An interesting hillside - some kind of mineralization

Yesterday's Ptarmigan

Today's Ptarmigan with two of the babies

Our "sunset" at 1:34 AM the other night

Haven't found the name for the above two flowers growing sid by side in the ditch along the Dempster

The Arctic Lupine has a very intense blue

Arctic Phlox.............................................................................................................................

Well we made it back to the trailer a little past 7 last night so supper was late. I have a correction to make to yesterday's post also. We only crossed the MacKenzie River on the way to Inuvik. We'd crossed the Peel the day before and were camped only 1 km past it. I kept waiting for the second crossing on the way home last night and Aileen finally had to correct me. We went to make an early start this morning and hadn't noticed that the ferries don't start until 9 AM their time which is 8 AM Pacific. We had decided to not change our clocks for the two days. So, we had a half hour wait which gave me time to get some pictures. The bugs have been very nasty the past few days which is why you see me with long pants and a hat. It was 18C this afternoon and I was sweating and swatting. I did break down and use Muskol for unhooking the other night and hooking up this morning.

Our only game yesterday was a Ptarmigan. Today we saw a pair of them with 5 babies. I was surprized to notice that both parents raise the chicks.
For those of you wondering about the next update on the reunion, Bruce just replied to me and said he would get an update out this weekend including the address and directions. We'll probably be without internet for the next couple of days. We're back at Eagle Plains and will probably boondock somewhere along the road tomorrow night as we'll be too late getting to Tombstone to get a site.

Along the Dempster Highway

Interesting rock

Used poster edges filter to bring out the texture

Main street Inuvik

The Igloo Church in Inuvik

Main street Inuvik

Colourful housing in Inuvik

Along the MacKenzie River delta near Inuvik

MacKenzie River ferry

JUNE 30 PICTURES

Peel River

Peel River Ferry

Peel River Ferry and native boats

Along the Dempster

Dempster Highway

The Dempster does have some good hills!

There are three of these airstrips that share the highway surface

The white is cotton grass

Some intense looking moss

HELLO FROM INUVIK

Grizzly

Gray Wolf.......................................................................................................................................

We made it to the end of the Dempster today. We drove to Fort McPherson yesterday and left the trailer there today, driving to Inuvik with just the truck. It took us just under three hours to do the just under 200 kms. Lots of the travel was at 90-100 kmph as the road is in very good shape. We talked to some people at the Arctic Circle yesterday who said the road was really slippery and treacherous at this end so some of the team were all for turning back. However, we are rough and tough and hard to bluff so we kept on truckin and had no problems at all. (YET!) Shortly after that we saw our grizzly then about 4 kms later a gray wolf. The grizzly I shot from the trailer roof as he was up a bank from the road.

We'll head back to the trailer shortly and begin the long drive out tomorrow. Weather has been mixed cloud and sun today with temperatures up to about 10C (50F). We had two free ferry rides this morning and will again on the return. The MacKenzie one is longer as it is a pretty big river.

PICTURES THAT GO WITH JUNE 27TH POST

The above three pictures are of a moose near One Moose Lake. There were no moose at Two Moose Lake across the road!

This guy was standing in the river to get away from the bugs, I think.

MORE PHOTOS WITH JUNE 27 BLOG

Snowy mountain and frozen lake behind our camp June 27th

Dempster Highway at Tombstone Mountain camp

Dempster Highway

A lady walking her dogs early morning at Tombstone Camp

We're not so clean after the rain

The Ogilvie Mtns with a fresh dusting June 27

Dempster Highway

Looking up the Dempster to the Ogilvie Mtns

Ogilvie Mtns

Ponds along the road

Ice not all off the Blackstone River along the Dempster

Interesting vertical layers along the Blackstone River

WE HEAD UP THE DEMPSTER HIGHWAY

These are called Tors (hard pieces of rock sticking up)

Waterfall and castle ramparts

They claim a 180 km view from this spot on a clear day

Cotton Grass

The view out our window tonight......................................................................

June 26, 2009 later
It was late morning before we hit the road after posting my blog and dumping the tanks. The mosquitoes were horrendous! We drove under overcast skies all day. Part way up the Dempster Highway we ran into rain and muddy road. That got rid of the mosquitoes, I think. We are camped at Tombstone Mountain camp and the parks lady said the wind was howling and the rain came in sheets earlier this afternoon. The forecast doesn’t look too promising for the next three days but then it is supposed to clear up. Perhaps our return drive from Inuvik will be better for pictures. The snow was way down the hills this afternoon. It was only plus 3C for the last several kms before we arrived here.
June 27, 2009
We awoke to a gorgeous morning with the sun shining and the mountains gleaming. The wind was very cool but the sun did have some warmth to it. We got on the road about 9 AM but made so many stops that it seemed we weren’t getting anywhere. Aileen and Mitzy walked a couple times while I was shooting. We had planned on camping at Engineers Creek but it was flooded so we carried on to Eagle Plains. It took us about ten hours on the road to get 297.5 km! The road has been pretty good for the most part although we did hit a few potholes later today. I used a very light foot and didn’t use the tow haul mode in the truck yesterday or today and our mileage was 11.47 mpg today. Good thing as we were below empty when we arrived here. Gas is $1.35 per litre (that’s $6.13 per gallon). My computer was telling me I had 35 kms left! I did have a 5 gallon can of gas in the box which I will use before getting that low again on the return. We stopped at a rest area and had an early supper rather than push on to Eagle Plains and have a late supper. We are just short of the Arctic Circle and at 10:32 PM as I write, the sun is still well up in the sky and charging our solar panels. It should stay light all night I think, this far north. Tomorrow we figure to get to Fort McPherson area where we’ll probably camp two nights. The plan is to leave the trailer there and run into Inuvik in the truck and back in the one day (day after tomorrow). I think it’s about 169 kms each way. We’ll see if that is what happens.