Tuk!!

We were up early today and on the road to Tuk by 9. This is a true ice road as we drive on the Mackenzie River the entire way. Its quite surreal, the road itself is turqoise, brown, white, and green all depending on the type of ice you're driving on. There are ominous cracks in places several inches wide and a few feet deep. The river is quite wide and so too is the road, but it still feels like you should be in a boat rather than a car!

 

 

We wound our way along the delta until finally we came out in Kugmallit Bay and onto the Arctic Ocean! We turned the rudder and headed east along the coast, slowling down as we got closer, not really wanting to reach our final destination. The thermometer read -34C as we rolled into town, and it sure looked every bit as cold as that. We had passed the tree line coming coming up the river and the surroundings were completely barren. The buildings looked as though they'd been battered by snow and wind for the last 30 years, which I'm sure they have.

We promptly got stuck in a snow drift at the far end of town, and had to get the shovel out as the locals looked on! I strolled down the main street and took a few pictures, and tried to imagine living in such a place. Although quite willing to give anything a go, I'm really not sure I could spend much time in this place, it just seemed so barren and lonely, the end of the earth.

 

  

 
 Pete picked me up and we drove to the other end of town towards the Pingos. We could only get so close before we had to park and walk across the tundra and frozen lakes. We were well bundled against the cold and carried a bag of Smarties in case of emergencies! The pingo is like a giant frost heave and occurs when an ancient lake drains and the small amount of water left gets covered over and freezes, or something along those lines!

 

  

   

  

  

 

Pete and I were at a bit of a loss for what to do next. We had arrived very early, seen what we had wanted to see, and had originally planned to camp. However the extremely cold temperatute and a strong desire to get moving persuaded us to head out again, but not before cooking up a tasty lunch of spaghetti sauce and noodles which we polished off while watching the Top Gear Arctic special on the laptop!

We got back on the ice road and began our long trek south. The full moon was a good excuse to keep driving, so we refilled in Inuvik and tackled the Demster in the dark. We switched off every few hours and stopped to gas up in Eagle Plains, but had to use the jerrys as they were shut for the night. Our trusty Sceptor cans were still working great, but the cold was too much for the pour spout which cracked after our first can. As we are prepared for the wosrt (!) we got out the trusty funnel and managed to get another 40 litres in. The Demster was beautiful at night, even more so with the full moon and clear sky. High beams weren't even required as everything was so bright, and the wind wasn't an issue as it was on the way up.

We were successful and arrived back at the Klondike at about 5:30 this morning. We slept for a few hours at the gas station expecting it to open at 7, but it never did. We headed to Dawson for fuel, ended up staying for beakfast, and are now driving furiously towards Carmacks so we can watch the Canada vs USA Olympic hockey final!

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