June 16, 2006? ? Day 24? ? ?Inuvik to Tukyoyakyuk , Northwest Territories, Canada? ?
This may be a long post so sit back and enjoy.? ?It was quite a day.
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We leave our comfortable little trapper cabin early in search of a breakfast place. We eat in a restaurant connected with a local hotel and I find it is right out of the 1970?s in decoration.? The government created this town at that time and this place certainly has not changed.? We were at the Arctic Nature Tour Center promptly at 8:30, the advertised opening time, and no one was there.? We waited for a ? hour finally a man showed up.? Our name was on a list to go out on the tour but it was not leaving until 3pm and we could not see what we might do here the entire day. This is NOT a destination resort, in fact I would say not many tourists come here at all.? We told him we wanted to leave earlier and he said he would see what he could do.
? While we waited we stopped next door at a beautiful visitor center.? We watched a video on the Dempster Highway that we traveled yesterday.? (We really do deserve a bumper sticker for that drive.)? The lovely lady who hosted the center is a native Inuvik.? She is young, really pretty with a distinctive look.? I learn that the Inuvik people are the northern people I learned about as a kid and referred to them as Eskimos.? The historical accurate name is now Inuvialuit culture. I ask lots of questions, see many videos in the center and have my Dempster Highway Passport stamped.? She then presents Terry and I with a certificate that reads? Betty and Terry Brewer having demonstrated the initiative, integrity and bold adventurous spirit of the true Arctic explorers who have crossed the Arctic Circle, will hereafter be recognized as an honorable member of the Arctic Circle Chapter, Order of the Arctic Adventurers.? I asked her for a picture for this occasion.
We get a call from the Arctic Nature Tour center via the visitor center and we are now leaving at 1:00 whoopie!? They take us on a bus to the Airport that is filled to the brim with the guys from the now finished Petroleum conference who are seeking flights to Edmonton or Calgary. Now they tell us the flight is delayed an hour.? We boarded our flight at 2 pm and filled a 6-passenger flight. It was very noisy and if you had more than a backpack for luggage you?d have had to left it home.? The 40-minute flight is scenic and awesome.? I feel as if I am in the space shuttle high on top of the earth and looking down.? This land is filled with millions of lakes; ice filled ocean and no vegetation except for low growing brush of the tundra.? We see Pingos, ice created conical hills created when lakes recedes and covered with perma frost, the oil exploration rigs, and water, water, water.
When we land it is very windy and I hang on for dear life.? I hear a great bit of noise and think we may be crash landing.? Among my final thoughts are ?If I die I?m sorry I have not spent my last cent.?? We landed on the gravel runway and I did not die but vow to spend even more money in life!
A lovely young woman greets us and introduces herself as Jennifer who was born and raised here in Tuk Tuk (short for comfort of the pronunciation by tourists).? She is a college student in Victoria now but spends her breaks as a tour guide. Her father still lives the native ways and she begins to spin the tales of those I ?knew? as Eskimos so long ago.? She took us on a tour of the town highlighting her elementary school, which is no longer there because the tides took away the land, the churches built by missionaries of long ago, the community ice house which acts a deep freeze within the perma frost layers. This community ice house freezes the food people have for the winter.? Many keep their dog food under ground in storage.? The government now rules that in order to hunt caribou and whales you need to use a dog sled and in order to maintain a dog team you must feed them.? Left over fish, and the fish caught in nets that die, serve as dog food.? ?She did not take us below to the ice house as she said it smelled.? It is included on the all day trip.? (Note if you ever come here:? they require a minimum of four people to go on these trips.? It is possible for you to come all this way and if no one else wants to go with you, you?d be stuck staying in Inuvik.)
She tells us about their homes.? As an Rv?er I think you?ll find this interesting!? Because of the permafrost (permanently frozen ground) no plumbing of any kind is buried beneath the ground, as it would freeze.? They have black water sewage holding tanks that are pumped out by a truck.? They have water tanks that are built within their home and are filled with 250-gallon deposits with a tanker truck.? Water conservation is key.? They use steel like container filled vessels with fuel oil to heat home and to heat their water.? None of this construction makes for an attractive place.
She told us that with the invention of the snow machine (aka snow mobile) the people now establish communities and stay in one place.? Before they used to move camps and hunt moving locations.?
Her father still depends on the migration of the caribou for the hunt for food and for a whale catch each year. She brought us to her parents? home and we sampled the white fish they were smoking.? I did not care for the taste, or texture of the fish.? She showed us the tools her dad used to harpoon whales and described the many time consuming steps involved to convert whale blubber to cooking oil.? She described how neighbors help neighbors in the catch of whale. We got to see the sled dogs her dad raises.? This community may have been more attractive to me with snow all around.? We walked on the mushy ground of tundra.? None of the houses have any landscaping of any kind as the weather does not permit.? One of the fellows on our trip was raised in British Columbia and he wanted to come here as his childhood school geography memories are of a teacher saying , ?? Tuktoyaktuk, as far north as you can get.?? When he was bad, his mother would scold him ands say I will send you to Tuktoyaktuk.? He vowed as a fifth grader to visit this place someday.? Our guide drove us to the seaport edge and we were given the opportunity to skinny-dip or to dip our toe in the Arctic Ocean.? We took off our shoes and stood in the very cold water.? I have now stepped into the Arctic Ocean.? ?Who?d a thunk! ??
The return? flight to Inuvik followed the MacKinzie River, which freezes in the winter and acts as a highway to connect the Tuk Tuk peninsula with the mainland.? Within 40 minutes and we arrive safely.? It is a lovely day and Terry had a plan to get us ?home.? It is 6:00 pm.? Stay tuned
Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: o? ? Car miles driven O
Wildlife sightings: 0
Temps:? High? ??? ? ?Low ?? ?No way to measure it. Very cold out in The Arctic Ocean! Windy too
GPS Coordinates:? Lat 69.43? Long? 133.07
