Gwich'in Time

Wearing my bug screen inside the screen tent!

The sun came out today.  We set up our screen tent on the group site gravel to stay out of the mud.

We had a late breakfast and headed back to the music festival around two in the afternoon.  There were a few locals and a few tourists in the stands.  We chatted with the organizers.  Entrance was free and they seemed to be funding it with scratch and wins and t-shirt sales (and presumably arts grants.  

Most of the bands are indigenous musicians brought in from Alberta.

 I brought earplugs this time.  A band called Stoned Country was playing.  We gave them a rousing applause and the band leader called us out.  Afterward he came up and talked to us, saying how much he appreciated our acknowledgement. He's from a Metis community near Lac La Biche with a Cree and Norwegian background.  I'm sure the band got the response they deserved when they played later that evening.

Later we had a band playing the classic country tunes with a great lead singer who could really sing those old Hank Williams songs.  This brought out the two steppers as the locals began drifting in.

Doris and Gabrielle were a mother and daughter duo from Inuvik.  The Outlaws handed out stickers and sang gospel tunes Country rock style.

We left after the drag queen contest.  The campsite was buzzing with stranded travellers.  A bunch of motorcyclists were staying in the wall tents.  A big group of German tourists were having a potluck at the picnic tables next to us. Everyone was in good spirits now that the rain had stopped.

An Unplanned Stay in Fort MacPherson

 It rained all night and we woke up to a giant puddle under the tent and had to pack up our wet and muddy tent.  We found a breakfast place open at the airport; fortunately they made really good breakfast sandwiches with potato wedges.

Then south to the McKenzie River ferry where the ferryman told us that the Peel River ferry was out of service due to high water.

Waiting to get on the McKenzie River Ferry

But they'll get it fixed up soon, he said.

So we drove on to the Peel River ferry and got in the lineup.  The word was that it would be out for 2 or 3 days.  Some people were heading back to Inuvik.  Not wanting to camp in the rain we raced into Fort MacPherson to get a motel.  It turned out they were already full up for the weekend's music festival.  So we rushed back to Naitaiinlaii campground (where we'd stayed all by ourselves on the way up) to get a spot before it filled up with all the trapped travellers.

We both reserved the wall tents on platforms in the group campsite (Fort MacPherson has a canvas tent factory) but it turned out they were leaky so Leo and I moved to a regular campsite.  Mark and Leah stayed in the wall tent as it gave their small tent some protection and kept them out of the mud.

All set up in Netaiinlaii Campground

Then back into town to look for a restaurant.  All they had in town was a takeout at the hotel.  They actually had pretty decent hamburgers and homemade soup but no place to sit.  So we ate in our separate vehicles.  In thecrain.  Surrounded by mud puddles.

We drove back to the campground and set up Mark's gas fire ring in the camp shelter. The rain was blowing in through a large screen window so we covered it with a tarp.  Another camper organized some firewood so we bought some and fired up the wood stove. It was just getting warmed up when we decided to go in to the music festival.  It started at 9; I argued that noone would show up till at least 10 pm.

I was right. There were two people in the stands.  The band was just tuning up.

Anyway the sound was really loud echoing through the empty arena.  We didn't stay long; as we were leaving a few locals were beginning to trickle in.

On the way back to camp we came across five sandhill cranes in the middle of the  road.  Bird of the Day!

Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean

It rained all night and continued on into the morning.  The campsite was so muddy I just wore my rainpants and rubber booties all day.

We headed off on the 3 hour road trip to Tuktoyaktuk, the end of the Dempster Highway and the Arctic Ocean.  It rained the whole way so there wasn't any stopping.  The taiga eventually transitioned to tundra.  The locals leave their snowmobiles along the side of the highway.  Apparently they use them in the summer to ride across the tundra.

We stopped at the pingo viewpoint but not for long in the heavy rain,

Then we drove through town to the end of the road and the big Arctic Ocean sign.  The rain was blowing horizontally into our faces.

Having fun yet?

I had planned to do a polar bear dip in the ocean but not in this weather.  So I waded in instead.

Leo was a wuss.

Afterwards we headed to Grandna's Kitchen, a takeout cafe that serves hamburgers and local whitefish and chips.  You eat in a separate building on the water.

A bunch of people did their polar bear swims here and dried off in front of the woodstove. 

It was a convivial atmosphere with everyone celebrating the end of their road trip, everyone introducing themselves and swapping stories.

Eating our fish and chips

Our neighbour's had ordered muktuk (whale blubber) and offered us a piece.

I tried it (Leo was a wuss) and was surprised at how non-fishy it was, quite bland and unobjectionable.  

I only ate the one piece though

 With that done we drove back to Inuvik in the relentless rain.  On the way we saw the Bird of the Day sitting in the middle of the road!  A lifer!

Canada Day in Inuvik

 Canada Day in Inuvik!  Of course there was a parade.  We found a good spot on the main street.

We were next to this family of Grandma, Mom and daughter.  We voted the daughter best decorated bike in the parade but she wasn't actually going in the parade. She wanted to dress up but she didn't want to miss the free candy.

Note Grandma is wearing a red and white dress and her modern/traditional jacket.

It didn't take long for the parade to pass by.

My vote for best float:

They had the RCMP, the fire truck and the local search and rescue:

Afterwards everyone headed to the visitor centre for free hamburgers and hot dogs.

Where we sang O Canada and they raised a giant Canadian flag off the fire truck ladder.

Later in the evening we walked through town

To check out a trail that went around a small lake but the mosquitos were vicious and the lake view was obscured by shrubbery so we didn't get very far.  But not before I spotted this wintergreen:

We stopped by the icecream store!

A couple of wildlife spotted:

Dragonfly on the tent

Tree swallow

Drive to Inuvik

 

The hamlet of Tsiigehtchic is right before the McKenzie River ferry.

The next morning we drove by without turning off to see Fort MacPherson and an hour later reached the McKenzie River ferry.

The ferry operator told us that some years ago the River flooded out those buildings up on the opposite shore.

Another two hour drive and we reached Inuvik.  We looked for a restaurant and we liked the sound of Mamaqtuq.  It turned out to be a charm less hotel restaurant and expensive.

We liked our waiter though. He told us he was a student in Ottawa but taking a year off to work in Inuvik and save all his money.

The hotel had a display of traditional Inuvialuit clothing.  The hoods are made of  wolverine fur, complete with dangling paws.paws

We camped in the municipal campground and later took a stroll around town.

Of course we had to get a photo in front of the iconic igloo church

Mark and Leah saw a fox in the campground!

Later we walked down to the river.

An old wooden riverboat converted to a storage shed.

Inuvik's water and sewage are fed through these above-ground heated pipes called Utilidor lines.

Across the Peel River to camp at Nataiinlaii Territorial Park

 

Today was some of the most spectacular scenery though we don't seem to have taken any photos.  The highway climbs up in elevation to Eagle Plains hotel, gas restaurant and rv park.  A few weeks ago the ferry across the Peel River was out due to high water and Eagle Plains ran out of gas but no drama today.

Gassing up at Eagle Plains

The price of gas here is really reasonable, 1.95 per litre.

We had lunch in the cafe and the prices there made up for the deal on gas.

Next we stopped at the Arctic Circle.

I was napping when we crossed into the Northwest Territoties so no photo of that milestone.

Eventually we reached the Peel River ferry.  Of special interest to us because back in 2016 when we paddled the Snake River We had to be sure to take out at an island in the Peel River just past the confluence with the Snake.  It was flooded and unrecognizable and we almost missed it.  Had we gone by we would have had to travel 3 more days to Fort McPherson. 

And here we were

Crossing the Peel River where it meets the Dempster Highway.

It was a short drive to Nataiinlaii Territorial Park campground.  It was a nice campground with a great heated, mosquito-free shower house.

Starting in Engineer Creek and continuing till we got back to Dawson, I pretty much wore my mosquito net (thanks Birgit!) all day long sometimes accompanied by my bug jacket.

Skipbo in the bug tent.

We were the only people in the campsite.  A pair of jeeps drove through but they didn't stay.

Whiskey Jack