We continued our journey after we naturally awaken when we feel rested. I love that we were not on a time schedule per se. No alarms, no real agenda. A little further from our camp site, around mile post 433, is Sheep Creek, but not the best for a truck and trailer set up. After mile 444 is Rock River Campground, where number 11 is the best spot. We just drove through, to see what it was like. It was cold and windy, but it was the North West Territories after all. A few more kilometres and you get to better gravel. So far, we were doing great, no flat tires nor rock chips in our windshield. Truck and trailer are covered in a thick layer of mud and we match the road nicely 😉
The colours keep being amazing and vibrant and we have yet to see any wildlife of any size. A few birds along the way like ptarmingans. They are pretty cool too, as they are well-adapted to the cold environments and changes its plumage seasonally to camouflage with the surrounding landscape. Along mile post 65/66, we get 3 bars on our phones so we stop to get our phone fix in. lol. Sad but true!
85KM out to Fort McPherson, was the border between the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It was super cold and windy and time to swap our cowboy hats for toques! The sign didn’t have any surfaces left to stick a sticker so we left that one alone haha!
The muddy road continued and so did we. Scenery was flat in this area for a while. At this point, we were looking forward to washing the truck and trailer, and do some laundry in Inuvik. We approached a ferry crossing. With full Wi-Fi we caught up on our social media posts while waiting. Eleven km to Ft McPherson after the cable ferry. There was a campsite to the left just after the ferry, but we didn’t take that one. We continued to Ft McPherson and gas there was $2.16 and it was 16C at 11AM. The last ferry there is at 11:30PM. The road from the ferry to Ft. McPherson was really bumpy so we took it slow. We had to watch for the greasy shoulders. We were almost in Inuvik!
Fort McPherson is known for the tragic event known as “The Lost Patrol.” In 1910, a Royal Northwest Mounted Police patrol got lost during a journey from Fort McPherson to Dawson City, resulting in the deaths of all members from exposure and starvation. Fort McPherson is home to the Gwich’in Indigenous people, and it is rich in their culture and traditions. The Gwich’in have lived in the area for thousands of years, long before European contact. The hamlet was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1840 and named after a company officer. It quickly became a significant trading post, opened by explorer John Bell in 1849.
