1) http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2018/06/our-first-taste-of-dempster-highway.html
2) http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2018/06/beautiful-views-hiking-in-tombstone.html
Tuesday, June 26
Our second driving day on the Dempster Highway. The less than ideal weather continued, despite a forecast that had said otherwise! Still, it wasn't raining (yet!) so the road was in okay condition in most spots. However, I found that it was in worse shape overall than it had been the first driving day, and that a suitable speed was more between 40 to 50 km/h (24 to 30 mph) rather than the 50 to 70 km/h (30 to 42 mph) that we had been able to do the first day.
Here are some pics from the driving day...
Starting out at about 9:45am.
The road is empty at this particular time.
It's funny how it goes with the traffic. Sometimes you'll be the only vehicle on the road for an hour at a time. Then, you'll come upon some motorcyclists going the opposite way, and some RV's and some highway trucks. Or, sometimes they pass us going in the same direction! Mostly what we see is pickup trucks with campers on top, and motorcyclists.
Ruth spotted this bald eagle posing for us.
We made it to the Engineer's Creek Territorial Campground, another Yukon Government spot, with a $12 fee. But, we only stopped there for lunch, and decided to get some more driving in rather than staying the night.
This is Engineer Creek.
The water is red because of iron oxide, but it's also got a sulfur spring feeding into it. No, the water is not safe to drink!
Ruth spotted another moose.
This young male is just starting to grow antlers.
There were several free camping spots written up in iOverlander and we chose one at GPS 65.76592, -137.89606
By the time we arrived at the top of the hill where the parking area was located, it was starting to spit with rain, so it was a good time to stop. It turned out that we had done 182 kms (113 miles) for the day, and it was almost 4:00pm by the time we got parked up.
Tuesday's drive, 182 kms (113 miles).
It continued spitting with rain, and then it rained pretty steadily overnight. This is not good because the Dempster Highway becomes rutted and muddy when it's wet and this is exactly what we were trying to avoid. The forecast hadn't been correct at all!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope the rain lets up and you guys can continue. Sherman will need a good bath soon.
ReplyDeleteWe really hope that it lets up too, we hadn't figured on this when we started on Sunday, it was supposed to be fairly sunny and dry all week. :-(
DeleteSherman isn't nearly as dirty as most of the rigs that we see but I think some of that is because they are just driving too fast and it all splashes up on the sides and back whereas we travel slowly so not as much is splashing up on Sherman.
Wonderful scenic drive, but I wonder what kind of road service is in the area:)
ReplyDeleteNot much, but there is a service garage and tow trucks at Eagle Plains.
DeleteI had seen a landing strip on side of road in google maps. Is that the landing strip Sherman is parked on? You must be close to Fort McPherson or Inuvik today (Thursday). Maybe Inuvik because you are posting blogs :-)
ReplyDeleteWe are at Eagle Plains right now, just south of the Arctic Circle.
DeleteAbsolutely beautiful drive and more wildlife! The rock stripe rock looks like a turtle. I see you're going to be using ferries further along your trip.
DeleteYes, we have two ferries that we have to use.
DeleteBTW, that wasn't a landing strip that Sherman was parked on, just a scenic turnout that we stopped at for a break and a photo op with Sherman. There are a couple of landing strips at the side of the ride and also a couple of places that the road is actually the landing strip and there is absolutely no stopping or parking on any of them.
DeleteBeautiful drive and the eagle was awesome! Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a fantastic drive, just too bad the weather isn't cooperating more because then the pictures would be amazing.
DeleteIt was so nice to see that eagle posing there for us. :-)
What a treat to follow your travels. I was going through withdrawal, lol
ReplyDeleteLol, thank you for being such a faithful reader. We are very glad that you are enjoying our trip. :-)
DeleteVery exciting! You had posted a river pic between two road pics, and at first I thought, "Wow, that road is really wet!" Crossing my fingers that the real road holds together despite all the unexpected rain.
ReplyDeleteNope the road got wet and muddy but not flooded. However, there are two rivers that we have to cross via a ferry. :-)
DeleteWe have had to cut our drive short a couple of days because of the road conditions, good thing we carry our house with us.
You sure are seeing the wildlife now great. Too bad the weather is not that great but you have almost made it so that is a plus. Enjoy and stay safe!
ReplyDeleteHonestly we aren't seeing as much wildlife on this highway as we were expecting to see but what we have seen has been wonderful.
DeleteIt is slower going than we thought it would be, we are only half way to Inuvik but that's ok, we allowed ourselves lots of time to do the trip so we will just wait out the wet days and continue to take our time.
I'm surprised at you actually believing a weather forecast!
ReplyDeleteWe actually didn't think that they would be wrong this much on their forecast. In fact it couldn't have been anymore wrong, silly us!
DeleteThank you for doing this because we never will. We appreciate what you do for others. So exciting to see what it’s like there.
ReplyDeleteThank you once again Connie and Barry, we know that you appreciate it so and we are so happy to take you "along" on our travels. :-)
DeleteThanks again for an awesome blog! I hope the roads don’t give you too much trouble ahead.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lynnette!
DeleteThe road sure isn't showing us it's good side but I am sure that it will get better and if not then we will sit back and wait until they have improved. I am glad that they we have given ourselves lots of time to do this in.
It is really gorgeous up there! Love seeing it through your eyes. I am not sure we'll ever have the guts to drive there, since we had a violent blow-out in our motorhome driving on I-95 a couple of weeks ago. Because we had both cell and internet service and were not too far from towns, we were able to get the tire replaced quickly and were only 90 minutes behind schedule getting to our campground for the night. Don't think things would have gone quite that way in the Yukon Territory. Crossing my fingers for no problems on the road for you and Sherman!
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely beautiful up here and we are enjoying every bit of it, well maybe not some of the roads. ;-)
DeleteSorry about you blowout on the highway, glad you guys are ok. We find that if you just keep your speed down then you really reduce your chances of having a blow out or a flat. Even on the paved roads we just take our time, we aren't in a rush and it is so much easier on your vehicle and it's tires. Perhaps with time your nervousness of that incident will go away and you will start to feel more relaxed about doing a trip like this. You might be surprised at how fast help would come your way, if something like that happened here, people ariund here are very helpful.