I did it!

I slept on the shores of the Beaufort Sea last night and it was magical. At three in the morning, this was my view through the screen and from my bed in the Honda Hotel… (I’m getting ahead of myself though…)

I made it.

Sometimes against my better judgement, but the little Honda that could and I kept moving foward until we were parked on the egde of the Arctic Ocean. The new highway (I use that term VERY LOOSELY) that opened to connect Inuvik and Tuk is a work in progress and was probably the most difficult part of the whole journey.

 It is built on permafrost and this is it’s first spring and summer, so they are learning as they go and making changes to it daily. It is a gravel surface, but it is very soft (compared to the Dempster, which is very hard and unforgiving). When you are in a little Honda Civic, the biggest problem is that when you hit some fresh patches, you sink and the car will bottom out. Most of the vehicles that travel it are trucks and then bigger trucks and they make huge ruts that are hard for little ol’ us to get through.

At this point, I really feel that I could have a career in stunt driving. And I really think my saving grace has been that I drive a standard.  My brakes have seen very little action, but my transmission has been a rockstar.

(Side bar** I really need to thank my Dad for teaching me to drive a standard right from day one when I was 16 and then I REALLY need to thank Carol for spending countless hours practicing with me in her little yellow Rabbit and teaching me how to be a good driver. She and I have driven a lot of places over the years and in a lot of different conditions and she always made me drive in the challenging conditions. We spent time in parking lots in all weather learning how to use the gears to control the car and while those are skills that I have obviously used my whole driving life, I think I have used every skill I’ve ever learned from her on this trip alone. Don’t panic, don’t brake, use your gears, and keep moving.)

I am proud to say, I didn’t get stuck once. Of course I still have about 700kms of Dempster Hwy to navigate so I may need to revise that statement in a day or two…

Back to the fact that I made it to the Arctic Ocean (are you sick of hearing me say that yet?) - it is a different world up here. The people are very friendly and welcoming and very proud of their little hamlet. Once I parked the car in a great spot for the night, I did some exploring and met some new friends.

There was a little crafts fair at the local hall (and by little, I mean 2.5 tables of goods to peruse.) and I bought a tiny pair of seal fur mukluks (they will hang from my rearview mirror) made by a little girl who was learning to make the real ones from her grandma. For lunch I went to a little tent that was set up beside someone’s house called “Beluga Burgers”. No, they didn’t have beluga burgers, but they did have fresh Muskox burgers and oh my was it good.

After lunch I did some wandering around and took a few pictures before I headed back to the The Point (the spot where people set up for the night and the town has built a little Visitor Center and put an outhouse in place).  Quite a few people were interested in seeing the features of the Honda Hotel so I gave a little run through a couple of times. Someone even took my picture beside it - hahahaha!  Oh wait! I forgot to tell you a huge issue in the whole process… THE MOSQUITOES! I can safely say that until yesterday, I had never experienced an actual swarm of mosquitoes. When I first stopped the car, I honestly debated whether or not I was even going to get out. There had to be hundreds and hundreds swarming the windows of the car. It was insane. I tried to take a picture out the window to show you, but it doesn’t in any way do it justice. If you look hard, you can see some of the black flecks against the sky. 

And they were monster size! The reprieve came because there was a good wind, so as long as you faced the wind, it was ok (well that, and a can worth of deet and a head net).

Anyways, I spent the evening sitting around with new friends talking and sharing travel stories. So inspiring!

Oh and at one point some local kids came down to The Point selling fresh, hot donuts (like fry bread) for $2. Two of those and a banana sorted out dinner. (Dinner when you are traveling is different than dinner when you’re at home. If you need further details on what constitutes traveling dinner, just let me know.)

Some of us were trying to sort out a trip to see the Pingos up close (a pingo is like a big mound of ice, pushed up through permafrost and covered in earth that exist in the Arctic and Antarctic) but none of the tour operators were getting back to us (they are only accessible by water). Turns out that belugas were swimming through so a lot of people had headed out whaling. No pingo tour for us. I managed to get a few pictures from a distance but again, the pictures just don’t do them justice.

The not covered in snow version of the Arctic is a beautiful landscape of green land, dotted by pingos, water and wildlife. It’s kind of like driving through a lost land that you’ve only ever read about and pictured in your head (actually, for me, it was exactly like that).

Enjoy some pictures and we’ll talk more again later.

Wish me luck for the next couple of days as I wind may way back down the Dempster to the land of paved roads...