Our first taste of the Dempster Highway!

(We've been offline for 4 days in a row! Can't tell you the last time that happened. We are now only 37 kms (23 miles) south of the Arctic Circle! Here's Sunday's blog post... I'll try and get you caught up with more in the next few hours...)

Sunday, June 24

The last thing we had to do on the way out of Dawson City was to fill the gas tank. By filling it when it's still above half, you don't get as much of a shock. But once again, we knew that gasoline would be the major expense of this trip, and it is what it is. So we topped it up at $1.49 CAD per liter ($4.30 USD per gallon). We went to the public AFD Cardlock station on the outskirts of town. Far cheaper than the stations in town that were selling for $1.67 per liter!

And so, with a full fridge, empty holding tanks, a full fresh water tank, and a full fuel tank, we set off on the Dempster Highway towards the Arctc Circle, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

We arrived at the start of the Dempster Highway at 11:00am.

At the start of the Dempster Highway.

The first thing you do is to cross this bridge.

There are a lot of stories out there regarding vehicle problems that people have had on the Dempster Highway. Flat tires due to the sharp shale rock that was used in places, broken windshields radiators and headlights from stones flying, and of course mechanical breakdowns with not a service, station for miles and miles.

But as I expected, it's just a dirt road. The problem is, that people try to drive this dirt road at highway speeds.

But Sherman takes it easy. So far, I've found that the best speed is between 50 to 70 km/h (30 to 42 mph). And, we slow down and pull over to the far right when approaching vehicles are flying by, which is what most of them do with absolutely no consideration for others. Yes, the occasional one does the same thing as us, but not many. And yes, most of the ones flying by are other RVers, with many in RV rental vehicles. We can't figure out why they are in such a rush.

Here are some pics from the drive... (don't forget, you can click on the photo to make it full screen...)

Arrived at the park boundary!

Our destination for the day was the Yukon government Campground in Tombstone Territorial Park. We had heard that it can get busy there, and for a lot of people, this is as far as they will go on the Dempster. So when we arrived at about 12:45pm, we decided to bypass the visitors center and head straight for the campground. Sure enough, that's the perfect time to arrive, with lots of available spaces. There are 48 sites, but of course some are only suited for tenting, although there are a lot more RV suitable sites than there were at the Yukon River campground at Dawson City.

We pulled into site #16 right by the river. Again, for $12 CAD ($9.25 USD) per night with free firewood, it's hard to go wrong.

We had some lunch and then took the short trail to the visitors center. We got some info about the hiking trails in the park, and then took the 1.0 km trail to the beaver pond just to stretch our legs.

Ruth, in the visitors center at Tombstone Territorial Park.

The Beaver Pond Trail.

Heading towards the beaver pond.

And, looking back the opposite way!

Beaver dam.

The beaver dam is huge. Apparently it was started in 1991 and several generations of beavers have kept it up.

Another view of the dam.

Back at Sherman, it was time for a beer and a glass of wine and a few games of backgammon. Got out the Weber grill and did some nice grilled chicken for dinner.

Sunday's drive, 111 kms (70 miles).

Site #16.

Right beside the river!

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