The Dempster or Die

What a great trip this was. Its a real do-it-yourself trip. Not much help along the way and be prepared for anything. The Dempster, [highways around these parts have names, in Alaska they all have numbers and names but no one knows the numbers like I84 or 26 or 97, they are the Parks, the Steese, the Richardson and on and on. Tomorrow we will be doing the Cassiar,] took 20 years to build and is 417 miles long, it has many surfaces, none pavement. Its unique in construction as it sits on top of a gravel berm to insulate the permafrost in the soil underneath. The thickness of the gravel pad ranges from 4 to 8 ft thick. Without the pad the road would sink into the ground. When it rains they say you should stop and wait for it to dry then continue on. Well in rained the 2nd day and it was slicker than a cats butt in a rainstorm. It was 4x4 for some time. We made it up in 2 days and back in a marathon 9 hrs. They say it should take 12-16 hrs one way.. It was raining on the way back, but when did mud and rain and dirt ever phase this boy. I would not do it that way again...One thing, home is calling. Anyway, its a wow trip..Around many corners and hill tops and view would show and take your breath away.. unlike anything we seen in Alaska or on the way up.. A real thrill was the Artic Circle, something I never thought I would see..[by the way, this trip was planned for 2 years, the main reason we got the truck and camper, not a trailer or motorhome, and it was the only way to fly] It was a feeling of accomplishment to be at the Artic Circle, especially with my lady, my wife the sweet woman June. After that we went into Northwest Territories which most of my life I have been intruiged with because of its being so remote, never thinking I would see it and there I was. Zounds......Its so sanitary, so pristine, its untouched, never seen anything like it. We saw herds of caribou crossing, didnt get good video of the big herds, but got some of a smaller herd... We crossed 2 rivers in ferryboats, one was the MacKenzie, which is one of the biggest rivers in North America. Its mostly natives and eskimos that live on the road. A few tourists we did see. We could travel a lot of miles before we saw any rig. The radio stations are very few and a lot were native with their tougne which we could not understand but thier music was way better than the Yukon or norther BC. There was a few places for gas at $1.35 a liter. I think it cost us over $400.00 in gas that trip. Worth every penny. Back to the road...toward the top the road was better, still muddy but solid and and slippery, but 6 miles before Inuvik, PAVEMENT....smooth but real rolly...Norwest Territories is mostly permafrost so it makes the roads real wavey..Then the town which is not that old. It started in the late 50's, has about 3400 pop., lots of natives and eskimos and many whites..The buildings are built on pilings so the permafrost wont melt. If a building is built on the ground it would melt the permafrost and start tilting and fall over and dissapear...I cant describe the feeling of being in the Artic that far north. Everything was different, the sky, the air, the trees, etc....I was going to get a large order of whale blubber to go and the local McDonalds but they ran out...By the way, the truck and camper was totaly coated with the worst damn mud I have ever seen...from bottom to the top of the camper....nothing showing but mud....We went to a station that had a power washer and it came right off otherwise we would not have been able to get into the camper with out being mudded out...it was ugly. We did the town, didnt take long, a few drunks on the street, and decent resturant, checked out the above ground heated sewer, the buildings were in colors of the rainbow and you could tell, built for snow and cold....They get 56 days on 24 hr daylight and 30 days without. It can get to 70 below or 89 above... Anyway had a nice afternoon and evening.. It was clear as a bell when we went to bed, when we got up it was cloudy and knew it would rain...So off we went to get half the way there, but then decided to make a run for it...Got up to 60 miles a hr a lot of the time, but also slow 4x4....BUT, the highlight of the day and what I have been want to see for years was seeing the grizzly bear in the wild...We saw 4... Altogether....what a thrill...I got lots of video of them. They started out as dots but they got larger...They must of had a dead caribou down and thats what they headed for and started lunching on....1 brown and 2 blondes and the last I never really got a good look at....We also saw a large fox,,,great shape, huge tail. Then we saw a wolverine.. Nobody see's those things...I really didnt know for sure till today when I looked them up on the internet and there it was and June verified it....We later got back to camp and washed the rig again as it was in the same dirty shape as in Inuvik, only this time washed the whole thing...Tomorrow we are headed down the Cassiar to Hyder Alaska to see if we can see some more grizzlies...Today we traveled through the Klondike, we didn't find any gold but we sure hit gold on the Dempster..........