And we waited…
/It was cool (~52F/12C), but sunny when we left Jak Campground and headed back down the Dempster. The tarps were in place on the bed for the 215 mile trip on the dusty, gravel road to Eagle Plains where we planned to camp for the night. We were already envisioning a good dinner and a cold beer at the Arctic Circle Restaurant..
We were at the Mackenzie Ferry by 10:00. We were the only car in line and waited less than 10 minutes. We were back on the Dempster by 10:20. Our GPS cracks us up every time… ‘Board the Ferry’… ‘Leave the Ferry’, she commands us… as if there were choices.
About 40 miles further south, we stopped at the Nataliinlaii Territorial Park Interpretive Center which promised the aforementioned Arctic Circle Crossing Certificates. Abraham, the center host, told us he didn’t have any. “We used to have some, but we don’t have them any more. Where are you folks heading?”.
We told him south to Eagle Plains and he said “Not today, you’re not! The ferry isn’t running.”
“Why?”, we asked.
“High water on the river,” he replied.
“For how long?” we inquired.
“Don’t know.”
Hmm… we drove around the campground to check it out. It was nice but neither the showers nor the toilets were working… outhouses only. We decided it was probably worth it to check out the ferry ourselves, just in case. As Abraham reported, the ferry was closed.
The line to get across was only six cars and a semi. We queued up and walked down to get any info we could. No one knew anything.
As one hour stretched to several, a little community formed. There was Jukka, a Finn, from Whitehorse. Craig and his two female companions from Vancouver, we’d met on the way up the Dempster. Tyler was the semi driver and he seemed to get more information via his radio, so we checked with him frequently. Tom and Kathy were from Florida, Greg and Kelly were from South Carolina and Brant was from Montana.
We watched as folks alternately stretched their legs, chatted, then returned to their vehicles. Some made meals; some shaved; some put out their Starlinks and let folks know what was happening while other napped. We read, walked, wrote, read, walked, wrote and napped.
It began to sprinkle and we prayed additional rain wouldn’t add to the high water issues.
The hours lingered on. More cars, RVs, semis, and vans joined the queue. We’d go out and check the river, talk with fellow travels (Do you think the water’s going down?) and come back to Blanche to read or write for a while longer. We had lunch, then dinner, then popcorn. By around 10PM, we were pretty convinced that we weren’t going anywhere this night.
The queue had thinned out a bit. Folks in sedans and pickups had returned to little Fort McPherson about 12 miles back to try to find a room for the night and a meal. Folks in campers and RVs remained in line and toughed it out. Tyler, the semi driver, had actually been in line since 6PM the prior day and he wasn’t going anywhere till the ferry opened. By 11:30pm, we decided that we were fortunate to have a free campground for the night and we hit the sack. We fell asleep hoping the river level would drop and we could be on our way first thing the next day.
In the morning, folks had set up propane stoves and camp chairs. Coffee was brewing and breakfast was cooking. A continuous line of folks were headed for the woods to take care of their morning ‘business’.
We actually slept pretty well. About 0700, we walked down by the river as people started congregating once again, asking the same question “Does it look like the water level went down? What do you think?” I was trying to be optimistic as I answered “Maybe”, but I couldn’t see any difference in the level against the shoreline today than we’d seen yesterday.
At 0915, the scheduled first ferry run of the day came and went with no movement at the ferry landing whatsoever. Official looking pickup trucks went to and fro constantly, but nothing seemed to happen.
We began to learn more about our co-travelers, the way you do when you’re waiting for a delayed bus or a flight… or a ferry. There are engineers and OTR drivers, writers and HR people. Jukka counts bird populations in remote places for the Canadian government.
The wind blew strong and constantly, an audible howl accentuated by the visual image of sand blowing horizontally. On the positive side, the wind kept the mozzies away.
Only a few weeks ago, this same ferry landing had been ravaged by a flood. An ice dam up river had barricaded water and when it finally broke, the resulting floods waters washed away camps and cabins along the shore and deposited mud banks high above the shore line. Mud was still very deep in places and the current high water levels weren’t helping the situation at all.
One enterprising fellow with a large boat and outboard, has been charging $100 a piece, to take a motorcycle and driver from one side of the river to the other and the cyclists are paying it. Judging from the number of trips he’s made and continues to make, he’ll net several thousand dollars on this ferry delay.
In Fort McPherson, a woman has a small B&B and she’s been full-up at $200/night with folks waiting for the ferry to resume service.
At 1130, we had been waiting 24 hours at the Peel River Ferry landing. To celebrate, and with nothing better to do, we decided to walk the mile+ back to the territorial park to get rid of some trash, use the camp’s pit toilets for a change and say hello to Abraham, the camp host. A native of the area, Abraham told us the flood a couple of weeks prior was the biggest he ever remembered (he’s 40-ish, we’d guess). Interestingly, when he asked where we were from and David told him Las Vegas, he immediately whooped ‘Go, Golden Knights!’. He asked if we’d be watching the game tonight and when we said no, he said “I’ll tell you the score when I see you tomorrow.” Uh-oh… did he know something we didn’t?
When we returned to the queue, some heavy equipment had been moved in. Dump trucks would deposit loads of gravel by the riverside. Front loaders and bulldozers would move it into place at the ferry landing on the north side of the river. We could see a front loader working on the other side. By 6pm, the landing on our side of the river was looking pretty good. Now, the front loader would load up a dump truck that rolled onto the ferry which would cross to the other side where the load of gravel and dirt would be dumped on the landing. This went on for hours. We figured we were in for another night of free camping.
Talking with Tyler, the semi driver, he had heard that the crew would work late to move the traffic across the river. The noise of the operating heavy equipment droned on and on into the night. We stayed up until 0115 and gave up hope and finally crawled into bed.
A half hour later, the sound of the equipment changed. It was noticeable enough for us to sit up and peek out to figure out what was going on. Was the crew quitting for the night? New equipment moving in?
To our surprise, the semi had started up his engine. Vehicle lights in front of us were coming on. Half asleep, David crawled into his jeans and over the front console to start Blanche. I handed him his shoes and glasses and jumped into the front seat. The semi and the first five cars in front of us were loading onto the ferry. If all went well, we’d be on the next run.
A few minutes later, we could see them unloading on the opposite shore and cars on the other side begin to load. We crossed our fingers. Sure enough, cars unloaded and the ferryman hailed us down to the landing. It was rough and deep and the tires were a bit wet, but we were on board. The sun shone bright as we crossed the river.
Getting off was a challenge in deep, rutted mud, but Blanche managed to plow through and 39 hours after we arrived at the Peel River Ferry Landing, we were back on the Dempster on the south side of the river and kicking up dust. Hallelujah!
By the way, as a reminder… it’s 24 x 7 daytime here now. Here’s a picture of the 2am sun!
So… the worst part about the whole ordeal?
The frustration of waiting and not knowing what was going or when we could expect to move.
But then, that’s all part of the adventure, isn’t it?
So we’re heading back down the Dempster and then what? Stay tuned!