Yep. You read that correctly. My sister calls the Dempster the dumpster. After thinking about it, she does have a point. LOL.

We got up this morning, had a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and headed out from the Eagle Plains Hotel heading for Whitehorse. It shows as being 535 miles. Wheeeee!

Breakfast was very good, but I could have used more coffee.

I read somewhere in the Milepost that there are local dogs that will come in and out of the hotel. There are a couple of stairs leading down to the restaurant, and they can frequently be found at the top of those stairs watching over everyone as they eat.

We don’t know if this is one of the local dogs or a family’s dog who is staying here, but it was funny to see either way.

We realized this morning that it has been one day shy of two weeks since we have seen any wildlife other than a couple of birds on the way to the Arctic Ocean. We’re really kind of surprised that the Dempster did not share much in the way of wildlife with us.

We were making pretty good time until about an hour or so in. The weather started out overcast and cool in Eagle Plains, and the road wasn’t too bad.

And then, as the dumpster will do, in a moment’s notice, it changed. The drizzle and fog set in, it went from 47 degrees to 41, the road became wet and laden with frost heaves and pot holes, and we had to slow our speed from around 50 mph to around 15.

In the blink of an eye and one sneeze, Whitehorse seemed to move further away from us! And for the record, some adventures are way more fun than others!

Not long after, the fog lifted a bit so we could see a little better at least.

There is stunning scenery along the Dempster. Today really wasn’t about stopping and taking pictures, though. Today was about getting through to the other side of the Dempster Highway.

We are so glad we did this. Driving this highway to the Arctic Ocean is full of so many different experiences wrapped up into one — some good; some not so good. But we were alone in the true wilderness for hundreds and hundreds of miles. We conquered it together, and nobody can ever take that away from us.

We went through more gas coming back than we did going up somehow, so about 45 miles from Dawson City, we had to add gas from our gas cans.

Yep. Dirty. Dirty. I was really dreading looking inside Tramper.

And then we were there — at the end of the Dempster Highway. It had been quite a travel day. This is us waving goodbye to the Dempster.

We got to Dawson City and booked a hotel for the night. Mike washed down the outside of Tramper and the truck. We briefly peeked inside Tramper. She will definitely need to be cleaned up before we can sleep in there even with all the taping and sealing that was done. But tomorrow is another day.

Paul (in Inuvik) recommended a Greek restaurant in Dawson City, so we headed over there. Score! This guy sure knows how to pick a restaurant. He brought a bright spot to Dawson City.

And then, it was time to shower some of the dust off and relax for the night at our hotel. It’s historic, but the rooms are modern (thank God)!

Here’s to a good night of rest! I know we could sure use one!