing the Yukon River by ferry to Dawson, then up the Dempster highway to Inuvik, which is about a 500-mile dirt road, with crossings of the Peel and McKenzie Rivers by ferry.
We saw lots of wildlife, including a sow grizzly with two cubs playing on a hillside, and the scenery is varied and beautiful. The rivers that one encounters are right out of a fisherman’s fantasy, including the Blackstone, one of the tributaries of the magnificent Peel River watershed.
What is truly impressive is Canada’s dedication to their infrastructure. The road, while rough in places, is one of the best gravel roads I’ve driven. I was able to cruise at 45-50 mph over long stretches of the highway, unlike here in my home state, where even the paved roads are in abysmal shape. The campgrounds are exceptionally well-maintained, with firewood provided free of charge. Apparently, if you’re not spending your tax dollars on bombs and wars, a country can actually do something for its citizens. Canadians were polite and good-natured without exception.
Oh, and I start a new job on Monday, so it’s been a great couple of weeks. Thanks, Canada!
That sounds like a truly awesome trip. If you were trying to make me jealous then yeah, you’re spot on. I’ve driven up past Tok and Tetlin Junction (sp?) but north to Eagle was only by helicopter. An RV for a week in that remoteness would be heavenly.
We’re definitely going up that way some day. Jim’s best friend took a Yukon trip last year, and he’s going back (went back?) this summer again. Lots of driving, but worth it, apparently.
I have always said that I want to see my own country before I start world-travelling, and that includes the Great White North.
It wasn’t exactly a strike, but they were fairly unhappy with the sales staff. They got over it. I quit to take a regular salaried job with a joint venture as the facilities manager for 18 remote radar sites in Alaska. I managed to make about 20,000 (gross) in the three months I sold RVs, and was on track for Salesman Of The Month, kicking major ass on many who had been selling for 15 years or so.
The new job is back to supervising lots of people and mucho coordination headaches, but the salary is very nice.
We managed to arrive during the one day of summer (it fell on a Saturday this year), so it was just fine. Not a whole lot to do in that little burg. We stopped in Ft. McPherson on the way back (where there’s even less to do) and bought some cool stuff at the tent and canvass outlet.