To our blog followers...
This is a special update as it covers
only a few hours. The ~30 hrs were really action packed and
exciting, lots of miles and lots of happenings. The setting for this
is on the Dempster highway in northern Yukon Territory, from
Dempster Corner, near Dawson City, going toward Inuvik in the
Northwest Territory.
September 9th...
We completed our stay at Chilkoot Lake
State Park and we drove the 250 miles to Whitehorse, YT. We spent the
night at the Walmart.
September 10th...
We have to restock our pantry and
Whitehorse is the only place to do that. The oil needs to be changed
in the Suburban. I furnished the oil and filter so the job cost $23
and about 30 minutes. Got that done early while Barbara was shopping
in Walmart. We are getting everything ready for the Arctic Adventure
to Inuvik, on the Dempster. This was our target for our Arctic
Adventure 2012
We leave for Dawson City about 350
miles north on the Klondike highway. The Klondike has many
informative kiosk along the way, but we are trying to avoid a weather
problem on the Dempster so we push on. The Klondike follows Lake
Laberge and the Yukon river. We stop at the intersection of the
Dempster and the Klondike called the Dempster Corner, where we will
store the trailer. It is about 20 miles into Dawson where we will
fuel up and get information on the Dempster road conditions. We will
get up early and go to Dawson tomorrow, Sept 11th.
September 11th... We stop at
the visitor center in Dawson and the woman calls Eagle Plains, YT for
a Dempster road and weather advisory. The woman tells us that they
have had a blizzard like snow storm but the road is open so far as
she knows. She said that a few trucks have had problems.
This is how our original plan was to
work...
We would store the trailer at the
intersection called the Dempster Corner. We would place our dinette
cushions (mattress) in the rear of the suburban and fashion that
into a comfortable bed. The Suburban would give us an 8 foot (less
space for fuel and tools) quarters in the back. I had plumbing
antifreeze for the trailer just in case of freezing weather. We
would pack a cooler with food for 5 days and of course we had our
sleeping bags and a small propane cook stove in the upper top carrier
so the Suburban would be our RV for the trip. We had four 5 gal
jerry cans of fuel for the long 900 mile round trip. I figured with
the extra fuel I could make the 900 miles without the need to
purchase fuel along the way. We would overnight when and where we
needed to. We knew it might be cold, but we would be prepared for
that.
But, this is what we did...
We left Dawson, got to the trailer and
decided that today because of the weather related problems, we would
just go up 45 miles to the Tombstone area, check it out, and come
back.
I set the heat to 45* in the trailer
and Barbara packed some sandwiches for the day trip. We jumped in
the Suburban and headed up the Dempster and just kept going. It was
exciting and inviting in every way and it was easy going until about
the 150 mile mark and the going got a lot worse, but we kept going,
on through Eagle Plains, on up to the Arctic Circle at about 250 mile
mark. The vistas through the windshield were just so beautiful and
the snow even gave it more beauty. You might call it irresistible.
We met Chris and Cynthia Wright from
Prince George, BC on the road, found that they were doing the same
thing, therefore we would team up at least to the Arctic Circle for
safety sake.
The conditions were really bad with
blowing snow, freezing temps, really bad road, and heavy truck
traffic. At one point, a snow plow was helping a truck back onto the
road, we would just have to wait until traffic moved again. The snow
plows had not cleared a section of the road and the trucks with
chains were beating a one lane path that had turned the gravel road
surface into loose rock and sharp shale. We had to run fast on top
of the potholes and washboard or it was really a rough ride. At
times four wheel drive seemed to help on some of the steep sections.
We made it to Eagle Plains in late
afternoon with about a good amount of snow on the ground. Eagle
Plains was not as big as we thought, just a fuel stop with a tire
shop and a hotel with a restaurant. I had about 230 miles on the tank
and it was just so cold and snowing that I decided to fuel up and pay
the $1.75/liter. The pump was just a motor and a pump with a liter
readout sitting on a steel table. The guy comes out and zeros the
readout, flips the toggle switch, and asks how many liters. I tell
50 liters (~12 gal) and he puts that in really fast from the 1 ½
inch diameter handle. We go inside and he uses a calculator to
figure my amount, OUCH.
We push on to the Arctic Circle with
Chris and Cynthia following, it was getting dark quickly and the temp
is dropping so it was nice to have the company. We have a photo op
at Arctic Circle marker and begin to set up the Suburban for the over
night stay. It is really windy and cold with snow falling, and I
have to unload all the crap that I was supposed to leave in the
Bigfoot at the storage site. I place all of that stuff on the snow
and mud and cover it with a big blue tarp. We put down a blanket on
the floor of the Suburban and spread out our sleeping bags. I get
involved in a 30 minute game of “fix the zipper” on my sleeping
bag. We turn in and the first thing we find out is the floor of the
Suburban is really hard and the longer we are there we find out that
it is not only hard, but also cold. Sure would be better if we had
those cushions from the Bigfoot as we had planned... Everything is
cold, the windows are freezing up inside and the snow is building up
on the outside. The wind is strong and the Suburban would move at
times. So much for our sub freezing temp sleeping bags and our
thermal underwear plus multiple layers of clothes and socks, our feet
are still cold.
One of the reasons for our adventure up
the Dempster is to be sure and see the Northern Lights, so we sure
don't want to miss that. We did not sleep much and one would think
that we would be on the look out for the light show. We saw nothing
because we dared not open the door because of the 15 degree temps.
Sure weren't going to see much through the frozen and snow cover
windows of the Suburban. The northern lights will be another time,
hopefully soon.
When one of you readers sees Barbara,
ask her what she thinks of the frozen Yukon outhouses at this pull
out on the Arctic Circle.
Chris and Cynthia were better prepared
as they had their Tahoe outfitted and knew what to expect. They even
got up and went outside for a view of the Northern Lights and were
rewarded while we got little sleep in our rig.
So we occasionally started the engine
for heat and hoped the daybreak would come soon... so we could
return to our Bigfoot at the storage area 250 miles away. All night
long I wondered if the batteries and the propane would hold up on the
Bigfoot. We had no idea how cold it was at the storage and how much
the heater would have to run. Remember, we were just going 40 miles
up the road and return the same day. It was important that the
plumbing does not freeze on the Bigfoot because it would be a big
mess with burst pipes and the water pump turned on. If everything
preformed as designed, all would be just fine.
The hours passed and Barbara and I
talked and laughed and continued to make plans for tomorrow if and
when tomorrow came. We did get some sleep while the engine ran and
warmed us up, but all told we might have slept maybe 2 hours. We
decided the best thing we could do is to drive back to Eagle Plains,
get hot coffee and head south to the storage.
As soon as the first light of day came,
I got outside and loaded all that stuff in the back of the Suburban.
Did not have to worry about snow or mud, by now it was all frozen as
the outside temp was showing 15*F.
September 12th...
As is normal for me, my mind is always
more clear in the morning and this was just the case. WOW, what a
lovely morning. A lovely sunrise with clouds painted with the
morning sun. Along with the sun a cresent moon with a bright planet
(Mars) next to it. This is breath taking and I took a few pictures.
The world looks different this close to the North Pole and it is
beautiful.
We leave our still sleeping friends and
head to Eagle Plains. This section of the road is now frozen but
otherwise in good driving shape. Eagle Plains is about an hour away
so we see more of the sunrise and the beauty of the low hanging
clouds.
When we arrive at Eagle Plains we are
surprised at the number of trucks in the very large parking lot.
Some of them are the Canadian military trucks. All north bound
trucks are told not to drive north until the road is cleared near
Fort McPherson. That did not bother us as we are driving south. We
have about a 230 mile drive and almost perfect weather. I went in to
get coffee and took my shoes off in the mud room of the hotel. Looks
as if there were a hundred pairs of shoes there. That coffee was
sure good. We drove the same bad road as we drove the previous day.
We did encounter some stranded trucks waiting to be pulled out, but
were able to pull around them.
With about a hundred miles to go I
stopped to help a fellow traveler with a flat tire. He was from
Spain in a rental pickup camper. The famous Dempster had eaten up
his tire and he could not find a suitable jack to lift the rear axle.
He had been there all night on the side of the road. I was able to
assist him with the problem. It was the second flat in his 2 vehicle
caravan. The Dempster is really tough on tires that are loaded
heavily, as it is a gravel and shale road. It's reputation is well
deserved.
On the way back we took the time to
enjoy the sights and read all the kiosks along the way. The Suburban
was really dirty and needed washing, so along Miller Creek I got out
the pump and hose and Barbara and I washed the frozen mud off.
We got back to Dempster corner and the
Bigfoot and all was just fine there.
Some after thoughts...
While we did not make it all the way to
Inuvik, our time on the Dempster will long be remembered as exciting
and inviting in every way. We thoroughly enjoyed it, even the
somewhat sleepless night. If we had just carried out the preplanned
configuration of the Suburban , we might have gone all the way to
Inuvik.
We saw the lure of the Dempster in a
wonderland of epic beauty in the snow shrouded Tombstone mountains.
We pushed ourselves a little more than what we normally would, but we
have no regrets, only the enthusiasm to do it again. We will be back
in the near future.
One important note...
The ~ 30 hours spent on this adventure
were captured on tape... our dash camera was on for most of that. I
dumped the file onto the hard drive so I would have it permanently.
It recorded all of the views from the windshield and the audio from
inside the Suburban. It also time stamps all video for quick recall.
A few days after, Barbara and I watched
on the 22 inch screen in the Bigfoot portions of the adventure and
listen to our conversations while on the Dempster and during that
long night at the Arctic Circle. We laughed and laughed at what we
heard and saw. I may put some of that on Youtube with a link at a
later date. Some of it will remain censored for good reasons.
Be sure and read the kiosk placards in
my pictures about the Tintina Trench not far from the Dempster
Corner. Very interesting.
That is all for this segment . Next
time I will pick up on our way to Mayo and Keno. So much more to
come.
