Having rested up, we now started upon the return journey. We’re properly heading south today, retracing our steps on the Dempster Highway.

The paved roads of Inuvik quickly gave way to the gravel roads of the Dempster, and instantly we were set upon by the clouds of dust. There has been no rain for a few days, so the dust was pretty intense on the drive.

The first couple of hours of the drive are incredibly boring, and we were expecting it, knowing what it was like as we arrived in Inuvik. The first big milestone is hitting the ferry at the MacKenzie river, at Tsiigehtchic. At this point the drive becomes more interesting.

The first ferry is followed quickly by Fort McPherson where we stopped for gas, and to answer all the typical questions about our vehicles and trips to the locals and the other patrons coming through the gas station. We had a new one this time though: one guy wanted us to let him sit behind the wheel so his buddy could take a photo of him. We politely declined.

A tip for anyone planning to drive the Dempster Highway: plan to flll-up at Fort McPherson, because the gas prices are almost always MUCH cheaper than Eagle Plains. Also consider staying at the hotel in Fort McPherson, just because Eagle Plains is pretty run down. Consider doing the stretch from Dawson City to Fort McPherson and mostly by-pass Eagle Plains, but maybe stop for a pee-break!

The ferry crew were again very interested in the Mokes and had lots of questions for us as we drove on. They were also very accommodating as they let us sneak by the slower traffic, including a Quebec-plated Sienna van that was driving slower than us.

The dust-struggle is real! We passed this Quebec-plated van a few times since heading out from Inuvik, but they kept catching up as we frequently stopped for photos and pee breaks, which promptly started to cover us in a layer of dust, as we caught up to them again. At some point Jeff identified them as our nemesis today.

The Dempster Highway is considerably better maintained on the North West Territories side than the Yukon side. This was commented on by many locals. The NWT side is wider, more recently maintained, and better maintained. The Yukon side also is notorious for the shale rock used to create the road bed from the rocky landscape north of Eagle Plains, all the way up to the NWT territory border. This is where our flat tire happened on the way up. Fortunately, we passed through this area without receiving another flat!

That said, our nemesis, the Quebec Sienna van didn’t fare so well here. We caught up to them again about an hour north of Eagle Plains, shortly after the shale ended. They were pulled over at the side of the road, attempting to jack their van up to change a flat.

We pulled over to check in with them, and could clearly see they were going to struggle with the tire change. Their wheel nuts were badly corroded, due to the wheel nuts plating being badly corroded. The included tire-iron with the van wasn’t fitting on the wheel nut properly to turn it.

We helped them by breaking out our own tools and know-how and got the wheel changed and torqued down. We then let them drive on ahead of us so we could keep an eye on them down the road to Eagle Plains. We met up with them again at Eagle Plains an hour or so later, only after suffering through that notoriously bumpy section of Dempster that leads into and out of Eagle Plains.

Overall this was a pretty good driving day, the weather was certainly nice. It was a good moderate temperature which meant we could keep the sides up to keep the dust out, but also roll them down a bit when the dust was low, and still be comfortable. We also had a good chuckle that we ended up having to come to the rescue of our ‘nemesis’! We had dinner at the Eagle Plains restaurant again. Same ol’ stuff as last time. Nothing changed in the last 5 days!

The Mokes are running well. In retrospect all our challenges were pretty minor compared to the scenarios we had been playing out in our minds. So we consider ourselves pretty well prepared and blessed on this trip.

We’re taking another rest/maintenance day in Dawson City tomorrow. The Mokes are running well, but they are dirty and a couple of running lights need to be replaced. We expect maintenance to be quick, so we should have plenty of time to do more sight seeing in this historic town.

Starting Location & Time	Inuvik, North West Territories – 10:06 pm
Ending Location & Time	Eagle Plains, Yukon Territory – 4:42 pm
Total Kilometers	365 km
Total Time	6h 36m