The Tlingit First People called Haines Deishu, which appropriately translated to “end of the trail.” The city was a quaint tourist and fishing village sitting on the Chilkoot Inlet amidst an area, which had a lot to offer visitors. The day we arrived, the weather was wet and cloudy; but over the following days, the…
The original plan at this point was to work our way south to Skagway, AK, be there in time to board our AMHS (Alaska Marine Highway System) ship, and sail back to the lower 48. We had purchased our tickets several months earlier on our way north with a departure date of 16 September. But…
NOTE: Before reading this blog, I highly recommend you first read The Dempster Highway Experience by MFI published September 1, 2024. Her blog helps put this one in proper perspective. After 5 decades of consideration, construction of the all-weather road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk (population 900 and hereafter referred to as Tuk) was started in…
The Inuvik coordinates were 68°21’39″N and 133°43’47″W, which placed it 124 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I referenced this to make a comparison with my assignment at Thule Air Base, Greenland from Dec 17, 1976 to Dec 17, 1977. For accuracy, Thule was renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2023, since it had become a…
NOTE: Before reading this blog, I highly recommend you first read The Dempster Highway Experience by MFI published September 1, 2024. Her blog helps put this one in proper perspective. We were on the final leg of the Dempster Highway, which ended in Inuvik, NT (population 3,137). The terrain became heavily dotted with ponds, lakes,…
NOTE: Before reading this blog, I highly recommend you first read The Dempster Highway Experience by MFI published September 1, 2024. Her blog helps put this one in proper perspective. We departed Eagle Plains mid morning, and almost immediately it started raining. This made for slow cautious driving and hampered my picture taking. Twenty-one miles…
Part One – Getting Ready “It was a dark and stormy night”. This is most accurate way to set the mood for this part of our adventure. .Once we decided we really intended to go to the Artic Ocean, we began prepping in earnest. As RV-ers, it’s necessary to plot the route, plan the stops,…
Our final stop, before driving the Dempster Highway north to the Arctic Ocean, was Dawson City, YT (population 1,557). From Tok, we drove a short distance on the Alaska Highway (AK 2), turned onto the Taylor Highway (AK 5) to Jack Wade, AK, then proceeded onto the Top of the World Highway, which ended at the…
The distance from Anchorage to Tok was simply too far to squeeze into a day’s drive. According to RV Trip Wizard, our only interim-stop option was Red Eagle Lodge in Chistochina (population 60). This lodge was a throw back to Alaska’s roadhouse system, when in the late 19th early 20th centuries entrepeneurs built them to…
We only camped in Whitehorse for two days and three nights, as was our habit when moving between point A and B. Nonetheless, we packed a lot into our brief stay. Do you remember our surprise water heater leak when we camped in Fort Nelson, Road to Alaska – Stop 9? At that time, MFI…
