Monday morning’s started at 8am from Inuvik and the destination was Tuk and the Arctic Ocean. This road actually didn’t exist before the summer of 2018 when it officially opened for travel. The village of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT was only access by plane or boat prior. I was one of many motorcyclists who attempted the road in 2018. Not all made it back then - because when the weather turned bad the road became treacherous and virtually impossible to navigate on a motorcycle. Many moto crashes and serious injuries occurred that summer. I was fortunate to get near perfect weather and made it to the top of the 1100 mile round trip journey from the start of the Dempster near Dawson City through the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Hwy 10 - which is the last 100 miles to the Arctic Ocean.
This current trip with Ken, we had our sights set on the Dalton Hwy to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay - 496 miles north of Fairbanks. That road also gets horrible in the rain - which I also experienced in 2018 when I made the journey in a sub 40 degree steady rain. I told Ken it was my worst experience ever on a motorcycle and would never attempt it again if the weather was bad. Well, the forecast for that part of Alaska and the Dalton was not favorable but for the Dempster we seemed to see a window of favorable weather so here we were in Inuvik ready to tackle the last 100 miles (200 round trip). The road was difficult in 2018 and I’m now riding a much bigger and heavier bike so knew it was going to be a challenge.
As it turned out, the road was completely different - hard packed and covered in varying sizes of gravel. In 2018 it was soft and slick with graders constantly moving dirt to cover the wet soft sections. Seven years later the road had matured and was built up much higher above the marshy tundra. I would say it was more difficult this time as the ride required standing on the foot-pegs about 80% of the ride. The bikes moved around a lot in the gravel and the right line was important so full concentration was a must.
About 2.5 hours later we arrive in Tuk and reached our goal of the Arctic Ocean. Ken filled a bottle with Arctic water and I collected a few rocks. No swimming was allowed so it was just boot dip in the water for me. I did the full polar plunge in 2018 at Prudhoe Bay where it was allowed and encouraged. Too bad there was no swimming as it was a rare sunny 70 degree day in Tuk. We grabbed some cold drinks and snacks and then made the return trip back to Inuvik.
Back in Inuvik we set out for a celebratory beer only to find the only bar in town not open and the stores closed. It was a Canadian National holiday on Monday so options were limited.
We inquired at the hotel front desk we were staying in what might be open for a beer and got directed to the Royal Canadian Legion Club - similar to a VFW in the US. Turned out to be a great night where we met a bunch of interesting locals - two who had worked in the 70’s building the Dempster Hwy. We also met “Mom” the club president who gave us honorary pins and ribbons from the Legion. All in all a good day!
CN
No comments:
Post a Comment