August 6th, 2014
Facts about Inuvik
Located 200 km (124 mi) north of the Arctic Circle, Inuvik is Canada’s most northern town (there are more northerly settlements, such as Alert.) In summer you can reach it by road on the 671-km (417-mile) Dempster Highway, from the Yukon’s Dawson City. It’s on the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta. From January to April, the Mackenzie River turns into an ice road, enabling road travel to Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk.
Quick tip: If you visit the Western Arctic Regional Visitor Centre in Inuvik you will be given a certificate awarded to all travellers who cross the Arctic Circle.
Friendly Faces
Mike: We met Mike at the Air North cargo office. He graciously offered to drive us into town to the local campground. Once we loaded the truck and the wheels started moving he became a tour guide. We quickly realized we were happy for the delay as Inuvik offers a lot of services and tourist sites. Thanks Mike!
Today’s Highlights
Amanda writes:While my lowlight was the migraine and broken bike, I was pleasantly surprised with how we dealt with it. Rather than raising our voices and placing blame on each other, I laid down to try and ease the pounding. Andrew came into the tent to offer an apology and we had a rational conversation about it. And while this may seem like a little thing, based on our stress levels in the preceding weeks I’m optimistic that we will deal with things and a more reasonable level moving forward. Well done Team Prenty.
Today’s Lowlights
Andrew writes:Definitely when I snapped the head off of a bolt for my bike rack when I was putting it together. It was made even lower by Amanda’s insistence on telling me that was going to happen because I didn’t listen to her. I really need to work at listening to what other people say.
Amanda writes:My headache that turned into a migraine and prevented me from helping Andrew put together the bikes. Then the icing on the cake was when Andrew broke the rack. Broken rack means we aren’t going anywhere.
What happened…
Amanda writes: Up early for a 7am flight. Auntie Janet made us a great warm granola breakfast with eggs and potatoes. Perfect start for a big day. We had the early flight with a few stopovers with a final arrival in Inuvik for 1pm. Then we would put the bikes together and ride into town to get gas and then turn around and ride back out of town for about an hour and find a spot to camp. We hope that we’d be setting up camp around 6pm to make dinner.
Plane departed on time and all was well. As we approached Dawson City we were informed that fog was preventing our landing. The plan was to circle for about a half hour for the fog to lift and then land. A half hour turned into over two hours at which point we ran out of gas and had to land in a small town East of Dawson called Mayo. The plane landed and we waited for the local runway keeper to arrive with the key for the fuel tank and the plane fueled up. It was a nice place to stop and really warm and sunny. We boarded the plan again after about 45 minutes and off we we back to Dawson along with our other stopover before Inuvik. Our scheduled 1pm landing turned into 5:30 pm. Along the way they had some snacks for us which was really nice however no food. Really they have no way to know the fog will happen and Air North actually gives you food, so they were great. Unfortunately we hadn’t eaten since about 6am and my body doesn’t react too well to no food. By the time we arrived in Inuvik my headache was getting pretty bad. The restaurant at the airport was closed.
We walked about 10 minutes to the cargo area for Air North and again were greeted by a helpful man who gave us our four boxes. They were in such great shape! Thanks so much to Air North to taking care of all of our worldly possessions. We met a local named Mike at the cargo shop and he offered to drive us into town because at this point (after 6pm) we were not going anywhere but to food and some rest. Mike drove us into town and showed where all the services were and took us somewhere to buy gas for our stove. Then he dropped us off at the campsite.
We met a cyclist named Jeremy who had just arrived after riding up from where we are headed. He left Ushuia 21 months ago. So good to meet someone who has just finished what we are about to do. Benjamin is headed for Alaska from here.
We quickly started some dinner 12 hours after our last meal and ate and set up camp, started unpacking bags and organizing and assembling bikes. Normally I’d be totally pumped up to do this but with my headache it was so hard. Andrew focused on the bikes and I focused on setting up somewhere to lay down. My headache was working up to be a migraine. I helped Andrew when I could and when he needed it. When he was putting together his front rack it was really hard. We had hoped that the bike shop hadn’t taken apart the front racks as they are hard to assemble but didn’t give them that instruction. In trying to put together his rack, there was one bolt that was really hard. We tried a couple of times and I wasn’t strong enough to move the rack. We asked Benjamin for some help and he was stronger than I was but still it wasn’t quite far enough. Andrew tried to muscle the bolt in and I could see him doing it and asked him to stop. I reiterated that I didn’t think it was a good idea and asked him to stop. He insisted and kept turning and I told him he was going to strip it; and snap!
Holy shit I can’t believe this is happening. The front rack just broke. We are already delayed because of the plane and now who knows how long this will take to fix. We can’t ride with it broken. I’m upset but my headache is too much and so I lay down. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.
Andrew writes: The land of the midnight sun. Little after midnight. Just finished setting up camp and building bikes. Might as well be 12 noon. Will try to sleep. Long day.
Today’s Photographs
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