I think that vast is the best word to capture the feel of this land. The sky, the tundra, the lakes, the ocean, the boreal forest…they go on as far as you can see, often with little or no sign of human impact. It is a formidable place and the people here are tough. I can’t even imagine what it is like when white with snow, the temperatures plummet, and the sun never rises for weeks.

A couple of days after our arrival, our friend and riding companion from prior adventure, Debbie from the UK, decided to do a pre-ride on the “highway” to Tuktoyaktuk. We hired a driver, Mohammed, who lives in Inuvik, to drive us half way to Tuk so that we could get a taste of the road conditions in case we couldn’t complete the first days ride (95 miles on gravel from Tuk back to Inuvik).

Wow, it was quite a ride. Endless tundra and skies. Tough road (little did we know that this was the “good section”) but quite beautiful. After our return, we began to meet our fellow riders and crew. There are nearly 40 people including staff on this section from many countries including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Namibia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, and Brazil all with the goal of crossing this amazing land on two wheels. We first traveled up to Tuktoyaktuk, a village on the Arctic ocean where the ride was to begin. We camped on a point overlooking the Arctic Ocean. The local take out place, Grandma’s kitchen, offers Beluga bites and Muskox burgers on the menu. We could also see pingos, isolated hills in the permafrost that are made from collections of underground ice that push the land up like cold volcanoes. It was sobering to learn about the impact of climate change here. The permafrost is melting and the ice shelf that used to be visible from Tuktoyaktuk at this time of year is now about 50 miles away

On July 4th we started off on our southward journey.The road was rougher han we had imagined: deep gravel, mud, big winds. At one point slogging up a steep grade against a surge headwind up a steep grade I was definitely questioning our sanity. 95 miles the first day took us 10 1/2 hours in the saddle ( ouch!). We made it albeit as the last of the riders who road the whole way that day!! Yahoo! Back in Inuvik for the night, tomorrow we continue south after some much needed rest with an eye mask since it is as bright as midday at 11pm when we finally closed our eyes.

Day 2 we headed on down the Dempster Highway. Onward