Driving the Dempster: Eagle Plains Lodge

Eagle Plains is a complex located on a plateau. It was built in the late 1970s at about the same time the Dempster highway was completed. It is completely self-sufficient and self-contained. There is a service station, motel, lounge/bar, restaurant, apartments for highway workers, and a campground. It must have been a remarkable establishment back in its day, but now it is showing the signs of age and isolation. Still, the facilities are clean, if shabby, and the staff is friendly. A tent site cost me $15.75, including free hot showers, and remarkably good food is available at the restaurant at reasonable prices. A beer with a fancy chicken burger (real breast meat with fried onions, cheese, and BBQ sauce), fries, dessert, tip, and taxes came to $23.

I spoke to the server at the restaurant about life at Eagle Plains. She’s a student for whom this is her third summer at the lodge. She says she never gets bored, what with work, hiking, and photography to be done. I asked her if she is more likely to go north or south on her days off and she said north, claiming the scenery is prettier and that there are more services in Inuvik than Dawson.

It was very windy at Eagle Plains, with the evening, night, and morning being quite cool, but comfortable enough for sitting out while dressed in a reasonable number of layers.

I got gas before going to bed and blanched at the cost–$1.39!

This tiny tent is the one I use when I'm setting up and taking down daily. I have one that's almost bigger than my RV for extending camping in one location.

This tiny tent is the one I use when I’m setting up and taking down daily. I have one that’s almost bigger than my RV for extending camping in one location.

these rocks represent latitude marks, including the Antarctic and Arctic Circles, and the Equator

these rocks represent latitude marks, including the Antarctic and Arctic Circles, and the Equator

motel

motel

IMGP0154

IMGP0155

service station

service station

IMGP0158

view of the motel

view of the motel

IMGP0160

What a neat RV! I love how much ground clearance it has. The licence plate appeared to be German.

What a neat RV! I love how much ground clearance it has. The licence plate appeared to be German.

5:30am at Eagle Plains

5:30am at Eagle Plains

5:30am at Eagle Plains

5:30am at Eagle Plains

breakfast at Eagle Plains (that little stove and I have done some serious traveling together!)

breakfast at Eagle Plains (that little stove and I have done some serious traveling together!)

Driving the Dempster: Klondike Corner to Eagle Plains

The first half of the Dempster highway winds and wends its way through the Tombstone, Ogilvie, and Richardson Mountains. I have many times heard people say that the section between the end of the mountains and Eagle Plains is boring and not beautiful. I don’t think we were driving the same road…

Having previously driven the first 150km of the Dempster twice, as far as Two Moose Lake, it wasn’t until after that point that I really felt that my adventure had begun. I still stopped to retake old photographs just to test out my new camera!

This first portion of the Dempster is the most isolated. There are really no services between the Klondike River Lodge and Eagle Plains, just a lot of wide open country, the Tombstone interpretive centre, and a highway maintenance camp.

It’s really a good idea to bring a spare tire or two, but I really don’t see the point of bringing extra gas unless you plan to zip past Eagle Plains when the gas pump is closed. I filled up at AFD Petroleum in Dawson for $1.12 when I set off and had nearly a half a tank left by the end of the day. It would have been the same had I been traveling with Miranda.

This first 400km or so was in reasonably good shape; dry and recently graded. I still had to watch out for pot holes, pointy bits of shale which are known to shred tires beyond repair, and speedy drivers throwing up rocks. All of this meant focusing more on the road than on the landscape; it might be nice to do this trip again as a passenger. 😀

I left Dawson City at about 11:45 am and, even though the drive hadn’t been that difficult, when the oasis of Eagle Plains came into view at quarter to seven, I was very grateful and more than ready to stop!

coming in for a landing!

coming in for a landing!

Tombstone valley

Tombstone valley

Tombstone valley

Tombstone valley

Tombstone valley

Tombstone valley

IMGP0102

IMGP0104

IMGP0109

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

Blackstone Uplands

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

placards dedicated to the Lost Patrol

IMGP0127

IMGP0128

IMGP0132

Red Creek

Red Creek

Red Creek (stinks of sulphur!)

Red Creek (stinks of sulphur!)

Red Creek (stinks of sulphur!)

Red Creek (stinks of sulphur!)

IMGP0138

IMGP0139

IMGP0141

IMGP0142

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

Ogilvie Ridge

nothing as far as the eye can see and then... wait... are my eyes tricking me?

nothing as far as the eye can see and then… wait… are my eyes tricking me?

civilization!

civilization!

beginning of the Dempster highway

beginning of the Dempster highway

this looked like a lot of fun!

this looked like a lot of fun!

Driving the Dempster: Prologue

In December 1910, four Mounties set off from Dawson for Fort McPherson, on dog sleds, to patrol and deliver mail. When they hadn’t arrived by February, a rescue party was sent in search of them. A month later, the frozen remains of ‘the lost patrol’ were found and the leader of the search party made it back to Dawson in record time with the news. This man, Inspector Jack Dempster, would be immortalized in a stretch of gravel that nearly parallels the old patrol route, a road that reaches far beyond the Arctic Circle and which links the western arctic to the rest of Canada. What a legacy.

somewhere on the NWT side of the Dempster

Driving this fabled route to the Northwest Territories was a childhood dream inspired by geography classes, movies, books, and tv shows. It was a dream much separated from that of making my way to the Klondike to the point that I sometimes forgot the two were even related. The Yukon isn’t in the Arctic except for a very narrow, inaccessible, sliver. It isn’t the land of barren rock and tundra where many Inuit still live according to the old ways. It doesn’t have the same remoteness factor, what with only one of its communities being of the fly-in variety. The Yukon and Northwest Territories evoked very different romances in me.

It was with trepidation that I set off down the Dempster. I’d done my research, spoken with many who had done it. I knew what the risks were and that my vehicle was inadequate. I left room in my budget for new tires and a replacement wind shield. I stocked up on supplies in case I became stuck in the middle of nowhere due to mechanical issues or bad weather. But I didn’t make a big deal of it, didn’t let the horror stories set a somber mood to my trip. I savoured every kilometre, paid attention to the road, and drove for the conditions.

The result is that even with several bad stretches, I have returned triumphant from the Dempster with nary a problem with the car–no flat tires, no windshield chips, no damage whatsoever. I slowed to a crawl whenever another vehicle passed me, which paid off when a rock hit the windshield and bounced off harmlessly. I drove defensively around pot holes at low speed. I inched my way onto the ferries. The point is made: slow and steady is the way to do the Dempster. If you’re traveling solo, slow even gives you a chance to admire the scenery. Just pull over to the side and let the locals roar past you!

Over the course of the next few days, I will share pictures and stories of the great big adventure of 2010 that took me right to the Arctic Ocean.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

Keeping In Touch on the Dempster

I am badly in need of an internet sabbatical, so I am only bringing my iPod Touch with me to Inuvik. I’ll Tweet updates whenever I have wi-fi access and do a full write up with pictures when I get back. I’ve added my Twitter feed to my blog at the top of the right hand column, so check there to see where I’m at and what I’m up to. I’ll be back August 23rd!

Vacation Countdown

It seems that, once again, the weather has turned favourably just days shy of my embarking on another bucket-list journey. Unless something unpredictable happens, I will be en route to Inuvik on Monday, right on schedule.

Driving the Dempster, visiting Inuvik, and taking a charter plane to Tuktoyaktuk to dip my toe in the Arctic Ocean is my last major North America bucket list item. Oh, there’s so much more I’d like to do and see, but nothing so pressing.

I went to the Dempster information centre today to get updated road information and literature, then I schlepped over to the General Store for some food items and the Trading Post for a small propane cylinder. I will be camping and making most of my meals to keep costs low.

It is difficult to put into words what this journey means to me. I tried for so long, the better part of a decade, in fact, to find a job north of the Arctic Circle or some other circumstance that would bring me there. And now I’m going, under my own steam, having found my own northwest passage. Life just doesn’t get any better than this.