Day 14 July 15, 2025 Eagle Plains Yukon to Inuvik Northwest Territories 231 miles
We had a nice breakfast in the restaurant this morning. The prices are really not that bad based on quantity and location.
The parking lot is surprisingly dry for all the rain we had yesterday. When we got out on the road it was also dry. The rain did help some with the dust.
We came to a section of road that said to watch out for low flying air craft. In fact the road is an emergency landing strip. The road bed is actually a little wider here. Only small planes could land however. The wind sock is blowing straight out.
The terrain is small to medium rolling hills. They are mostly covered with short thin evergreen trees. Weather conditions do have an affect. Sometimes the trees are very close together and sometimes far apart. Eventually we came to the area where the wildfires had been last week. Large solid black areas on both sides of the road.
At the Arctic Circle turn out we spotted a canopy set up that appeared to be serving some kind of refreshments. Then we saw two bicyclists coming out of the view point. On down the road we saw more bicyclists. They must have been spread out over several miles. Some kind of bicycle tour. Most waved. The food was going to be cold for at least some of them.
Then in the middle of the road was a family of ptarmigans drinking from a puddle of water. There were two adult birds and five chicks. They were so cute.
We reached the Northwest Territories border. We parked the car under the sign and took a few pictures. We were pleasantly surprised that the road conditions improved. Sometimes we could even go 40 mph rather than our normal 20 mph.
The wind is really blowing so that coupled with the road causes the passenger side door to pop open. Thank goodness for seatbelts.
We took two ferry rides today. The first was a small ferry across a medium size river. That one took two vehicles across but could have held one or two more depending on size. The second ferry was larger and went across a wider river. The flies on that ferry were numerous and gigantic.
Because the roads were better we just kept going and got all the way to Inuvik. The time was about 7 pm. We drove for about 11 hours today. Maybe we were just waiting for the sun to go down to quit. Oh, that’s right, the sun never goes down this time of year. Very tired, we stopped at the first hotel we found. They were booked full. The receptionist called other places in town which were also full. She said the campground should have a space. It was good to have the campground as an option.
As it turns out the campground is just past Alestine’s Restaurant where we were told by several travelers was a great place to have fish and chips. By this time it was about 7:30 and they close at 8. We did get in before they closed. What an interesting place. The seating is limited. He cooks in an old school bus. She waits tables. They are only open from 5-8. She told us to get spot 27 in the campground if possible.
The entrance to the campground was less than a block away. Spot 27 was already taken but we found another one that was pretty good. The MacKenzie River is very close by. The mosquitoes had lots of friends and they were all hungry.
The traveler next to us pointed out that two small Arctic foxes were just across the way. We watched them for about 15 minutes. They were young, playful and very pretty.
Spoffords Travel 