The author rode both back to back, and did a good compare / contrast of the Dalton Haul Road to Deadhorse, and the Dempster to Tuktoyaktuk.


https://www.advpulse.com/adv-news/to...way-which-one/

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Thanks for sharing - good memories of the Dempster, and good information for the Dalton (perhaps in 2024 - this year will be the other end of Canada).

"Inuvik... has a problem… one that unfortunately plagues many remote communities in this part of the world. After one night in Inuvik, I was anxious to move on…"

I wonder what he is referring to?

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

So did (do) I. Presumably something about alcohol or other substance abuse, but perhaps not.

When I used to spend a lot of time in the NWT alcohol misuse was a problem for a small proportion of the community. It tended to be viewed as worse than it is because people notice a drunk in the street but don't notice those who are sober; all the same it was a real concern. In some communities if individuals become a problem owing to alcohol/drug misuse they may be expelled from the community and end up in towns like Inuvik and Yellowknife, where they are visible to visitors from outside the NWT.

When we were last there we saw evidence of the continuing problem in Yellowknife, but none in Inuvik, or indeed anywhere else in the NWT.

There have been a number of programmes aimed at helping people over the last decade and there's been some improvement, however the NWT continues to have a problem significantly worse than the rest of Canada.

Here's a report on what has been going on and what gaps remain to improve.

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/E...5_e_44082.html

My very personal and subjective meaning is that the Dempster was more adventourous and also more interesting than the Dalton.

The Dalton - after you leave Fairbanks you travel through a couple of hundred kms with a very few houses/settlements and then you cross the Yukon river. On the other side of the river there is a gas station and a service area. After that there isnt anything until you reach Coldfoot and Wiseman nearby. And those are places there hardly live people during winter. Then there is the road north to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. Most of the whole road is really broken up asphalt - and thus almost dangerous to ride on. In Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse nobody lives, people there are only there to work on the oil fields. Thus no locals, no much local culture. Met some really interesting and cool guys in Wiseman though….

The Dempster - after the junction south of Dawson City you travel a couple of hours north and there is a visitor center for the National parks in the area. Then there are a couple of campsites each 200 kms or so. Then halfway to Inuvik there is the Eagle Plain service area, gas station, hotel and camp ground. After that there is a few hours to an actual settlement named Fort Mcpherson, a couple of more hours north another settlement/village of Tsiigethchic. A couple of ferry rides to cross huge rivers (free) and then into Inuvik. And another 140-150 kms to Tuktoyaktuk. The whole road is a dirtroad that is maintained and graded. Ferries are free. And several local settlements along the road where you can meet locals. When I was in Tuktoyaktuk locals struck a conversation with me and where so surprised to see an european guy on a european plated motorbike that actually took photos of me and the bike. In Prudhoe Bay nobody bothered look at me and my bike.

So for me the Dempster felt much more genuin and more of an adventure compared to the Dalton that is a very purposed built road.

But by all means - Im very happy I rode the whole length of both the Dalton and the Dempster and I encourage all other travellers to do the same when in the area. Both rides were amazing!

PS - I spent 2-3 days in the Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk area and didnt see any drug or drunkeness behaviour at all. It could well be such problems there still - but neither did I see anything nor did I hear about such things when I was there.

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Ha, in my simple minded way I didn't realise they were two different roads.

I have done both and IMO: apples or oranges?

Dempster has nice views (not that Dalton doesn't), but as far as road goes it's mostly wide, flowing and boring. Dalton is a roller-coaster with ups and downs and turns. As truckers say: "there's a turn at the bottom of every hill, and there's a hill at the end of every turn." If it were paved there would be no reason to take Dempster.

Beware that on many of those turns on Dalton (and many of them named with names like Oh Shit!) trucks have no margin of error so you have to pull over and let them through or they will run you over. To avoid traffic the best to go there on Friday and get back before Tuesday when trucks start coming in.