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.
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