Day 34: Caribou Creek Campground to Inuvik: North!

July 8, 2010

It started out as wet and cold, but it warmed up and cleared up as the day went on.

My first stop in Inuvik was the visitor centre. Elaine at the centre was very helpful getting me oriented in town. She also printed up an nice certificate for me that said I cycled the Dempster. She said she saw me cycling on the Dempster when she was out for a hike a few days ago. Somehow, it came up that I had stayed at the Rock River Campground that night. Her first response was 'Oh, the mosquitoe campground'.

After the visitor centre I headed to the campground. After registering, I headed to my site and a lady came by and said, 'Oh, you're the cyclist. There is a couple staying at a B&B who want to buy you dinner'. Such is life as a celebrity! Of course it turned out it was my friends Ray and Brenda.

After getting set up in the campground, I followed Navy Road out of town and took it to the end. It's just like it looks on Google Streetview. There seemed to be a bit of a clearing on Streetview and I was concerned that I the road could continue for another 10km. However, north from there it was a trail with grass and a mud puddle only 10 feet away - it wasn't a road and I didn't feel that I had to cycle it any further to claim north. I got out my tripod and took a ceremonial picture. As well, I set up my Spot Messenger to record the furthest north.

I headed over to the meet Ray and Brenda. We went out for dinner at the MacKenzie Hotel. At dinner, they mentioned that they were flying to Tuktoyuktuk (affectionately known as Tuktuk) tomorrow and there was one space left on the flight last they heard. We made plans to try to get the seat for me. Basically, I show up early at the hotel tomorrow. They are avid photographers and have scouted out the best places to sit on the flight.

While we were wandering town, we ran into a couple of interesting characters. We ran into George and Gary from the campsite a couple of nights ago. George is here to display his knifes at the Great Northern Arts Festival which opens tomorrow. They have been attending the festival for over a decade. Gary showed us one of the knives from his collection. It had a leather case, an intricate design on the blade and the handle was made from mammoth tusk.

While outside the Igloo Church, we met Andrew Rankin. He is a photographer for the local paper and asked us to pose by the church. It turns out that he is somehow related to the musical family.

http://www.therankinfamily.com/

It has been a good day. I am warm, dry and well fed for the first time in a long time. I stayed at Happy Valley Campground ($45 for 2 nights).

Furthest north:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=68.42133,-133.77462&ll=68.42133,-133.77462&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1