The Last Room In Dawson City

After getting the picture at the fucking sign there was still 530 miles (890 kilometers) to ride back to the pavement, preferably before the rain started up again.  Continuing to thread the weather needle right to the end, the day after the Tuktoyaktuk Turnaround looked clear and dry all the way back to Dawson City.  Rain was expected that night and into the morning with the heaviest amounts expected around Eagle Plains, lessening in amount and duration to the South.  Having previously experienced the mud around Eagle Plains I made plans to leave as early as possible with the intention of camping at Engineer Creek - a campground most notorious for being where people ended up when Tombstone Campground was full.  That would leave me with only about 100-miles the next day to get down to the start/end of the Dempster, just outside of Dawson City.  A late start to compensate for some overnight into the morning rain would have been inconsequential if I already had a room booked in Dawson City, but I didn't and one of the towns biggest events of the year was approaching this weekend and rooms were unobtainium according to the Interwebs.

With Engineer Creek 325 miles (540 km) away an early start would be ideal but seeing as the Makenzie River Ferry does not start service until 9:30AM not that early.  A little rain for the first hour but the skies had cleared and rain gear removed waiting for the ferry on the North bank of the river.  A great dry ride down to Eagle Plains through the Richardson Mountains and up onto the ridge.  After getting all the gas (sign says next service 360 km), a quick WiFi check confirmed the status quo regarding the expected overnight rain and lack of available rooms in Dawson.  

A couple of hours after leaving Eagle Plains a campsite was secured at Engineer Creek campground.  With the generous previous occupant leaving a decent stack of chopped wood an actual campfire was initiatied and became a benefit to cut the chill of the approaching overnight rain.  This time extra preparations were made to secure the tent against the rain and mostly proved worthwhile as the rain did come in overnight as forecast and continued into the morning.  

The Yukon Territorial campgrounds are a pretty good deal.  For $20 CAD you get a campsite, firewood, bear lockers/food caches, well kept outhouses and access to covered cook shelters with wood buring stoves.  The cooking shelter was welcome this morning as the power of hunger overcame the reluctance to get out of the tent before the rain had abated.  A quick check of the weather on the satellite tracking device still showed the rain ending soon but with no cell service it was impossible to check if any rooms had opened up in Dawson.  After a rare second cup of coffee, camp was slowly packed up and I rolled out onto the last stretch of the Dempster as the skies started to clear.  While glad I didn't have to gave the potential muddy mess behind me up on the ridge, the road was still damp and slick down in the river valley but dried to race track fast as it rose onto the windblown plain leading into the Tombstone Mountains.

Climbing down from the summit I stopped at the park visitor centre knowing there was WiFi.  Quickly logging on I found Google Maps showing one hotel room now available.  Jumping on the hotel website I booked it as fast as I could pull the credit card out of my wallet.  With a room secure the last 40 miles (70 km) were a breeze.  I may have even issued an audible sigh of relief seeing the blue bridge and reaching the paved road surface.  When i got to the hotel the host noted that the room had only been freed up minutes before I booked it.  Timing is everything I guess.

Tuktoyaktuk Turnaround

In bluegrass music parlance a turnaround is a short phrase at the end of a song that circles back to the root.  A pleasing analogy to this bluegrass music fan anyways for my ride up to Tuktoyaktuk and back from Inuvik.  The warnings had been clear about the deep gravel on the road and with high winds forecast I thought it most prudent to stay 2-nights in Inuvik and leave Tuk as a day trip, riding as light as possible with only the necessities.  For the first half of the 3-hour ride I was wondering what all the kerfuffle had been about with the "dangerous" road surface.  There was nothing any worse than what had already been passed over to get to this point.  At around the halfway point however the bone shattering washboard started, which was then joined in with increasingly loosening gravel and random dollops of sand just to make it interesting.  Eventually this concophony turned to bottomless chunky gravel that went on for far too long.  A half hour or so outside of Tuk the surface returned to something where the posted speed limit of 70kph was again approachable   Even so while the gravel could be unnerving at times it was manageable, I was surprised that no one had mentioned the washboard which I found far more jarring.

Upon entering town and finding my way to the end of the road I was happy for my decision to forego camping on the point.  While the wind was not as hurricanical as promised the bugs were unbelievable even in the blustery conditions.  So much so that my visit ended up far briefer than I hoped.  

An uneventful return ride a wee bit quicker than the ride up, a growing familiarity with the nuances of the loose surface was slowly being developed - but not for the washboard.  My teeth are still rattling several hours after getting back to the hotel.

When I had checked in it had been Sunday and not a lot of going on.  Upon returning to the hotel Monday after the Tuk ride some local artisans had set up vending tables - a mini market if you will - and I was able to purchase a souvenir Dempster Highway hat with the requisite date of inception (1979) as per my way.  This was fortuitous as to this point my only souvenir of the trip so far was a $0.68(CAD) North Mart shopping bag.

Dempster Redemption

The concept of having a contingency plan is something I have noticed being in fairly short supply for motorcycle riders intent on getting up to Tuktoyaktuk and posting their selfie to prove the accomplishment.  Come hell or high water they are going to get all the way to that fucking sign.  As I sit in an Inuvik hotel room it was only after the third serious push on this trip that I was able to get all the way to end of The Dempster. (NWT Highway 8).  Technically the next bit is the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (NWT Highway 10).   And I’m still trying to figure out how the NWT Infrastructure folk figure they have at  least 10 significant roadways deserving highway number designations - can’t be more than 5 roads in the whole of the territory.  But I digress.

Contingencies - I knew that trying to do this ride strictly adhering to a fixed scheduled defined by a series of non refundable reservations made months in advance was a recipe for pain and suffering.   I intentionally set off with an open ended itinerary, Tuk as the ultimate goal.   But I also had a whole bunch of interesting places circled all over Southern Yukon and South West Alaska maps just in case; and ended up at surprisingly large number of them - believe me Juneau was way down the list of possible waypoints, but it was on the list.  Atlin, Haines, Juneau, Skagway, Mayo, Keno City all served their purpose waiting for the weather or the ferry to be fixed.   Unlike those who chose travel without contingencies who all mostly seemed in agreement that they had made some horrible choices at some previous point in their lives to have endured such misery as only The Dempster can dish.

The Dempster Retreat

With no definitive information from the responsible ferry authority (RFA) it seemed best to retreat back South and make plans for heading into Alaska.   The hope being that the ferry will be operational in a few weeks and I can hit another favorable weather window when passing through on the way home.  

Another perfect weather day in the North and the road had almost completely dried out.  The muddy sections from the way up were now furrowed and rutted whoop-d-doo play grounds.   Although the infamous Dempster dust now made a strong appearance and the last 50 or so miles were one continuous dust out with minimal visibility anytime a vehicle past in the other direction or a slow vehicle ahead was caught up to.  The big haul semi trucks were the worst.

The morning after arrival back in Dawson City a video had been posted overnight on a social media site that shall not be named, showing a front end loader working on the ramp at the Peel River ferry.  The Internet can be a cruel mistress sometimes.   That, and with rainy weather forecast into the foreseeable future from Denali (yes, it's called Denali) south the Kenai Peninsula, I started turning my me ever revolving itinerary once again to visit a few places of interest within a day’s ride either side of Dawson City (Plan J?).  

By the afternoon the RFA was actually communicating out that it should only take a day once the water level drops sufficiently to get the ferry running again.   On that information a new tab was added to the ever growing inventory for the real time river flow data and refreshed regularly.  The levels were dropping, the only problem was that the RFA had neglected  to define “sufficiently”.   Otherwise it was rinse and repeat in Dawson City - it's raining and I'm doing the laundry.,  But there now seemed to be some reasonable hope that yet another attempt could be imminent.

Eagle Plains….. Shit, I Am Still Only In Eagle Plains

Eagle Plains was only ever going to be a gas refill, figured that camping at Rock River on the NWT border or even Fort McPherson was going to be a reasonable day up from Tombstone Park.  But the effort required to get through “only 60 kilometers” of mud plus the Peel River ferry being shutdown for high water changed that equation.   The camping was free and as all the rooms were fully booked up really the only option - although they were willing to allow folks to sleep in the lobby.   As the weather had been biblically horrendous up on the this ridge as well to the north the previous few days - see high water ferry closure - there was an overload of “stranded” travelers just milling about and waiting.   This situation also proved challenging to the plumbing in the public washrooms.  

One of the first questions asked by about half that asked was about the road condition to the south.   Most were thrilled to hear only about 100 km of mud interspersed with not mud indicating that to be an improvement of what they had experienced coming back from Inuvik a few days previous.  Although the 100 kilometers was apparently a disappointment as the Department of Highways warning side had the “only 60 kilometers” starting at market 325….   

As the time in limbo extended the lack of information unsurprisingly nourished the blossoming of untold rumors as to the reason and duration of the wait.  From just the bank washing out to the cable breaking and the ferry now floating down river towards the ocean, the time for repair was counted in days to weeks.  Reports were also filtering up of local boat owners willing to take walk ons, bicycles, motorbikes and even small cars across the 600m wide river for a substantial fistful of cold hard cash.  I was not remotely near that point the morning after arriving in Eagle Plains.  And after considering this more overnight I am not comfortable purposefully riding into a community under some degree is stress, potentially being a burden on decreasing resources just to take a picture of a fucking sign.   Not everyone else on a motorcycle up here heading to Tuk has the same inclination.   

Not a lot to do in Eagle Plains.   Did some reading and took  a lot of pictures of the industrial and commercial detritus surrounding the complex.  And if nothing else I did ride the 25-miles up to the Arctic Circle sign and back to make that point official.  The weather was perfect and the road seems to be drying out pretty quickly, although word from the South is that Ogilive Ridge is more resistant to the whole drying out thing, so that could weigh in on the side of waiting another day for some definitive information on the ferry reopening.

The Dempster Highway Northbound, Part 1

Having a  campsite reserved about an hour up the Dempster Highway at Tombstone Mountain time was killed in Dawson driving up to the top of Midnight Dome and getting in a tour at the Dredge out in the Bonanza Creek Goldfields.  I can highly recommend the Dredge tour.   

The threading the weather needle thing was still looking to the good after I got all the gas (next service 240 miles), and headed north.   The road was about as good as an all season gravel “highway” can be.  In fact I found myself setting a pretty good pace until 15 or so miles before the campground when the drizzle that had been threatening all day made its appearance; perfectly timed for when I found myself traveling on a dirt road freshly sprayed with Calcite.   Slippery would be an understatement.  Gearing way down and slowing right up safely got me to my destination and I managed to with reasonable success set up my tent and get all the gear stashed away in a manner that suggested being away from the rain.

After the first night in a tent on this trip - rarely a great nights sleep- I had a leisurely prepared coffee and rehydrated scrambled something and slowly got my everything packed up.  First stop was the park visitor center to check on the status of the road.  I had heard yesterday that the Peel River Ferry was not running because high water had obliterated one of the loading banks.   The closure was confirmed this morning with no ETA for opening.  There was also a note about “difficult” road conditions over an approximately 100km section of the highway South of Eagle Plains (where the gas station is, 180 miles away).  But the morning was looking really nice so both pieces of road beta were shelved, probably on a lower shelf than appropriate; and I was off.

And the day was marvelous, chilly to start but dry and the skies more than clear enough to expose the full aspect of the Tombstone Mountains and everything else in view from the highway.   There are not nearly enough pull offs to enjoy the vistas for any Yukon Department of Transportation road engineers who might be reading this.   And as promised at kilometer 265 the road turned rough- but in this bike in its current setup a fun rough.  Then the rough was replaced by mud.   Lots and lots of mud.  100 yard section after 100 yard section of unruly rutted squishy mud.   No bike setup could make this “fun”.   Fortunately the sun was out and getting warmer which would have been great if I hadn’t been layered for a near freezing morning and no real place to stop delaminate.   

Now in my mind I had the end of the troublesome section at 325km so was counting down the markers as they appeared at the side of the road in that evil taunting way they do in a situation such as this.   At kilometer marker 324 there was thankfully a pull off where I was able to take a break, have a snack and adjust my clothing appropriate to the updated weather conditions.  I was also close to gleeful thinking that there was only another kilometer of the mud so when kilometer marker 326 passed and not only was there still mud it was getting worse I was ready to turn around and ride back to the Visitor Center and update their data (definitely a euphemism for something), And it continued to get worse for another 20+ kilometers.

The road finally returned to its previous state but the effort required to get through had me rethinking my destination for the night.  As Eagle Plains (the gas station) approached I decided that if the ferry was still closed this would be as far as I got today.  

To be continued…

Bunked Down In Dawson City

Ya, that whole looks like a perfect weather forecast thing from a day or two ago…. poof, gone just like that.   This time instead of running off somewhere (like Juneau) senselessly chasing “better” weather I opted to bunk down in Dawson City and wait for a maybe possibly promising forecast starting the upcoming weekend.   With Dawson City basically at the start of the Dempster Highway I can be heading North the moment the weather turns to the better,   I was always planning a few days in Dawson but for recovery from the Dempster not in anticipation. 

The first morning in Dawson was a little reminiscent of the first morning in Whitehorse - going over the bike and making sure everything was in good order for the next segment.  The zipper on the waterproof duffel has also started not fully zippering so I explored the limited store options in town looking for any that might stock zipper lube/wax.  None did but the hardware store was well stocked with Crayola crayons, and now I have a selection of colorful options for all my zippers 

When sitting down with all the maps, calendars and other trip planning stuff it was quickly apparent that I could be someplace interesting for both Canada Day (July 1) and July 4.  Plan A was formed to be in Inuvik or Tuktoyaktuk July 1 and then Chicken Alaska July 4.  With the weather not cooperating, Plan A fell apart as did the July 4 segment in any plan.  But current geopolitical circumstances considered I thought it more important to proudly stand with the Maple Leaf fluttering in the wind than play a part in the chorus heralding an orange messiah.  So Canada Day in Dawson City it was to be - and this is no second tier alternative in the pecking order of interesting places.  The town came out strong for the parade with everyone in town it seemed dressed in red and white… although I didn’t get that memo.

With the weather forecasts all more or less aligning towards a drier week ahead it looked promising for a Friday afternoon departure with the intention of camping overnight at the Tombstone Mountain campground.  A short-ish 45 or so miles north up The Dempster Highway.   While there was a definite chance of some light rain with cool to chilly temperatures through that first night and start of the next day I would be threading the weather needle early on regardless of when I left unless waiting out until the middle of the week.  An (other), extension for the room I was in was not possible and the only other available option was pitching a tent somewhere in town.  And seeing as I was also running out of Parks Canada guided tours to join figured the signs were all there to hit the road.