The Dempster Highway to Eagle Plains

The day is kind of drizzly and a little foggy, thinking maybe it will clear up, could be a very slippery drive if it doesn't, it will take up two days to get to Inuvik, and we will stay the first day in Eagle Plains

The Dempster Highway was built because they were interested in the area for oil and gas exploration, they started building it in the 1950's and it was finished being built in 1978, it goes from just outside of Dawson City to Inuvik, in the Northwest Territory

There are no services between when we start and when we get to Eagle Plains, hope nothing goes wrong

We stopped at this campground to use the facilities, there were more mosquitoes than Cindy and I have ever seen in our lives, after this we had a plan of attack whenever we went out of the car, but we still killed so many mosquitoes inside the car you could see their little dead carcasses everywhereSomeone came in while I was there and reported a grizzly bear at the creek next to us, we left soon

There is still some snow left and it's 63 degrees out, the Dempster is open all year long and they say that when the snow comes it's a pretty smooth road

The Yukon Road Crew is constantly working on the Dempster Highway, so much of it is on permafrost and has to be on it's own bed that they are working on it all the time

They pump their water out of the creek to work on the road

We pass by many lakes, creeks, and rivers, but tomorrow we actually have to be ferried across two rivers

Even the road turns black with the shale from the near hillside

Lot's of different minerals to be seen, this is the red oxide in the stones by the creek

OH NO......It's the Titanic

We can't see all of the three mountain ranges that we are passing by, because of the fog, but one of them, The Richardson, we have seen in Alaska when we went up to the Artic Circle

We can't see some of the cliffs because the fog is too thick but then it clears for a little while and we take a peek at these rock formations and hoo doos

It starts to rain. not mist, and the road turns into chocolate pudding, they put a chemical on the road to hold down the dust, but when it gets wet it gets slippery

After driving 227 miles in mud, 8 hours later, we see civilization, an oasis, maybe?

There is a 3 inch layer of mud on the back of our car, had to scrape it off

Everyone looked like they had just come back from a mud wrestling contest

This is the Eagle Plains Motel, "oasis in the wilderness"

I couldn't get my shoes off, they were stuck on my feet with all the muck

Looking through our back window of our room

This is where the seasonal workers who work in the motel live, students from all around Canada, work 6 days, off one, kind of limited to where they can go though

These are pictures of our room, simple but clean, it was very hot, no air conditioning either