The Arctic trails have their secret tales... but we're telling you everything!

Hello blog readers!

We arrived in Whitehorse on Sunday August 21 and were greeted by big hugs from Lauren and Colin. Already our vacation in the Yukon was off to a great start. Once we recovered our bags we made our way to our hosts' home in Mount Lorne. It is exactly what we imagined it would be - at the foot of mountains surrounded by forest and nature. There we met Smiley and Cookie for the first time. It is hard not to fall for these two girls. They greeted us with as much enthusiasm as our hosts did, and they didn't even know us.

Monday, we (Colin, Lauren K. and JP) spent the day touring the big city. We grabbed a coffee at the local cafe, Baked, and visited many hot spots - art galleries and outdoor shops, etc. We visited one of JP's former colleagues who now works for the Yukon Government and made an appointment to have coffee with him later in the week. Before picking up Lauren B from work we had the chance to visit the fish ladder that allows salmon to run up the Yukon River, past the hydroelectric generating station to their spawning grounds. Now in the presence of Lauren B, we came home and had dinner and walked the girls. Colin and Lauren B helped us pack for our three day, two night adventure in Kluane National Park. During our time in the Park we had great weather and did some hiking on the Auriol Trail near Kathleen Lake and Haines Junction. We visited the Kluane Lake Research Station where JP had done field work in 1998 and 2001 and had the chance to chat with Andy Williams who used to manage the camp.

We returned to Whitehorse on Thursday afternoon to see the magic that happens at Shipyards Park! We are of course referring to the Fireweed Market. We had a chance to see what people sell at the market. Great vegetables, jewellery, art and food - almost everything one could ever need. The best purchase was by far, two bags of kettle corn in anticipation of our pending road trip up the Dempster. A bit of history: the Highway was built in the 1960s and 70s without the benefit of an environmental assessment or land-use planning. It crosses ancient Beringia: 3 ecoregions and endless miles of permafrost (an engineering nightmare).

On Thursday night we packed our things for our great adventure that would bring us north of the Arctic Circle and back. After 600km or so, our first stop was the charming, the rich, the memorable city of Dawson. There we learned more about the gold rush which began in 1898 and ended in 1904. We visited Diamond Tooth Gerties and saw her wonderful show. We visited Dredge number 4 which used to belong to the Guggenheim Yukon Gold Mining Corporation and is currently being restored by Parks Canada. We learned about the lost Patrol which was marking its 100th anniversary this year.

The next day we started our journey up the Dempster highway. Maybe we were already sick of being in the car but we sure looked a little giddy and filled with excitement! Our destination for the day was Eagle Plains. We saw lots of beautiful vistas. The fall colors were out. Our eyes struggled to take in all the mixing of colours. You could see crimson red, bright orange (or 'bean with bacon soup' orange, as we liked to call it), shining yellow, mossy greens, and pale green which mixed with the hues of grey from the rock in the mountains, which were held together by the expanse of the vast blue sky. We stopped often along the way to take in as much as we could. We also had a very useful and interesting guide book provided to us by the lovely lady at the NWT tourism office in Dawson which gave descriptions of the various landscapes and points of interest along the way. We arrived in Eagle Plains and inquired about tenting at the one-stop shop (gas station, garage, motel, gift shop, restaurant, bar, RV Park and campsite). By the way, this was the only place to stop within hundreds of kilometers. "No tenting at the moment. We have a black bear who is pretty brave" was the response provided. What is the price for a room for four people? You don't want to know! We thought of our options and decided to take a room and reap the benefits of hot water for one night while saving some money by cooking our dinner outside.

Saturday morning we were back on the road. This time our destination was Inuvik or bust! The road presented us with an equal amount of scenery. We stopped along the way to check things out or to use the facilities - outhouses can be found all along the Dempster. Most have toilet paper but some are out so it is always best to check before sitting down to do ones business.

After stopping at the Arctic Circle, we took in the sites near the Yukon-NWT border and switched drivers as we had done all along our trip. This time JP was at the wheel for the next stretch. About 50 km into NWT, there were road repairs occurring and signs asking that you reduce your speed to 50 km/h, which JP did. We were talking and carrying on as we had done when all of a sudden we hear a big and loud "POP". JP yelled out: "What was that?" Colin answered: "That was the sound of the back windshield shattering. But at first I thought someone opened a can of Pringles". Truth be told, a rock had flown out from one of the tires and managed to find its way back to the rear windshield, shattering it into a million pieces. Given the lack of alternatives, we kept driving. The next town was Fort McPherson approximately 70 km away. We lost many little pieces of windshield along those 70 km with every bump we hit and managed to acquire a pound of dust on all our gear. Don't worry though, only two stray rocks from the road managed to enter the car and hit LK in the head. In Fort McPherson we entered the town and stopped at the gas station where we found two gentlemen who were building new steps. They offered us some plastic sheet and tape for us to temporarily fix our windshield. The two guys would only accept a few Fuzzy Peach candies as payment! Once our repair was completed, we got back on the road and made it to our destination - Inuvik. After visiting LK's friend Dan, we settled in at the Happy Valley campground for the night which offered showers and WiFi, not to mention a beautiful view of the Mackenzie Delta and the sunset.

On our way back we stayed at the Rock River Campground and Tombstone Campground. While at Rock River JP woke up in the middle of the night to snarling and heavy breathing. He thought a bear had sniffed out the food in the car and was ripping the plastic sheet to gain access to the food. JP woke Lauren up to warn her of the impending danger. After an hour of listening attentively she turned to JP and said: "That bear's name is Colin! Now go back to sleep!". The only other thing keeping some of us up was the cold. In Tombstone we woke up to find a heavy frost on our tents. The skies were clear and the temperature dipped down to minus five.

After a trip of 2,500km, we are now back in Mount Lorne, where we did some laundry, walked the dogs, and had a great lunch. As this blog post is coming to an end, Lauren B is preparing a scrumptious feast of Shanghai noodles for dinner.


This trip has given us a great panorama of what life in the Yukon can be like. We are very happy for our friends Lauren and Colin as we feel they have found a place that truly inspires them.

Looking forward to our next visit!


JP and Lauren