Day 17 July 18, 2025 Inuvik Northwest Territories to Yukon border 171 miles
One of the foxes returned this morning. We saw it a couple of times. One of the other campers reported seeing it with a squirrel. Possibly another fox or another trip with a crow. The fox is very comfortable in the campground.
The grandfather we met earlier came down for a short visit this morning. They are headed home as well. They live out of Whitehorse so it won’t take them as long. They are also driving a modern car.
About 9:30 a camera man/reporter from CBC News came for an interview. He asked lots of questions and took lots of pictures. Then he was off and so were we. So it was a bit of a late start this morning.
The rain fell off and on. In case you don’t remember we have no operational windshield wiper. Rob didn’t get new RainEx on so the rain drops aren’t disappearing as rapidly. About the time they clear up the rain starts again. The rain has good and bad points. The good is the dust is gone. The bad is the mud is horrible. The trailer is completely covered by the time we stopped. The back window of the woodie is also covered. The big trucks spray a lot of the mud but the woodie and trailer do also. If we did this trip more often, we should put mudflats on the rear fenders.
We got to the first ferry in good time. The roads in the Northwest Territories are pretty good for gravel. We could actually go about 40 mph in some stretches. This is the bigger of the two ferries. It was loading cars on the opposite side of the river. When it left the dock it went to the other side of a small river that feeds into the larger one. Two vehicles got on there. Then the ferry came to our side. The two vehicles that got on at the first stop drove over to the side and drove back onto the ferry. All that to get across a small river. We got on board and off we went.
The line on the other side to board the ferry was longer than usual. Four semi trucks plus passenger vehicles. We got off and they loaded one semi truck and some of the passenger vehicles. We pulled over to have lunch. While waiting one of the other semi drivers came over to see the vehicle. On his truck is a new government building. On another semi is a new morgue. Both are going out to islands. We thought the morgue seemed more than necessary for a very small village. Well it might also be used for a moose refrigerator. Some of the politicians try to buy votes in Canada like others around the world. These buildings will be loaded on a barge and transported five days to the island. The cost of the building was $1.8 million delivered. The morgue was $1 million.
On the next ferry load came the grandfather. He gave us his name and number in case we needed any help along the way. He also told us of a short cut that would save about 500 miles. We will have to investigate that one.
Rob was excited. He finally saw some wildlife. A duck was swimming in a nearby pond. Later he spotted a fox running across the road.
We drove into Fort McPherson for fuel. We saw a little of town. It looks very much the same. Colorful houses with four wheelers and snowmobiles.
The temperature is cooler today and rather windy. Picture taking doesn’t work well through the rain drops.
Then we hit fog. It was so dense we could barely see the road. We are close to the Yukon and Northwest Territories border. We were pretty sure it was at the top of the hill just ahead. We could barely see the turnout there. A couple of other vehicles were already there. We pulled off and parked. We had no idea how far that fog might go on the other side of the hill and we knew the roads were worse.
Rob set up everything for the night and fixed a container of soup each. The wind is blowing the fog such that we can see it pass in front of the car. We can barely see the camper about a car length in front of us. We finished our audio book in the car and then went to bed early. By that time the driver side of the car was wet through to the inside from the blowing fog and possible condinsation.
A vehicle pulled in and stopped. Rob went to talk to the lady driver. She wanted to know how far the fog continued. She was supposed to meet someone in Fort McPherson. She decided to stay. After about 10 minutes she must have decided to go because she turned around and eventually found the entrance and left. The fog/cloud was so thick she had trouble finding one of two exits.
Connie slept with her clothes on. She zipped up the sleeping bag and added an extra blanket. The inside walls of the teardrop are damp and so is the sleeping bag and pillow. Surprisingly however everything was quiet. It did warm up in the trailer so we did not stay cold for long. The two 12V electric blankets made a difference.
Spoffords Travel 