Dempster Highway - Part 1

We left the campground around 7:40 – I think we were the first ones out on the road. The road started of pretty good … a few pot holes and rough patches, but most of it was smooth. It rained the night before so the road was damp, but not muddy or dusty! We also figured out a good way for the third person to be able to have a good view out the windows and be able to hear and be part of the conversation in the front – we took the cushions off the table benches and stacked them up on the floor so the third person was sitting between and just behind the driver and front passenger! Probably totally illegal since there was no seatbelt, but there aren’t any police up here checking for that type of thing.

We had a few pictures stops – the views of the Tombstone Mountains were awesome and we all can’t wait to go hiking in there! Coffee was along the side of the road just past Engineer Creek Campground. As we travelled north, the road got rougher and rougher. The views were amazing, but the camera just couldn’t do them justice. We also began to recognize some of the vehicles going in the same direction as us – we would pass them as they were stopped and later, they would race past us on the road. We had lunch in a gravel pull out along a river and just after we parked, a moose walked out into the river … not to eat or drink, just to stand there. Our original plan was to camp at Eagle Plains, but we were there early and the campground is more like a parking lot, so we filled up on gas ($150 worth at $1.69/litre), took a quick look to make sure all the tires were still fully inflated (no flats or leaks so far!), and off we headed.

We crossed the Arctic Circle, took the required pictures at the sign that is actually to the north of the circle according to dad’s GPS, and arrived at Rock River Campground with plenty of time for supper and a walk around. The campground backed onto the river and was mostly empty, but the pit toilets weren’t the cleanest so it was nice to have our own facilities!

As we sat in the campground, we also looked for where the screws that we found on the floor had come from (Dad eventually found out that they were from one of the benches and put them back in), and realized that our microwave had shaken its screws loose.

After playing a game of Bohnanza, we were in bed by 10:30 - the sky was still light.