Inuvik and an Arctic Ocean Beach Party
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Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) are absolutely humongous… 785,000 sq miles with a population of only ~44,000 people. Eleven official languages are recognized and spoken here. Luckily, one is English… most are the native languages of the First Nations people. We really hadn’t expected to find many maps or brochures available, but we were definitely mistaken. We found plenty of helpful information, road maps, camping and visitor center availability as well as cultural material. We, of course, are only visiting a tiny portion of western NWT and excited to do it.
We were tired after the trip up the Dempster and headed to the in-town Happy Valley Territorial Park for a campsite. After paying for the site, we were told that the showers and toilets weren’t working, but we could use the facilities at another campground about 2 miles outside of town. Hmmm… she thankfully refunded our money without a grimace or a complaint, and we headed to the campground about 2 miles outside of town and high on a hill… Jak Territorial Park which was more than adequate with very hot showers in heated washrooms, working toilets and electric hook-ups ($28.50/night). We settled in, shook the dust out off, heated some soup for dinner, took hot showers, then climbed into bed. We’d think about exploring later.
We woke to a very cold, gray, gusty day (33F and 0C). Exploring was on the agenda. We had originally thought we’d continue on to Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk), but the weather forecast was calling for more wind and rain. Instead, we bundled up and headed to downtown Inuvik. Even layered up, I was cold in the wind.
We stopped again at the Inuvik Gateway sign for a selfie. Another car was parked at the turnoff for the sign and when we approached, Kenny and Robert, local natives, got out of the car and offered to take a photo for us. At first we wondered if they had an ulterior motive, some gimmick, like we’ve seen so many times in foreign countries and at home. But no, they weren’t after anything at all other than being friendly. Kenny took pictures. They were thrilled to hear we were from Las Vegas… it sounded quite exotic to them plus it was the home of the Golden Knights…”Go, Golden Knights!”, they repeated several times and yelled after us as we were pulling out of the parking lot. That’s Kenny in the hoodie and Robert in the red.
Downtown Inuvik is not very big. Most of the shops and attractions are on Mackenzie Road, the main street through town, maybe a mile long. We easily spotted the iconic ‘Igloo Church’, Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church. Built in 1958, its unique design and construction was a 2-year community effort. Tours are available, but never when we were there unfortunately.
The Welcome Centre was not open when we were there which was disappointing since we thought we’d get our Arctic Circle Crossing certificates there. We next tried the Western Arctic Regional Visitor’s Centre which was supposed to be open, but a sign in the door window indicated due to unforeseen circumstances, it, too, was closed. This is not unusual, I think. We’re still fairly early in the year… most things are just opening between now and the end of June and stay open through July and early August, the big months for tourism. Several restaurants and shops were not yet open in town. The stop at the Western Arctic Visitor’s Center was not in vain, however. Just the sculpture outside the building was worth the stop.
We headed back to the other end of town, parked Blanche and began walking. Everyone, and I mean everyone, we passed on the street looked us in the eye, smiled, and said hello. Many welcomed us to Inuvik. (Guess we didn’t look like locals.) We stopped at Moe’s, a stationery/sundry/gift shop and though they had some interesting gift items, we only purchased postcards. We walked around the corner to another gift shop, Originals, which had beautiful carvings, but just nothing we felt we could safely get back home in one piece. Trying to buy souvenirs while living in Blanche is not so different than Nine of Cups. Finding space to store things safely is always a major issue.
North Mart is the grocery, pharmacy, bakery, KFC/Pizza Hut, general merchandise outlet in town. We wandered around a bit looking for something scrumptious for dinner. Blanche’s cook was feeling lazy on this cold, gray, gusty day. We expected food and fuel prices to be high here and we weren’t disappointed. We certainly understand why, so though we gringe a little, we’re really not complaining… much. We ended up with a small rotisserie chicken and some potato salad which would actually last us for a couple of meals and a small package of blueberry scones for breakfast… $37! We really need to diet.
An observation… the license plates in the Northwest Territories are shaped like polar bears! How cool!
Across the street from the Igloo Church in front of the Mackenzie Hotel, we saw ‘Inukshuk’. Originally a stone landmark or cairn built by the people of the Arctic, this is now a symbol of the native Arctic people.
Fuel was next… pump your own/pay at the pump… $2.10/liter ~$5.90/gallon USD. We were all gassed up and ready for the trip to Tuk tomorrow. The forecast was calling for sunny skies and we hoped the weatherman was right.
Another observation… even in out of the way, isolated places at the top of the world, credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) are accepted. And though the local library had limited hours, there was one, it was open regularly and it offered free internet. Awesome!
We retreated to the campground, devoured the dinner portion of the chicken and potato salad and settled into the warmth of Blanche to listen to a couple of podcasts, read, write and plan our next day’s journey.
There’s 24 hours of sunlight now. The sun rose in Inuvik on May 24th and it won’t set again until July 18th. So it’s hard to tell if it’s really morning by the clock or we just happened to wake up and we feel ready to go.
The pavement ends and the gravel begins as soon as you leave Inuvik. We were driving on NT-10, aka the ITH (Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway). It was sunny and the updated forecast was calling for a high of 52F (11C) and low of 31F (0C). We had the bed all covered with tarps again to keep dust inside Blanche to a minimum. Oh, man, does she ever need a bath inside and out.
It’s less than 100 miles from Inuvik to Tuk but the difference in the topography is noticeable with every mile north we gained. From a rolling hill terrain with tall, spindly trees to very few trees to flat, boggy tundra and no trees at all. The road was in pretty good condition, packed dirt and gravel and the usual dust. It’s more than three lanes wide (50-60’) for the most part, but still dodgy in places.
Innumerable lakes and ponds and big puddles were noted as we drove.
All along the highway, we saw what we thought were abandoned snowmobiles and we couldn’t understand why they were there and there were so many of them. We found out later that the locals leave them during the summer months when they can’t be used and retrieve them again when the snow falls.
Willow ptarmigans sat along the roadside, feathers unruffled by our passing, but leery of us when we stopped for photos.
Ducks and geese were seen on the ponds, most too far away for reasonable photos or even identification. We saw several arctic terns flying overhead. Tundra swans saved the day when we finally got a chance for a photo.
David is so darned patient, it’s a wonder. I see a flower I’d like to identify or I bird I want to photograph and I yell ‘Stop!’, at which point he tries to find a safe spot to stop and does so and even backs up to the best vantage point. So, as a result, here you have our first photo of fireweed just blooming in the Arctic!
We stopped to look at the Ibuyuk pingo, the tallest pingo in Canada just outside Tuk at the Pingo Canadian Landmark. We didn’t know what a pingo was either! Simply described it’s a hill with a heart of ice. Take a look at the pingo then an explanation below of how a pingo is formed.
At last we arrived in Tuk. We had hoped to stop at the Visitor’s Center, but it was unfortunately closed as has been our luck lately. Tuk is a small community with utilitarian buildings, built off the ground to keep the warmth of the building from melting the permafrost beneath. Otherwise, a melting permafrost base will cause the building to sink or lean and eventually collapse.
We headed directly to the Arctic Ocean and had our picture taken by the iconic sign (then reciprocated the picture-taking process for another couple).
We gathered our beach stuff and headed down to the beach.
The wind was howling and it was icy cold, so my bikini was out of the question. I did manage to take off one shoe and hobbled down to the water for a toe dip. David, on the other hand, was all ready to dive in, but an ice berg got in the way. Instead, he plodded in with two bare feet and apparently enjoyed the foot freezing adventure because he stayed in for well over a minute.
Blanche requested a photo at the Arctic sign and we couldn’t refuse after all she’s been through lately.
We did a bit of wandering about town and found the Tuk cemetery.
The Our Lady of Lourdes schooner has seen better days, but it was used as a missionary boat plying the waters of the Beaufort Sea between Arctic communities for decades. Since 1982, it has been on ‘display’.
There aren't many Roman Catholic churches further north than Our Lady of Grace, lying within a stone’s throw of the Arctic Ocean. It has just undergone a major renovation and according to what I read, has been an active parish church for over 75 years.
We stopped at Tuk’s Northern Market to mail a postcard… it houses the post office, too. We were surprised at the variety of food and merchandise within this neat and tidy store… everything from a head of lettuce to an ATV. Gas station pumps are out front.
We could have camped here in Tuk, but it was cold, the wind was whipping and the campground amenities were sparse.
Instead, we began the 100 mile gravel road journey back to Inuvik. There’s never any issue driving in the dark here at this time of year and there are plenty of turnouts just in case we got tired. It was an uneventful return trip and we chose to stay another night at the Jak Campground before heading back down the Dempster.
Mission accomplished: We have now dipped our toes in all the world oceans… North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic) and now the Arctic. Time to move on.
Next time, join us in Dawson City, the Heart of the Klondike!