Northern Ontario to Inuvik solo ride on now!

[zzz150]

truck started next morning, booster pack was too low on juice, that will teach me to run my computer for a few hours with it...

right now close to whitehorse, had to bring dog to vet today, he got a foxtail plant stuck in his throat, be aware of this crap and symptoms if coming up this way with your dog.

camped at 1340m, about 550m above whitehorse up some random forest access rd, needed 4low to get up here, not too rocky just very steep with few interesting spots.

made it to tuk!

here we have hiking near inuvik with a few other travellers i met before heading to tuk, then flying to tuk, then fish smoking, very tasty.. then freezing our asses off jumping in the arctic ocean! and last is a pic from the ice freezer/cave built before everybody had deep freezers at home.

 

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inuvik airport appears to be the only polar bear i will see, the airport was large and nice. leaving arctic circle shot, and seeing a lot of this on my satelite radio in yukon

 

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my iphone hotspot is pretty sluggish up here but the fact that i'm connected is pretty cool, even made some calls earlier, here is the pic of the sat radio, i might be asking too much of my connection trying multiple small pics up here

 

[zzz150]

camping at blackstone river on the dempster, great greyling fishing at this location! for those looking the dempster offers a lot of non campground camping but see pic two for something not really advertised... this was at the hart winter rd, hiked abpout an hr up the rd, at about 1.5km there is a great 4x4 accessible campsite at a creek, after this it starts a gradual very muddy and slick uphill that i could not have tried alone with any of my previous or my current truck. anyway the closer to inuvik the less camping opportunities i found.

 

[zzz150]

while looking for a place to camp last night i met more amazing ppl, they suggested i could stay at their beach, use their canoe and come up to their mountain top home for bacon and eggs in the morning! in the canoe, the sunset at the dock and the log palace from the mezanine after breakfast - wow!

 

[zzz150]

and finally for now tonights campsite with another amazing view!! i actually got out and walked for a while before getting to this spot as i was getting a bit nervous and being alone there is no room for an error up here.

computer is about to lose power and no more charging from my booster pack which still hasn't gotten above its mid level charge, not good enough to mess around at all.

 

[FriendlyManitoban]

Wow! That *IS* a log palace!! Amazing views. Great photos.

 

[Bushcoat]

pics look great. looks like an amazing time.

my booster pack wont do anything to the battery unless it has a little bit of charge, if the truck is stone dead, the booster is a no go.

out of curiosity, are you planning to dip into alaska at all? its a nice drive to skagway and not too far off from the dempster if you have a passport. carcross is a neat little town and theres a nice little spot called emerald lake about 2 min away, and, believe it or not, a mini sand dune. nice little restauraunt and campground there too, 3 flags out front and i cant remember the name of the place but nice spot to have a bowl of soup and/or a sandwich.

 

[zzz150]

staying canada this trip. going to start making my way towards yellowknife soon. i had charged the booster pack in the truck while driving a few times, it went back up to the full power indicator once but not since and was plugged in for about 12hrs.

still just outside whitehorse, did a bit of fishing today and quickly lost my spinners. got a video of a good sized trout swimming up the shallow stream that will never upload from here on this connection.

hiked to top of the mountain i was camped on the other night from the campsite at 1340m, the peak was 1665m, about an hour hike up. some dinner at the river where i am camped now for a 2nd night.

 

[zzz150]

putted around some of the trails and bush roads in the same area near whitehorse today(jackson/fish lakes area). this place is great!

brought my dog back to the vet today, they put him under and got into his throat and nasal areas and confirmed that all was well now, kinda stressful for the dog and i felt bad but now we know that he should just keep improving.

as much as i don't want to leave this area tmrw is time to go, will begin heading towards yellowknife with another stop at the liard hot springs. went to the takhini hot springs here but there is no comparison between the two locations, liard is a very natural setting and has more variety in water temps.


according to nwtfire.com hwy 3 still has fluctuating conditions which will be either fire or smoke resulting in temporary hwy closures. should be interesting!

 

[zzz150]

Camped on a dry sandy section of riverbed just outside od fort simpson tonight, saw a lot of wildlife today and am now getn sand and smoke blown at me by the winds here. There was no smoke for the 1st hr i was here but the wind has picked up and is now bringing it from one of the many forest fires still burning.

 

[zzz150]

about 11000km in now, back to fort simpson on the beach/dry section of the mackenzie tonight, service is not the best but it is working. went to wrigley today, about 450km return on gravel, pretty smooth other than a muddy section that went about 10k or so, i actually used 4x4 on the hwy to keep myself going in a straight line above 20km/h.. well worth the drive.

a couple pics prior to wrigley;

look at that water! was a nice place for a swim after the liard hot springs, those hot springs are awesome but leave quite the stink on you.. next is me entering the nwt for the 4th time via different accesses.

 

[zzz150]

at the beach;

 

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the end of the road for me was not long past this sign. was very slick clay type trail in quite a few spots, nothing hideous but not a place for me to take any chances. in speaking with a few locals i was told it wouldn't be long up this 'winter' road that i would find myself sunk in muskeg.. i wasn't expecting to see this sign of be on this road at all so was a nice bonus. again what a little safe exploring can find! anyway i had a quick beer to celebrate the location and then raced back to the ferry across the mackenzie river, made it with 5 minutes to spare, otherwise i would be camped about 100km from where i am now.

 

[ideam]

Hey! Great to see the updates. Awesome you took that flight to complete the trip to the Arctic Ocean.

Here's your pup on the patrol for caribou on that Tombstone Hike... Bruno says hi.