We made it! Tuktoyaktuk!
Map - Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and back Washboard, terns and flowers The Arctic Ocean at the end of the road The pingos, a Canadian Environmental landmarkNova Inn, Inuvik NT (no stars)
Lee calls it the hop to Tuk. About 300 kilometers, return.
We saw only one or two trailers or 5th wheels, usually Americans. Don't do this at home. Leave it behind in Dawson City. There were also not many of the rental class C motorhomes like CanadaDream (Lee suspects rental insurance precludes this drive). The most prevalent vehicles were camperized Mercedes Sprinters, MAN (or Scania), Mitsubishi and Fiat (or Ram). Tough trucks with hardy travellers.
All in, there were less than ten units there that appeared to be staying overnight.
Use the buttons above to see more photos of this great day by the Arctic Ocean.
In all my elementary schooling, my perspective of the people who lived in the far north, above the Arctic Circle, wore animal-skin fur-trimmed parkas. I lacked any real knowledge. For years I believed "eskimos" live in an extremely frozen land for all 365 days a year.
Over the years, I learned otherwise and today I actually witnessed they are, of course, the same as all of us - blue jeans, t-shirts, sneakers. I now hope that my fellow school mates have had the opportunity to learn the same proper conclusions.
It would be interesting to be able to spend more time there, but being the spoiled one, would skip the winter. Going outdoors in an Edmonton winter has been nixed and fixed by spending our winters on Vancouver Island.