The Adventures of a Rally Roadie

Day 6 – Inuvik to Tuk to Eagle Plains

We’re supposed to be up and out by 7:00 AM. I set an alarm for 5:30 and when I get up I realize the my cell phone (my alarm) is still set to Yukon time and we’re in NWT time which is a hour later. We’re late. Scramble. Pack. Jump in the car and head for the entrance to the ice road to Tuk.

We’re on the road by 7:16 and headed down the McKenzie river to the Beaufort Sea. The ice road is about 8 lanes wide and completely plowed clear. With the rally lights on, we can see all the ripples, cracks, spindrift and galre ice. After the ice race, we start out slow but in a couple of miles we up to 65-70 and cruising along. At about 20 miles we come on a set of brand new spin tracks put down by someone exploring the limits of adhesion. In some places, it really is slippery as ice.

A couple semi’s pass us in the opposite lane (the weight limit for trucks is 64,000 kg – about 130,000 lbs) but other than them there’s almost no traffic. It’s only 109 miles to Tuk so the trip takes less than 2 hours. As we near Tuk, dawn starts to break and the sky brightens.

The last few miles of the trip are on or near the pack ice. The ice gets very rough and we slow down. There are pressure ridges in the pack ice and to the northwest of the river there are piles of ocean ice.

Just as we get to the end of the ice there’s a very sharp right hand turn. The turn has already gotten someone else and now it gets me. It’ll get a few more as the rest of the cars come in. If that’s not bad enough, I see a street the goes over to the general store so I turn right a drive right into a ditch. The street was simple a snow machine track and the Subie is down to the axles. Dick hooks up my tow rope and yanks me out. This is getting embarassing.

Finally, we find the MTC and sign in. Takes some pictures. Joke with the rest of the people there. Off to the general store for some munchies and then back in the car for the return trip down the ice road.

Yvon is driving back. We’re only a couple of miles down the road and the visibility drops to near zero. He does a good job of just slowing down and picking his way through the narrow parts near the town. A mile or so later, the 2 Mitsus pass us and he falls in behind them. Some miles down the road the whiteout abruptly clears and soon the sun is out. It’s beautiful and we’re moving right along.

We pull into Inuvik, get gas, do some shopping and get a snack for lunch. Then back on the road to Eagle Plains. As we head into the mountains, the wind picks up and the visibility starts to collapse. As we pass the NWT/Yukon border, the wind is howling, the visibility is dropping and things are getting a bit grim. But as soon as we head down from the pass, the weather starts to improve dramatically. Someone mentions on the radio that the Dempster is just trying to give a taste of what could be. No thanks.

We head down and as we near Eagle Plains, we start to run out of fuel. We had passed Fort McPherson and not fueld because we thought we have enough fuel to make it. We probably would have if we hadn’t been doing 90 on the way down. We add a couple of gallons and get to Eagle Plains. We won’t pass a fuel stop again.

C8-)