Dempster Highway–Arctic Circle

Jim, Kim and I set off on an expedition to the Arctic Circle. Leaving Dawson at 8am, we took their SUV up the Dempster Highway, an unpaved road stretching from near Dawson, all the way up to Inuvik.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dempster_Highway

  

This is no small side trip! It is over 250 miles to the Arctic circle, and once you get there, you turn around and do another 250+ miles to get back! It was quite an adventure, as you will see. Along the road, we saw a lot of wildlife… Bears, foxes, moose (or meece, I guess). Some hung around long enough for Kodak, others made themselves scarce. I have a lot of pictures of bear butts, fox butts, rabbit butts…

  

  

This raven was giving us a hard time for disturbing the peace and quiet, so I shot him! (with the camera.. geeze!)

Around every bend, the scenery changed, and it was all spectacular…

  

Lots of ice still on the rivers, isn’t that a pretty “glacial blue”?

  

As the road climbs, you get above the tree line and into some seriously rocky mountains.

  

The red of the stream contrasts with the white snow and rock. There must be a lot of iron up in those hills!

  

Just “Wow”

  

  

The road really does take a toll on your vehicle… I think it used to be red.

  

Then, it turned sinister… we spotted smoke up ahead from a rest area .

  

That changed to scary when we saw how close to the road the fire was. We decided to continue… that may not have been the smart thing to do, as you will see in a little while.

  

Dusty, Dusty!

We made it! The true land of the midnight sun! Pictures were taken, and a ceremonial beer tasting was performed. Then, we headed for home.

  

Oh yeah… remember that fire? This is never a good sign, especially when you are 200 miles from home, and there is only one road… period!

Yes, the road is closed… however, the official thinks there may be a chance we can get through if we wait a bit, so we do. Eventually, we are escorted through the fire area and resume out travels. We make it back to Dawson City about 12:30 in the AM. Quite the road trip! of course, it’s still bright daylight out, but I go to bed anyway.