I have been asked by some members of the Vanagon@lenti list to post a trip report on the trip my wife and I took to the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada in 1989. The vehicle was not a VW, but after returning home from this trip 3 days, we ordered a 1990 Syncro Westfalia which took 9 months to arrive. Although our Jeep performed extremely well, the fact of dragging a trailer around was the icing on the cake, besides I have wanted a Westfalia since I was a young boy.
I grew up in the "Peace River District" of British Columbia, namely a little place called Hudson's Hope. There is a large hydro-electric dam there in which my father engineered the steam heating system for the powerhouse, among other things. The dam itself, is 1.25 miles long, and over 700 feet high (if memory serves me right). It's worth a visit. Anyway, I have been to most parts of that quadrant of the province, and wanted to share this with my wife. Colleen, had spent 2 years in the Northwest Territories before we were married, based out of Yellowknife. She made it to many remote parts of the NWT, including Baffin Island. Our fascination of the north is what prompted us to do this trip. I hope that others can benefit from our experiences.
We had a 1986 Jeep Cherokee equipped with a 2.1 litre intercooled, turbocharged diesel engine, 5 speed transmission, Command-Trac four wheel drive, heavy duty gas Monroe shocks, and Bridgestone Desert Dueller LT 6 ply tires. We pulled a 13' fiberglass holiday trailer which weighed approximately 1500 lbs, and carried 2 full-size spare tires for the truck, and trailer, along with 3 cans of Puncture Seal, engine oil, oil filters, air filters, fuel filters, spare headlights/bulbs, and 2 - 5 gallon jerry cans. A friend of ours made up a rock screen which attached to the "bush bar" on the front of the Jeep, which did an admirable job of "eating rocks". The Jeep had 4 fairly heavy duty mudflaps on it already, but this proved to be inadequate at the rear as stones were hitting the trailer and bouncing back onto the Jeep's tailgate. We had a set of truck flaps installed under the rear bumper of the Jeep in Whitehorse, YT, which cut down the rock spray to almost nil. We were gone for 30 days, and covered 10,450 km, of which, over *8,000 km* were on various types of dirt/gravel/shale roads. The year we left we had very hot weather which was breaking numerous temperature records... highs of 35-37 celcius were common, and we even had snow on the way to Inuvik! Our trip was from June 24 to July 24, 1989.
Our route was as follows;
| From: | To: | Via: |
|---|---|---|
| Langley, BC | Cache Creek, BC | Hwy 1 (Trans-Canada Hwy) |
| Cache Creek | Prince George, BC | Hwy 97 (John Hart Hwy) |
| Prince George | Kitwanga, BC | Hwy 16 (Yellowhead Hwy) |
| Kitwanga | Watson Lake, YT | Hwy 37 (Stewart-Cassiar Hwy) |
| Watson Lake | Carmacks, YT | Hwy 4 (Campbell Hwy) |
| Carmacks | Dawson City, YT | Hwy 2 (Klondike Hwy) |
| Dawson City | Inuvik, NWT | Hwy 5/8(Dempster Hwy) |
| Inuvik | Dawson City, YT | Hwy 8/5(Dempster Hwy) |
| Dawson City | Tetlin Jct, Ak | Hwy 9/5(Top World/Taylor Hwy) |
| Tetlin Jct | Beaver Creek, YT | Hwy 2 (Alaska Hwy) |
| Beaver Creek | Whitehorse, YT | Hwy 1 (Alaska Hwy) |
| Whitehorse | Watson Lake, YT | Hwy 1 |
| Watson Lake | Contact Creek, BC | Hwy 1 |
| Contact Creek | Fort Nelson, BC | Hwy 97 (Alaska Hwy) |
| Fort Nelson | Fort Liard, NWT | Hwy 77 (Liard Hwy) |
| Fort Liard | Fort Simpson, NWT | Hwy 7 |
| Fort Simpson | Fort Providence, NWT | Hwy 1 (MacKenzie Hwy) |
| Fort Providence | Yellowknife, NWT | Hwy 3 (Mackenzie Hwy) |
| Yellowknife | Fort Providence, NWT | Hwy 3 |
| Fort Providence | Fort Simpson, NWT | Hwy 1 |
| Fort Simpson | Fort Liard, NWT | Hwy 7 (Liard Hwy) |
| Fort Liard | Fort Nelson, BC | Hwy 77 |
| Fort Nelson | Fort St. John, BC | Hwy 97 (Alaska Hwy) |
| Fort St. John | Hudson's Hope, BC | Hwy 29 |
| Hudson's Hope | Chetwynd, BC | Hwy 29 |
| Chetwynd | Prince George, BC | Hwy 97 (John Hart Hwy) |
| Prince George | Cache Creek, BC | Hwy 97 |
| Cache Creek | Langley, BC | Hwy 1 (Trans-Canada Hwy) |
Maps of British Columbia (112 kb JPG) and the Yukon Territory (63 kb JPG) are available.
Road conditions varied immensely on our trip, and in recent years some of the roads have been reconditioned/improved. I will try and give a breakdown of the road conditions / scenery / highlights / improvements by Hwy # so it will be easier to understand (I hope!).
This road is usually always in top shape. It is a major highway, most of it 2 lanes with several double passing lanes as required on hilly parts. From Vancouver to Hope it is a 4 lane freeway system which is usually trouble-free once past Abbotsford when the traffic thins out. Hwy 1 goes through the Fraser Canyon north of Hope, and this is a pretty, but very hot spot. Lytton, a small town near this area, is one of Canada's hot spots, as temperatures can go past 40c. There is a wonderful campground called, Skihist Provincial Park, just 5 minutes or so north of Lytton. No showers, but flush toilets. A stop at the famous Hells Gate, not too far north of Lytton, gives an excellent view of the canyon, and fish ladders.
This is a major road that serves the northern part of British Columbia. It is also well maintained, but is subject to pavement breakups due to frost heaves. It is also a 2 lane road, with applicable passing lanes on hills. Lots of truck traffic can be expected here, and usually big game can be spotted. You pass through a region known as the Cariboo-Chilcolton. This is a very pretty part of the province with rolling hills, lots of ranches, and farms. This area, near 100 Mile House, is a fabulous cross-country skiing area. The snow is very crisp, and dry, ideal for this activity. Prince George is the "hub" of the province. This would be the last major place to buy major parts, supplies, etc until Whitehorse... and Whitehorse doesn't have everything! Hold your nose when going through Prince George as there are 3 pulp mills in the area, and on a bad day you get to smell all of them. There are lots of lakes in this area, and the fishing is good (so are the bugs!). Nice provincial parks such as Ten Mile Lake Prov. Park (near Quesnel), Green Lake Prov. Park (near 70 Mile House), Lac La Hache Prov. Park are very nice. We've stayed in all the parks mentioned over the years. There are more of course.
Ok folks, this is where the fun began. In 1989 the blacktop ended at Meziadin Jct, and reappeared at Dease Lake. That was nearly 400 km of hell! I believe now that there is only about 120 km of dirt left (Tobin, is that right?). First of all, the scenery on this section is fantastic. I recommend going to Kitwancool, a few minutes north of Kitwanga. It's a little village that has some spectacular totem poles. I highly recommend staying at a little campground called Mighty Moe's. We stumbled across this place as it was getting late in the day, and we needed somewhere to camp. This place is really an experience... from the showers (pot-belly stove fired hot water), to the main log building. This place is quite rustic, but it has an aura all of it's own. There is an older gent/pioneer fellow that is worth seeing, hearing, and checking out. Lots of old artifacts, etc. A real education. It backs onto one of the most beautiful lakes (Cotton Lake). This place is 32 km south of Cassiar. I will make sure to include some photos of this place on my WWW page when I get them scanned in. There isn't much in the way of services along this road, so make sure you keep a full tank of fuel. There are many beautiful lakes on this road.
Now, The Road. The dirt section of this road was something else. First off, a product called calcium chloride is used for dust control on a lot of the roads up north. When the roads are wet, they turn to grease...BIG TIME! This formula also STICKS to your vehicle, and has a tendancy to close in your wheel wells. Most towns have power washers available, some campgrounds even have them... USE THEM!! We came down one section of road, and there were 5 graders staggered in front of us, coming at us! They were blending in this chemical with water. The road was at least 6" of black soup, and we had to climb over the windrows for each grader (with a trailer!!), and go up a steep hill.. yeah right. Had to use the 4X4 there I'll tell you. We did this section of road in 2 days, and it was comfortable. When the roads are dry, they are very hard. There isn't much in the way "fines" in the gravel, and the big stones come through the surface as polished marbles producing a very hard ride. TAKE A SHEET OF PLASTIC AND DUCT TAPE WITH YOU. It is common to lose side windows on these roads from opposing traffic. We never lost any glass, but did get some stone chips along the side, and we did meet people that had lost all the glass in their trailers. This goes for the dirt roads in the Yukon as well.
Watson Lake is a good place to restock on grub. It's a small service centre, so there is a big reliance on Whitehorse for major stuff.
Before I forget, It is law that all motor vehicles in the Yukon must have their headlights on while being driven. With the amount of dust, it's no wonder this is so.
A very pretty trip. The rivers and streams are clear, and Frances Lake is gorgeous. Some narrow parts of the road, but generally not that smooth. Generally, a lot of these roads you aren't doing more than 60 km/h, and in many cases 50 km/h. Getting ice is a big problem... we couldn't get any on this section of road at all... all sold out! Very limited services available. Ross River, and Faro are nothing more than little villages at best. Filling stations have their own hours... BEWARE! When the owners go home for dinner... they're CLOSED! Faro is a mining town (gold), and we didn't go into it. A close friend of ours worked there one summer... pretty buggy. Carmacks is a good place to load up on groceries if you have to. Not much there though.
This road was about 50% dirt when we travelled it. The paved parts were quite rough. Lots of frost heaves in which the road surface was removed and filled in with loose gravel. These were very rough. Just as you can get some speed up to 80 km/h, you have to nail the brakes or risk smashing your wheels into some major craters. The road surface isn't blacktop.. it's what's known as "sealcoat" It is 3/4 minus crushed gravel rolled over hot tar. It is used a lot in BC as well. It provides excellent traction, but is harder on tires, and noisy. A very scenic part of the trip. I remember some lucious valleys, and wide rivers.
Dawson City is a great town. Expensive, but a good atmosphere. The Land of the Midnight Sun is something else. It is common to be outside yacking and then looking at your watch to find out it's 1 am!!! You must rely on your watch to tell your body it's time to go to bed.. it really never gets dark north of 60, and it took us nearly a week to get used to it. We stayed at the campground in town called Gold Rush Campground RV Park. It's a parking lot, but has showers, and is walking distance all over town. It's wise to reserve here... lots of caravans, etc!! Some places of interest; Gaslight Follies, Diamond Tooth Gerties (Can-Can dancers), Jack London Cabin. Stock up with grub here before heading up on the Dempster!! A drive to the Midnight Dome is worth it.. a big knoll in which you can see 360 degrees over some spectacular sights. We really enjoyed the old buildings, and the people.
This is why you drove this far. Trust me. The Dempster Highway is a feat in itself. It is almost entirely shale. There is no rock here, it was all brought in by barge, and shale was it! Do yourselves a big favour, and let some air out of those tires. I dropped mine by 8 lbs. This is to eliminate the "pin and the balloon" effect. There are many people who blow tires on this road, and you're not going to get tires for a VW van in Inuvik if you can't get one for a Dodge!!...(true story). Many people blow tires on this road... there was a guy pulling a tandem axle trailer with a pickup and blew out 6 tires on this road. Keep your speed low... around 60 km/h or so, and enjoy the tundra. There aren't too many places to stop here, and the environment is quite fragile. Saw some moose, and horses here. It's pretty much a 2 day trip to Inuvik... around 750 km one way. We stayed at Eagle Plains which is about half way. There is a little service facility here with a small service garage, filling station, hotel, and campground. Actually, the campground is at the end of the lot with a great view. There are plug-ins here. Also, I should mention, that the campground is just a parking lot. You have access to coin operated showers.. where I had the coldest shower in my life... the water wouldn't warm up for the whole time :( . It snowed overnight a bit, and this was in July. I had 20W-50 oil in the Jeep, and I had a hard time to get it to idle for the first few minutes. The drive on the Dempster is long. It meanders along following the highest points of the terrain. You see a cloud of dust coming at you from a car approaching, and meet up with it 10 or so minutes later... it's really deceiving. At the Arctic Circle there is a pull out with a nice monument. We were there all alone, in the sun. What an awesome feeling it was. There is nothing around you, just tundra, and the most fragile looking flowers that are so small they hug the earth for warmth. Just before you cross into the NWT, you go through the Continental Divide. This is the breaking point for water flowing north to the Beaufort Sea, and west to the Pacific. A nice pull out there as well with a monument. The annual rainfall in this area is about 25 mm. I think we got it in Inuvik the day we arrived! We checked in at the only campground in the town... not a bad place actually. It's in the centre of town, so you can walk quite easily to all important points. We took a tour of the town, which was worth it, IMHO. There is a fantastic church there in the shape of an igloo. We also took a plane charter to Tuktoyuktuk by Antler Tours. It cost us $99 each back then. Highly recommended. On the way into Tuk, you fly over "pingos", which is heaved ground with water underneath. Some of these pingos are like small mountains. It is the only place in the world they occur. The natives in Tuk are great, as in Inuvik. Some great opportunities to buy some native art (carvings, felts, etc all hand made) at some very reasonable prices.
It was on the Dempster Highway that we nearly lost the class III hitch on the Jeep. We stopped in a pull out near the junction of Hwy 5 & 2 near Flat Creek, and noticed some creaking noises coming from the rear. Everything looked OK, so I suspected some dirt in the leaf springs on the Jeep. When we hit the hard surface on Hwy 2 going into Dawson City, I heard the safety chains from the trailer dragging. Hmmm, maybe it's that worn link... oh well, I'll check it at the campground. Once at the campground, Colleen went to get us registered, and I walked around the back of the Jeep, and my eyes nearly fell out. The hitch had been ripped right out of the frame of the truck!! The leading 4 bolts of the hitch were completely out with the metal from the frame still attached, and the last 2 bolts were were nearly out! That creaking I was hearing was the frame fatiguing!! Well, I gently parked the truck and trailer, and started phoning around town. The next day I took the truck to a garage and the guy wanted to butcher the truck... no way, so I pulled out of there and drove across the street to a Caterpillar dealer. They agreed to have a look at it for me. To make a long story short, they took the back bumper off, and inserted very thick angle iron into the frame as far as they could, and predrilled the holes for the hitch. This enabled the hitch to spread its weight over a greater area. They did an excellent job for me... cost $309 for repair... CASH. BTW, Easy Lift reimbursed me the full amount of the repair in US funds (heh heh) when I came down.
The road between Dawson City, YT, and Tetlin Jct, AK, is approximately 370 km long. It took us nearly 10 hours to travel this road. It was very narrow, and rough. At times two vehicles passing each other was very difficult. They were also in the process of upgrading sections of the road at that time, so maybe it isn't so bad today. The road was so rough, it shook the fresh air fan electrical connector loose in the Jeep, but the hitch stayed on!! We drove right from Dawson City to Tetlin Jct, and on to Beaver Creek, YT in one day. The municipal campground there was excellent. We didn't really see anything really spectacular on that leg of the trip, especially with all the construction, etc. The first part from Dawson City to the Alaskan border was quite nice.
The road here is generally OK, but watch out for those broken frost heaves!! At Burwash Landing, I recommend taking a plane charter over Kluane National Park. We never did this, and regret it (we found out about this AFTER we passed it). I've seen pictures of this, and it is awesome. The St. Elias Range is the highest in North America.. over 20,000 ft, and from the air you can see the many glaciers. Worth the effort. Kluane itself, is beautiful. Big game around here, and grizzly country... beware.
Whitehorse is a fairly modern town... you'd never really know you were north of 60 here. There are over 20,000 people here. We stayed at a campground in town (forget the name, sorry), but the town is too big to walk through. We caught the Frantic Follies show there (another Can-Can deal), and the Canadian Parks Service have the SS Klondike paddle wheeler open to the public here as well. Lots of people with trailers get their bumpers, and axles straightened out in this town.. it's amazing. Oh yes, Whitehorse is also the capital of Yukon Territory.
Same road conditions as Beaver Creek to Whitehorse. Marsh Lake (just east of Whitehorse) is beautiful, and the Swan Lake area is really pretty. We never got a chance to take some side trips while we were in Whitehorse. Some recommended trips would be Haines Jct, YT to Haines, AK via Hwy 3 & 7; and Whitehorse to Skagway, AK via Hwy 2.
Again, same road conditions from Whitehorse to Watson lake, but not so many (or severe) frost heaves. Beautiful views of the Liard River, and Muncho Lake. Muncho Lake Prov. Park is a must. This is one of the most beautiful areas. The lake is just beautiful. There is camping here, and although we never camped here, we wish that we did. We just didn't want to leave it.
Fort Nelson is a fairly large service centre. Depending on the route you are taking, it's best to stock up here. We stayed at a campground on the west side of town (sorry, don't have the name). We got attacked at night by "no-see-ums" big time. It was around 3 am, and I went nuts. They had helped themselves to both my legs while in the sleeping bag, and I was just a mess. We ended up getting up, and doing our laundry at 3:30 am, and pulled out of the campground around 5 am! We drove for about 1.5 hours on Hwy 77, and pulled over at a pull out for sleep. Whew!
I realize the Vanagon@lenti group isn't going to Yellowknife, but I thought I would include this as this was part of my trip, and for completeness.
The gravel road here was like smooth blacktop. We were doing 90 km/h here most of the way. Not much in the way of services here, so make sure you carry plenty of what you need.
We stopped at the Blackstone Territorial Park. This is a beautiful campground. We stayed here on our way back down. The interpretive centre is worth the visit. This is where we found out that the filling station at the junction of Hwy 7 & 1 was permanently closed. Oh Oh. We would need fuel to carry on to Fort Providence (the next filling station). So, we HAD to go into Fort Simpson, a 20 minute excursion over a ferry. We got to the ONLY filling station in town 5 minutes before they closed. There was a $20 call out fee for the owner to open up the station after hours. That was close. So, back over that stupid ferry (more on those later), back to our original starting point before continuing on.. we lost over 1.25 hours just for fuel.
Good gravel road here. Again, speeds up to 90 km/h except for a 20 km section of big, bad sinkholes (not potholes). For these, the trucks had worn through the road base, and the road was actually sinking into the soft muskeg. We literally had to weave in and out of these huge holes. Talk about getting a workout.. luckily the Jeep had power steering! We stayed at the Whittaker Falls Territorial Park about half way to Fort Providence. Another great park. There is a riverbed that is all smooth rock. Looks really neat. People were even swimming in it! The bug of choice here was horseflies. They were huge, and vicious. We were told never to kill bees/wasps/hornets. These guys eat the horseflies. We had a chance to witness this from the inside of our trailer, under one of the louvered windows. Quite a battle, and very interesting to watch. The horsefly lost. Also, those horseflies were turbocharged!! They could keep up to the Jeep doing over 40 km/h... amazing. When we'd stop, they would attack the hood, and fenders of the Jeep. The heat from the truck just drove them wild. You could see all these tracks across the hood in the dust from them hitting the fenders and glancing off the hood.
Road conditions are the same as Hwy 7/1. Stopped for fuel at Fort Providence, and carried on to Yellowknife. Not a lot to see here. It's actually quite boring from Fort Simpson. The scenery changes about 30 km west of Edzo, and it quite pretty all the way into Yellowknife from there. You start to see part of Great Slave Lake at around Rae, and it's like a sea... it's so large.
Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories, and is a major service centre for the Canadian Arctic. We stayed with some friends there, but there are a couple campgrounds around. Yellowknife's streets are paved. We went out on Great Slave Lake with our friend's power boat, and didn't get out of the bay all afternoon. This is one BIG lake, folks. In winter, it is used as an ice bridge from Yellowknife to Hay River, NWT.
On the way back down to Fort Nelson, we saw a lone bison on the side of the road. The road goes along the MacKenzie Bison Sanctuary, and we were lucky enough to see one of these fellows. These guys are huge. We saw him in the distance, and didn't know what it was at first, then we got closer, and it was ... like... OH WOW!... don't get him ticked off or we'll have no truck left! I managed to take pictures of him with the window rolled down, and Colleen steering from the passenger side as we were slowly going by. They actually turned out, OK.
We were determined to drive from Fort Providence to Fort Nelson, BC without going into Fort Simpson again for fuel. The truck carried 76 litres, and 44 litres in jerry cans got us through with plenty of reserve. The first time in my life I have had to use a jerry can.
Nice to be back on dustfree blacktop once again! This is a nice road. Not too much in the way of scenery, but a pleasant drive. The roads are good, except for the occassional frost heave. Fort St. John is a major service centre as well. Lots of oil in this part of the province, as well as wheat farming.
This is a very pretty road. It follows what's left of the Peace River all the way to Hudson's Hope. I say "what's left" because there are currently 2 dams on the Peace, and a third will be built on the Peace near Fort St. John. Lots of pretty views along this highway, and it leads to my "home town". I lived there from 1965 to 1972, and I have lots of very fond memories from there.
The W A C Bennett Dam is open for viewing, and is worth to see. It is quite a project (as far as dams go). The dam is only 20 minutes from Hudson's Hope on paved road. There is a Rotary campground on the west side of town that is *free* (or was when we were there in 1989). Going west on Hwy 29 there is the Peace Canyon Dam. This is about 13 km west of Hudson's Hope. This is a concrete dam that is relatively small compared to the huge W A C Bennett dam which is an earth filled dam.
This section of the Hart Highway is nice. Highlights are the Pine Pass area. Worth stopping at the lookout, and the McLoed Lake area is worth a stop as well. This road is well maintained with lots of truck traffic as it serves the entire Peace District.
You're on the way home on common ground.
Well, if you read this far, you'll obviously want to know how to prepare for, and what to expect on a trip to the Arctic. We researched this trip for 6 months. The guides from Tourism BC, Yukon, and NWT were absolutely fantastic. We also had the Milepost for this trip which provided many points of interest as well (worth obtaining IMHO). Between all of these guides, there is wealth of information to absorb. My recommendations are based on our experience. The roads were worse in 1989 than now, and maybe some of this is overkill. I have a tendancy to be on the cautious side, and we were by ourselves, so we tried to be as self-sufficient as possible.
We went on 4 ferries on this trip. Two on the Dempster, going to Fort Simpson, NWT and the last one at Fort Providence, NWT. The ferries are pretty basic flat-deck units with draw bridges at both ends. The ferries beach themselves, and lower their bridges. There are often 1 to 1.5 feet of air space between the ferry deck and the ground, and it's up to you to get on and off. There are ramps on the ferries that the attendants are supposed to use, but they will only do so if you insist. A VW van shouldn't have any problem with clearance... just watch that front overhang! With the Jeep, the trailer hitch got driven into the ground a few times as the front end went up on the deck. At Fort Simpson, I had to *really* insist they use the ramps. It made a world of difference.
I hope this helps everyone who is considering this wonderful trip. Please feel free to contact me at hyates@bcit.bc.ca if further information is required. I will be putting some pictures from this trip on my home page soon, so please feel free to check it out at: http://dssweb.bcit.bc.ca/hyates/.
Harry Yates
