Summer 2018 RV Trip - Arctic Ocean or bust!

For your information this is an overview of the planned trip.

We have been planning this camping trip for several years now while waiting for the last segment of highway to be built between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. That last stretch of all weather highway (135km) opened last November. We can now drive all the way to the Arctic Ocean in Canada. Previously you could only drive to Inuvik and then take a flight into Tuk during the summer months. During the winter there was a ice road available but then we didn't really want to be there in the winter. We are going to take a month and hitch up the RV (caravan for you Scots/Brits) and make a run for the ocean!

The route:

The round trip will be about 4800 miles (7700km). Leaving Nanaimo in the south, we catch the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay ferry to the mainland where we will start off on the Sea-to-Sky Highway (BC 99) to Lillooet, then north to Prince George BC on Highway 97, turning west on the Yellowhead Highway (16) towards Prince Rupert. We turn off before Prince Rupert at Kitwanga Junction onto the Cassiar Highway (37). We follow the Cassiar all the way north to it's junction with the Alaska Highway (1) in the Yukon just west of Watson Lake. Heading west to Whitehorse, we will stop for supplies, then continuing on we will turnoff onto the Klondike Highway (2) heading north to Dawson City. At Dawson City we will check road conditions for the Dempster Highway at the Dawson City information office.

The Dempster Highway is one of those "must do" items for the more adventurous. It is basically 478 miles/770km of all-weather gravel (crushed rock) road between Dawson City and Inuvik with a halfway stop at Eagle Plains for fuel/repairs/motel/restaurant (and a small RV park). In between these points there are no services of any kind and no cell service. From Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk it is another 135km to reach the Arctic Ocean, on a gravel road of course. The Dempster is called an all-weather  highway, but the reality of it is that when its wet it is very muddy and slippery and when it is dry it is very dusty. The best driving conditions are for a few days after after it has rained and when it is still damp but not yet dry.

Leaving the Arctic Ocean, we will retrace our steps down to Whitehorse. From there we will drive east to Fort Nelson and then down to Hudson's Hope, BC to visit Barbara's cousin Bill. At this point we will be a 2-3 day's drive from Vancouver and the BC Ferry that will take us back to our Island home.