LONG POST WARNING! This was a big day!
BEFORE: Today’s the day — we’re going to the Arctic Ocean! We have rested as well as one can in a hotel room with no blackout curtains in an area of the world where it stays daylight all night long (at least this time of year). I was really surprised there weren’t blackout curtains. Until we do laundry tomorrow, my sleeping hood is covered in dirt, so I can’t use it. But it is what it is.
We met another awesome local. His name is Dennis, and he was born and raised here. He works at this store/gas station during the week. He tells awesome stories about life here in Inuvik. He showed us pictures and video of a day out fishing where he speared a whale. It was a beautiful whale. While It is hard to look at the whale that was speared, I understand. They do not kill for sport. They hunt for survival. The bears are not the only ones who have to prepare for long, exceedingly harsh winters here. The people do as well.
Winter temps in Inuvik typically peak below −40 °C (−40 °F), but can sometimes drop as low as −56.7 °C (−70.06 °F). From October to May, temperatures rarely rise above freezing.
They are a proud people, and even though life is hard, many of them wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. You know, if I were able to survive year after year in these harsh conditions, I would be proud as well!
Dennis, you’re a great guy. I am honored to have met you. You are one tough cookie!
Onward we go. We’re going to the Arctic Ocean!
AFTER: What a fabulous day we have had. The drive on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway wasn’t too bad. It is still 95 miles of unimproved gravel road. There weren’t as many frost heaves, but the gravel is extremely loose. Concentration is needed. At least we didn’t have Tramper. That would have made it a little more difficult for Mike.
We saw some birds, but that’s really all the wildlife we saw. It is unusually hot here lately. I believe it was 83 today, and these people are not used to this kind of heat. The wildlife must not be, either, because they’re hiding for the most part. If they’re looking for shade, I’m not sure where they are finding it because there are literally no trees to be found in this portion of the world. A local said Tuktoyaktuk is above the tree line. Apparently so. The largest thing we saw were bushes!
Oh yeah. We also saw a lot of snowmobiles — some with sleds. There were more and more snowmobiles dotting the landscape as we traveled further north. The locals leave them so that when it is time to hunt in the winter, they are already up here. We saw quite a few of them throughout the drive.
The brown birds that resemble chickens are ptarmigans. They are found right along the highway edges. The round white “flowers” for lack of a better word are called cotton grass. Local people pick them to use as fire starters. The resourceful people up here find a use for just about everything. They have to in order to survive.
The dog was in the road on the way back to Inuvik after we made it to the Arctic Ocean. He just stared us down! There were a lot of dog houses on the property where we saw him. We wondered if they were sled dogs.
As we neared Tuktoyaktuk, the first thing we came to was the Welcome sign. Of course, we had to stop to get selfies. Hey, we’re getting better at this selfie thing at pivotal places along the way!
Here we are at the Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk sign. Tuktoyaktuk is an Inuvialuit hamlet located near the Mackenzie River delta in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada at the northern terminus of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. It is frequently referred to as “Tuk”.
You will notice a hill in the background. That is a pingo. Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic. They can exist for 1000 years, and they can also collapse.
The one pictured is at the The Pingo Canadian Landmark. This is a national park in Canada that protects a unique arctic landform: ice-cored hills called pingos. Rising out of the flat tundra, pingos provide a distinctive backdrop to the community of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories.
The Pingo Canadian Landmark features 8 of the 1350 pingos found in the region, including Ibyuk Pingo. Ibyuk is Canada's tallest and the world's second-tallest pingo. It reaches 49 metres (about 161 feet) in height and stretches 300 metres (about 984 feet) across its base.
For centuries, pingos have acted as navigational aids for Inuvialuit travelling by land and water. They are a convenient height of land for spotting caribou on the tundra or whales offshore.
If you would like to read more about pingos, the link below should be of interest. It discusses the pingos of Tuktoyaktuk.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/01/the-pingos-of-tuktoyaktuk.html
The two ladies pictured — Seigna (left) and Kelsey (right) were so much fun to talk to and also helped me identify some of the things we were seeing. They also explained pingos to us. They could make short work of it here if they were typing this blog post. Thanks, ladies. We really enjoyed our time with you today!
Next up was the MAIN EVENT of the day — the Arctic Ocean! Our plan was to eat at a restaurant that had been highly recommended by locals in Inuvik and in articles we have read — Grandma’s Kitchen. After eating, we were going to go dip our feet into the Arctic Ocean!
When we pulled up to Grandma’s Kitchen, Grandma spoke to us and asked if we were there to eat, and we said yes. She told us that she was closed today because she was sick, but that we could go walk the beach. We told her we hoped she felt better soon and thanked her.
We were reallly looking forward to tasting some local food, but it wasn’t going to be.
It was amazing to think that we were actually at the Arctic Ocean! We had come so far, had overcome so much, and we were here! We DID it!
One month and two days — approximately 9300 miles (give or take a few hundred) driven — leaks — COVID for both of us — a dirt-covered Tramper — and whatever else we’ve been through that I’m not thinking of right now — WE DID IT!
Mike’s daughter, Caryn, said she didn’t know anybody in the entire world that had been to the Arctic Ocean. That was impressive.
Below are some of the pictures I took as we rolled through Tuktoyaktuk. The population is 898 as listed on Wikipedia. There is a grocery store, and when we got there to get something to eat, they were closing at 2 p.m. because there was a community funeral. These people bond together. It’s also how they survive.
Mike and I did a couple of videos as we dipped our feet into the Arctic Ocean. It actually wasn’t as cold as I had expected. I thought about diving in, but I figured it wasn’t the best idea so soon after our COVID recovery, so I didn’t.
Tomorrow we get back to Tramper clean-up. It is our plan to start the trek down the Dempster Highway on Sunday.