Inuvik to Rock River Campground
Since I had changed up my plans and ridden up to Inuvik in a day, I hadn’t camped along the Dempster on the way up like I’d planned. To make up for that, I decided to ride back over two days and camp in Rock River Provincial Park, just north of the Arctic Circle. The heat warning was still in effect for Inuvik, and it was a sticky 70 degrees as I loaded up the bike in the morning and got on the road.
I managed to time my return trip well and had no traffic in front of me on the ride to the first ferry (this was the stretch where all the dangerous dust was on the way up). Once I parked up to wait for the ferry I realized that there was really good LTE signal, so I video called Tori to show her the massive expanse of the Mackenzie River and chat while I waited in line by myself. That worked for a bit until John, one of the KLR riders I’d been leapfrogging on the way up pulled up next to me.
The rest of the ride was similarly uneventful. I topped off my gas tank and had a quick snack in Fort McPherson before taking the second ferry and crossing the border back into The Yukon around noon. There was a pair of riders hanging out by the sign and one was kneeling down working on something. I stopped to see how they were doing and found that he was just trying to clean the dust out of his jacket’s zippers with WD40.
In another 30 minutes I was the first person in the campground and was able to pick a site right next to the river. The mosquitos were a dark, buzzing cloud around me as soon as I stopped the bike, but luckily deet actually does a pretty good job with them. After setting up my tent I took a stroll down the appropriately named Rock River and tried to find some interesting rocks to bring back to Tori. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Good Omens by the river (where the constant breeze through the small gulch kept the mosquitos away).
Eventually John pulled in on his KLR and we had the chance to chat a bit more that evening. We also got to meet a local indigenous family who set up a picnic in the camp site next to mine. The father told us about his childhood before the road was built and shared caribou and fish with us. Overall it was an extremely pleasant night, and I was glad I decided not to bomb back down the Dempster.
There were two cyclists there that night, as well, and they came up to ask about road conditions after they’d overheard that we were on our way back down. In turn, they relayed that they’d cone across a tow truck driver who was working on his 7th crashed motorcycle recovery of the season (which only really started in mid-June).
This camp also introduced me to the Whisky Jack, a Canadian songbird that is incredibly bold and famous for stealing food out of peoples’ hands. I was able to snap an almost perfect photo of one trying to steal my protein bar.
Into Inuvik
Unfortunately the promise of a perfect weather window was shattered with the forecast for Monday. While the area I camped stayed clear, there were scattered showers forecasted for almost the entire route back into Dawson City. Normally this wouldn’t give me much pause, but parts of the Dempster are more dirt road than gravel and because famously soupy with a lot of heavy rain.
I got packed up and on the road by 8am, having heard John leaving camp around 6:30 when I was packing up the inside of my tent. Knowing there were no services after Eagle Plains (which was less than an hour away), I decided to have breakfast and coffee in camp before setting off. I reached Eagle Plains quickly, topped off my gas, then went inside the lobby of the hotel/restaurant to add a few layers and get myself situated for the rest of the ride. A familiar green KLR was parked out front, and I had chance to chat with John once more before we each headed out.
As luck would have it, I saw a bright green water jug shattered on the road not long after I left. I recognized it as John’s, and was able to flag him down to let him know once I caught up. Luckily it was the only bit of gear that had come loose and everything else was intact.
I tried to stop for a few more photos than I had gotten on my way up, but the rain starting picking up more and more as I left Eagle Plains and started to get towards the Tombstones.
The rain continued on and off all morning and the road was pretty soggy. The gravel helped the road drain when it was there, but there were large sections where the surface was fine enough to act more like mud. It never got too slick, but I did have to keep average speeds much lower than the way up the road. Instead of 90-100kph I spent most of the day in the 70-80kph range.
The Tombstone mountains were just as spectacular as the way up, and with the heavy mist and fog their green surface and heavily-eroded faces reminded me even more of Scotland.
I didn’t each the end of the road until around 2:30, and despite rinsing the bike off in Inuvik, I’d accumulated another thick layer of mud and dirt on the bike, the luggage, and all my riding gear. But I’d made it up and down the Dempster to Tuk in four days by myself and accomplished one of the major goals of the trip. I found a car wash on my way into town to spray as much of the gunk off as I could and headed to my hotel for dinner and decompression.
I’ll take a rest day here in Dawson tomorrow before starting the final leg of the trip in Alaska. After crossing the border on Wednesday, I’ll head to another motorcycle-only campground in Tok, stay on a boat in Valdez, then spend two nights in McCarthy to check out Kennecott Mines before finally ending the trip in Anchorage in 8 days.