Date: December 1, 2005 - Kilometers Traveled: 510 Weather: -36 and Cloudy

Yes, dear reader, you read right! We actually drove 510 kilometers today. We woke up late this morning – about 9:00AM (it’s hard to get up early when it’s so dark!), and to our surprise, the ice road was open. All parts of the Dempster were open! That includes all parts of the Yukon and Northwest Territories Dempster!

We were caught unprepared and we scrambled to get our things together and got on the road. We did take the time to stop at a food store and buy some vegetables and fruit to try to offset the super high costs in Inuvik.

We finally got on the road at about 11AM. We drove the 500 Kilometers towards Dawson with the intent of staying there for the night. But Dawson is 40 Kilometers west of the highway and, if possible we wanted to avoid driving 40 Kilometers in the wrong direction and back again in the morning. The question was “Is someone smart enough to have built a motel at the intersections of the Alaska and Dempster highways”? Well the answer was – yes! More on “The Lodge” later.

I guess great minds think alike, because as we were driving I got to thinking that the snow and frost-covered terrain looked just like a globe – you know, the kind that has a winter scene in it, and you shake it to make it sparkle and snow. The scene looked so crisp and serene that we decided to stop for a minute and get out of the jeep to breathe it in.

The trees glistened winter white, and the snow sparkled with blues and silvers that you’ve never seen anywhere else. The whole scene had a crisp and clean feel about it. The air smelled incredibly fresh, and inhaling it was like taking a long deep draught of fresh cold water on a hot, dry, dusty summer’s day. With each breath exhaled a plume of steam exploded out of our mouths and noses, and hung in the air, suspended and silent.

Well, the thought of the globe had just run through my head when Lorie piped up (she had been silent for some time) and exclaimed that “this globe needed to be shook so that it would snow in this winter scene.” I knew exactly what she had meant and we had a good laugh about it.

Back to The Lodge now. The Lodge wasn’t fancy, but it did us. The food was good – and there was lots of it, and there was a nice bar there with a big screen TV. We had taken one of few rooms that night.

The staff were friendly too. We had a few drinks and they invited me to watch a movie with them on the big screen TV. We did that and then we had a chat. Turns out the cook had lived in Inuvik for nine years. I spent a few hours questioning him on life in Inuvik, and then found my way to the sack and tried to get some sleep.

And yes, you read that header right – it was 36 degrees below zero. That’s the coldest I have ever experienced. Let me try to describe what that feels like for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing it.

Breathing is slightly painful. First, if you breathe through your nose it pretty much freezes shut. When the air finally gets to your lungs, it burns a little at first. Then it makes you cough a little, like you have inhaled smoke at a camp fire. After a while your lungs gets used to the cold air. Within a minute or so, your face, and any exposed skin starts to feel the tendrils of the cold burn their way to your bones, igniting the nerves on the way. After about three minutes, the skin is numb so the pain is mostly gone…at least until you start to warm up again. More on the cold in the days to come.

Tomorrow it’s the Dempster – the crown jewel of this journey. We can’t wait!

Cheers!