Am I an Ice Road Trucker?

I drove a truck 165kms from Inuvik to Tuktoyuktuk on the Ice Road (the McKenzie River and the Arctic Ocean) with a sleeper in the back (aka Uncle Wayne) and delivered flats of pop and ice to the church for the Tuk Jamboree. Does that mean I'm an Ice Road Trucker?  (I've been around my uncle too long this week). 

We had an incredible day!  We started off in Inuvik and I got to drive all the way to Tuktoyuktuk, or as the locals say, Tuk.  The ice road was smooth most of the way and the scenery was absolutely beautiful!  If it weren't for the huge snow banks on the sides of the roads it would have been hard to differentiate between the road and the deep snow......everything was just white and blended so easily. The ice road is bigger than most highways, probably the width of 8+ lanes in most parts.  There were some narrower parts where it got down to about 4 lanes wide and it was very windy in some parts with a few sharp turns.

Driving the Ice Road

Some of the gorgeous scenery

Plowing the road

Once we left the McKenzie and started driving on the Arctic Ocean the snow cover disappeared from the road (due to the high winds in the area) and we were looking down on clear cracked ice!  It was incredible and very creepy as the fact really sank in that we were literally driving on ICE!

Swimming? on the Arctic Ocean??

The ice was so clear! Creepy......

As we neared Tuk we saw a few Pingos, these are hills that look a lot like small volcanoes, and one of the Wonders of Canada. From what I understand they are the result of a crack in the permafrost and the shifting of the ground below which pops up through the permafrost creating a pingo. There are about 1,400 pingos around Tuk.  We saw three, it's quite neat how everything is so flat these little hills just pop out in the middle of nowhere.

And then we ARRIVED!

No one wanted to get out of the truck so I had to take my own picture.

The population of Tuk is about 800 people, 80% are Inuit/Inuvialuit.  And not to sounds like I'm stereo-typing but they wore parkas with fur around the hood and bottom! I loved their parkas, they looked so cozy and cute!!!

The Tuk Jamboree was getting started, with ski-doo races, drum dances, a feast and much more. They run on Inuit time though so when things are to start at 2pm they won't start till well after 3pm. So we didn't get to experience a lot of the jamboree, we saw the ski-doos warming up and doing some test runs before the race, and enjoyed a burger out on the Arctic Ocean.

In a concession tent on the ocean waiting for lunch

Picnic time on the Arctic Ocean

Mom enjoying her burger on the Arctic

The winds were starting to pick up and they had had a few blizzards and high winds up to about 90kms/hr this past week so we were anxious to get back on the ice road before it was too windy and they closed it. So we didn't stay too long to take in any of the jamboree festivities.

It was FREEZING and windy, I was bundled up and Tessa got a Screamer (Slurpee with ice-cream)

Auntie Della drove back and she put our faith to the test.....we were very thankful for how wide the road was as we fishtailed and slid around a couple of corners.....but we never landed in a snowbank!  We were really really close to landing in a snowbank but didn't and that's all that matters..  Auntie Della just knew I love roller coasters and slip-and-slides.

I didn't get to stick my toe in the Arctic, but I'd say driving on it, walking on it, having lunch on it, lying down on it....have got to count just as much!

I'm officially a licensed Dog Musher!

I'm officially a licensed Dog Musher!!!

 

Early this morning I set out on a dog sledding adventure!   I went with White Husky Tours in Inuvik. It was myself and a lady from Holland who's son is volunteering with the company for a year. They outfitted me in some mukluks to keep my feet dry and warm; I even got to wear some really awesome mittens made out of wolf fir and beaver hide.

We started with a short instructional time learning how to steer and guide the dogs.  Chee for Right and Cha for Left....you have a brake to come to a complete stop and a stomp pad to slow the dogs down.  And do NOT get the team too close to another team or they will fight!

We started off slow over a frozen lake and got into the trails on top of a small mountain. The trails were in and out of trees and across frozen lakes......and we let the dogs RUN!  It was so much fun!  Making sure your sled stays on the trail is a lot like snowboarding, leaning into turns and shifting your weight. If you don't shift the right way, again just like snowboarding, you catch your edge and over you go! I caught on to the rhythm of it really quick and was quite comfortable with speed!  When the dogs really get going it is such an adrenaline rush, they are such amazing animals, I can't believe how fast they are.  I did really well, all the way to the last two minutes coming into the chalets over the lake, I didn't see how sharp one of the turns was and I caught that pesky edge!  I tumbled....the dogs kept running.... I jumped up and ran after my team haha. It was actually kinda fun falling off!  One of the guides in front of me caught the team....that would be why they have guides in the front and back of the group.

My lead dogs...

Our group......

 All done.....

What a fantastic morning with lots of great pictures!!!

Tour of Inuvik

Today has been pretty relaxing. This afternoon we drove around for a tour of Inuvik.  This is a town of approx. 3,300 people, the majority being of Gwich'in decent. There is one big grocery store that is similar to a mini-WalMart (very mini), a few corner stores, two souvenir stores, a video store, one coffee shop, a few liquor stores, a bottle depot..... and a few churches.  We drove along the McKenzie River again so Mom would have a chance to "walk on water". And we drove up a road that gave us a panoramic view of the town. Gorgeous views.

On the McKenzie 

Yeah frozen rivers!

Inuvik

The igloo church

Downtown Inuvik

Old army barracks

After our little tour it was home to warm up with a good cup of coffee and a game of Yahtzee.  Oh we also stopped by the Dog Sled tours.....just waiting to hear back from the owner if I can go out this week!!!!

Small planes and Ski-doos....

(I have some great videos but the internet is really slow here....videos will have to wait till we get home)

We left Whitehorse this morning at 815am.  The airport is very small, only 4 gates. For our flight, we didn't have to go through security and no assigned seats, very odd. The plane only sits 38 passengers, no overhead bins an the seats fold forward..... There's duct tape on the ceiling, the panels with the reading lights are falling down and there's a gaping hole in the wall next to my seat. The one flight attendant wears very fashionable coveralls for a uniform. And the pilots come and go through the cabin as they please. All this aside the flight was very smooth and the scenery was breath taking snow covered mountains, frozen lakes and rivers.

We had a short stop over in Dawson City.... The runway for landing and take off a sheet of ice! Smoothest landing ever. The airport was probably smaller than the main floor of my house.  The flight to Old Crow was over the most beautiful mountains..... They make me want to just tumble down their snow covered slopes.

Our little plane....

We have now made it into the Arctic Circle!  We arrived in Inuvik just after 1pm today.  And best airport pick up ever! My cousin and a couple of his friends picked me up on Ski-doos!!!

I sat on the back for the first bit while my cousin drove. At one point we were going about 100km over a lake.  I soon got my turn. After a short little circle, I quickly got the hang of it and took off!!!  We went down some beautiful trails, rivers and lakes.  

We stopped at one lake that was untouched and I got a chance to really try out the ski-doo.... Brian and his friend Owen were taking bets on how long it would take me to fall off!!  I didn't fall off but I did get myself really really stuck in waist deep snow!!  They failed to tell me how to turn properly in deep snow.  Owen came to get me unstuck an got himself stuck too.....probably took about 30 mins to get everyone out.

Brian and Owen on the lake.

This is the great job I did getting the Ski-doo stuck!

This is Owen's good job getting his Ski-doo stuck.

The snow was so deep.... A lot of work to try to even walk let alone get a Ski-doo out.  Our route into town was the Mckenzie river!  This was a chance to just hit the gas and go for it. I even got to drive the ski-doo through town...... When else will I ever get to drive through the middle of town on a ski-doo.

Standing on the McKenzie River.....

After more than 3 hours of Ski-dooing Boy am I going to be sore tomorrow!!!!!

We ended the day with a lovely turkey dinner with some friends.

Uncle Wayne was complaining that he didn't get enough whip cream on his pie....he won't complain to Trish again.