North of 60

Past the Arctic Circle, we entered the Northwest Territories….

There is supposed to be a bountiful caribou population, but none have appeared, except this guy.  (Apparently they spend their summers further to the east….)

Our first stay in the Arctic was the community of Inuvik, the “old” terminus of the Dempster Highway.    We spent a night there at a crappy (but still local) motel.

And then departed for the ultimate goal…..

The tundra was not as barren as expected, but dotted with small lakes and ponds, surprisingly green and scattered with cottongrass wildflowers in the summer months.

What an astonishing population of flying pests!  This photo, taken from the (closed) car window, almost captures the impression of swarms of bugs, in the near, middle and far distance, simply waiting for the door to open so as to swarm into your eyes, mouth and nose and alight on exposed and covered skin.

Once we reached Tuktoyaktuk, we felt compelled to go to the only local eatery to sample the indigenous dish, beluga whale, served both as raw chunks of blubber and as smoked flesh.  It’s a big deal culturally – First Nation people have special permission to harvest the whales and teach their children about the significance of this foodstuff and its preparation…..

The uninitiated have different reactions to it…..

(Please note I am wearing a sweatshirt which I acquired in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America….. the span of two continents away.  Didn’t even notice this until just now…)

A major goal was to take the powered parachute out over the tundra…. Henry spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get permission to fly from the local airstrip, including a lengthy conversation with the airstrip manager, Darrell.   He explained that although not a major airport, the location had strategic significance as an early warning point for North American defense systems.  We pretty much concluded that we would not be able to fly here.

Later in the day, we recorded our journey to this northern point….

and dipped our toes in the Arctic Ocean.

Henry built a small fire on the point, then went to chat with a fellow enjoying an outing with his family.  As Henry returned, I said to myself, “Hmmmm, he just met a guy who knows Darrell.”  When he reached me, Henry said, “So, guess who I just met?”  I said, “A guy who knows Darrell?”  Henry said, “No, that was Darrell, and we can fly tomorrow morning!”

And so we did, over the distinctive geological features called pingoes, formations of ice that poke up through the permafrost…

Here’s a photo we took of Tuk from the air; the red circles from left to right show where we dipped our toes in the Ocean; the restaurant where we ate blubber; the point where Henry met Darrell and the Bed & Breakfast where we spent the night!  A small town!

It was a magnificent flight… here are the happy adventurers:

And – just in case you are curious about some of the mechanics involved with flying the powered parachute, here is how you take the air out just before you pack your chute…..

In any event, we achieved our goal of traveling to this place that we had not even heard of a few weeks ago…..

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

We returned to Inuvik and spent a couple of nights at an inn that does dog-sled outings in the winter.  They exercise their 35 huskies in summer by harnessing them to ATVs a couple of days a week for a run!

Our return down the Dempster was under cloudy skies, the truck and trailer somewhat the worse for wear because of the rough going, but intact and still functional…..  just like us.