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  • Day 307

    Dempster Hwy-NWT-Arctic Ocean

    July 17, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    After spending some great hiking days in Tombstone we drove further north on the Dempster Hwy passing by stunning scenary (even more beautiful with the light during the golden hour which was around 9 to 10pm). We reached the Arctic Circle, crossed the border to the Northwest Territory and arrived in Inuvik. Until november last year it would have been the final destination of our trip. But we were lucky that they just had opened a new "highway" up to Tuktoyaktuk at the Arctic Ocean by this time which was our goal to reach.
    At the border to Northwest Territory we had to do a quick tire change (within 25min) to catch the last river ferry at 11:45pm. And an oil change in Inuvik had to be done as well.
    The second day of driving from Tombstone we arrived in Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean around 7pm. We talked to some locals who were celebrating a grandfathers birthday and were really excited to meet more travellers. After the dinner we had a mission to accomplish. So we set our tents as windproof as we could, got our sleeping stuff ready for a really windy and cold night and put our swim suits on. It was time for a short swim in the Arctic Ocean! 🤪 I can tell you ot was fucking freezing cold, especially with the strong wind. And the night was one of the coldest so far... But definitely worth the adventure! 😁
    The first day on the way back we weren't that lucky with the weather and we had to stop cause of a road closure due to a landslide further south. They couldn't tell us when the road will be open again but luckily we were good to go the next morning. It was impressive to see the remains of it and some parts of the road got washed out quite a bit so the road got even bumpier.
    All in all to drive the Dempster Hwy was a great experience and totally worth it!😊
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