Dempster Highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- I finally get to my destination and dip my toe in the Arctic ocean. The arctic tundra is a desolate place with its own kind of beauty. The roads were terrible for a motorcycle, but what a sense of accomplishment when we finally got there!
Thanks! Last summer, I drove my Outback to Tuktoyaktuk on the Dempster and Deadhorse on the Dalton (along with every bad road in western Canada and Alaska. Every time I thought I was a bit badass for doing this trip solo, I’d run into one of you guys on a motorcycle. Truly badass!
For far the best documentation about the Dempster Highway, thanks a lot for sharing with us.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, it's an incredible ride.
Great video. I met and married my wife in Inuvik where we continued to live for seven more years before moving south. Went to Tuk on the winter ice road several times, but they didn't build the road to Tuk until twenty years after we left the north.
That's awesome! Congratulations.
Congrats. I am planning this trip in 2023.
Excellent videos! But man, that dirty windscreen is blowing up my OCD alarm! AHAHAHA
Thanks for watching. Water is precious when there are few places to get it, so I didn't want to waste it on the windscreen. I look over it, not through it. It took 2 days to get the bike clean after, lol.
Great adventure and video, Tim! Thanks.
Awesome video!!! I did a solo trip up to Tuk this past June. Amazing place and a great adventure. Safe travels and adventures
No doubt gravel is such a challenge when soft and loose like that. I see you 10 km in "it's not that bad, they are exaggerating". Then 50 kms in: "OMG get me out of here!" lol but you got plenty of experience and glad to see you made it safely.
Very true. Then once you get there you realize, "I have to do it all over again on the way back." lol. It was worth it though.
Tim, what an excellent video series! Appreciate how you updated us viewers along the way with road conditions, weather, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed the "ride along". That grizzly seemed a bit annoyed as it was riding along the road next to you, thanks for filming that. I liked it where you said "I kind of want to see it, but then again maybe not". My viewpoint as well. Dangerous but a nice looking creature from afar of course. Also, road conditions from Inuvik to Tuk not so good. However; the first three parts of this great series the road conditions were great (except starting off with rain). Thanks again for a great view of your and Jason's journey. I subbed your channel and looking for more great adventures while my GS R1200 remains on the batter tender to at least April here in Maine!
Thanks Rick, I appreciate you watching and subscribing. It was an incredible trip, and I am very glad I was able to share it with others.
Was in Tuk - NO ROAD, fly-in or winter ice road or maybe you might pay someone and hire a boat. The road is only about 6 years old now. On top of the perma frost is eceptionally heavy fabric, ALL the matrials were hauled in from Inuvik, The road bed would be about 25 feet deep, all hauled in. The Dempster is shale, lower your tire pressure for a softer riade and slow down....there are NO bad roads taking the conditions of the land , water and ice. And when off shore drilling was done, all was hauled in the winter time, fuel, rigs, camp, everything. I loved to see all the home, of ground, like a mobile home and skirted, same thing. It was wonderful to see Tuk today from seven years ago.
Glad you enjoyed it, it is an incredible place!
Hi, all of the north is, spent 20 years Whitehorse, had the marina at Tagish, also has perma frost 18 feet down, and in the summer of 2018 I learned that Carcross desert goes all the way to Tagish, but is not seen because of the trees and ground vegetation, but hey it has berries and some great mushrooms. The bridge at Tagish pilings vary in depth from 70 feet to 200 feet, the bridge floats. And the fish are the best.@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures
Congratulations on your success! What a great trip!
Thank you, it was truly amazing.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for making these videos! I have truee enjoyed your journey from Dawson to Tuk. I will go back and watch the rest of the journey soon.
I plan on making the trip at the same time of year in 24.
Truly inspiring!
Dave "Tiger Coward "
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it. Good luck on your trip!
Just joined but great job and thank you for sharing with us! Hope to do the same someday. Good job.
Nice,
fantastic scenery watched 1,2&3. Been contemplating this for a while, just got myself a used GS making plans.
Booked the Eagle plains hotel for the 21st June and Inuvik inn 22nd June.
Rough plan Eagle Plains ride up to the Arctic Circle to miss the sunset, then back to Eagle Plains. For the rest of until check out. Then head up maybe or maybe not to Tuk depends on my confidence.
This was the last bit of my research, it didn’t look quite as scary as I’ve heard. Except maybe the last bit.
Eagle plains to Tuk and back to Inuvik is a very long day. It's basically what we did, but we camped just before Eagle Plains. We started early in the morning and rolled into the campsite at 11:30.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures Well I made it to Eagle Plains as planned on the 21st. Which i decided was close enough to the Arctic Circle for the Solstice and the sun didn’t set. The next day was the toughest day, thunder storm lightning at the Arctic Circle and heavy and near freezing winds from the North but I made it to Inuvik near midnight. I booked an extra night in for Inuvik. It took me about 4 hours out to Tuk. It was a Beautiful day and an amazing ride. Not to tough after the previous day crossing the mountains. Almost loosing control of the bike in loose gravel became routine. I got there, a cold wind of the ocean and fog rolled in.
I got a coffee a can of Dr Pepper and some jerky at the store. the restaurant had just closed.
The coolest place, everyone I met was so friendly.
I hung about for an hour or so and turned around and headed back.
So I pretty much rode 3981km to Tuktoyaktuk for a coffee. I was a the best ride I’ve ever done.
Great video series 👍
Thanks! It was really fun to do.
Not sure if I missed the date of the journey. I suspect sometime in June, given the ice I saw. Great footage and commentary. Be nicer if the camera was about 2 inches higher. Ps. Check out transport Canada, drone map.
Been up there twice, Ducati Multistrada 1200 this time Honda CB500x with TKC 80 front, TKC 70 Rock rear. Multistrada had the 80’s front and back. When the Dempster was greasy wet they helped but only in giving some confidence but felt you could crash anytime.
The last trip we had a support truck and I carried about 30 lbs of kit. Completely different ride.
Aah. Got the date from the first video. So you missed the fires up there. We started July 18th. Worthwhile seeing in late August to see the tundra on fire (changing colours). Google maps has street view much of it in fall.
Thanks for watching. We went up end on June. As for the camera, I know it would be nicer to be over the windscreen, but that makes it much louder and more tiring for me. It's not so noticeable when the windscreen is clean. The drone shots were from my riding partner, so I have no idea about the flight rules.
Friend and I are making that trip from Cincinnati this year. I am picking up a different bike, Id be sceptical riding my older Harley up there. I have been looking at a used 2021 F850gs or 2011 R1200gs. I looked at a Tiger 900 which I really liked but opted out because it has alloy rims. I really liked that bike too. I see that your riding partner had mag rims. Does he have any issues off road with his?
I really wouldn't worry about alloy rims for something like the Dempster. It's more about tires there. Unless you are doing very rocky terrain with big hits on rocks, alloy wheels will be fine. The biggest difference is that off road there's more control with a 21" front wheel instead of a 19". But it's not that huge of a difference for nice roads like the gravel road of the Dempster. Also alloy wheels may be easier to patch than removing the tube from a spoke wheel. And yes I would not take a Harley up there, unless it's the new 1250 adv.
I will also be doing this and coming from Cincinnati
Wish I could have made it to Tuk. The borders were still closed when I was there
It was definitely worth the bad road. It's too bad you weren't able to get there.
Hi Tim, good video of your voyage! Beautiful country up there. I'm planning on going next summer, it will be my first holiday I have ever had. Where did you live before the Island?
Thanks for watching and have a great trip next summer! Before the Island I was in Edmonton for 10 years. The roads are a lot straighter there.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures Thanks, I think it’ll be great! Yes things around Edmonton are much straighter. Lol. I’m from Saskatchewan so same deal here.
@@myronhorvathsk I used to live there too. It's a shorter riding season than the island, that's for sure.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures it sure is shorter here. About the best I get is 7 months.
Thats how you make an informative video for riders (Im riding it next year). What time of year did you ride it?
Hey, thanks for watching. I rode it at the end of June. Weather is a huge factor when going up. The Dempster was closed a week before I went because of rain and high rivers. But when I went the roads were fine. Have fun riding it next year! FYI, book hotels way ahead, they book up fast!
Have enjoyed these videos , whats the two orange blinking lights on the dash? ABS off and traction control off??
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it. Yes the orange lights are ABS and traction control. They blink in "off road" mode because just the rear abs is off and TC is turned down.
Awesome ride. Im hoping to ride there next year with a buddy from mine. Quick question, you are riding a Canadaian bike right? So that means the speedometer is in Km/h and not Mp/h? I see you are doing 60 on that loose gravel road, so i reckon its Km/h 🙂 It looks like a stretch of fresh gravel, maybe it was just completed this spring. Normally the trucks would have flatten it out more.
Yes, I'm in km/h. The gravel was thick and loose on the last section. I believe that part is only 4 years old. When the truck come through their tires make ridges that pull the bike all over the place. Not very fun, I almost went down a few times.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures Do you think you got the wrong tires for this section? Would a more knobby tire be better?
@@demotorrijder1643 not sure it would have made a huge difference. Another rider had knobbies and he had just as much trouble. He seemed to think the knobbies grabbed the ridges and pulled him in, but I don't know about that. It was the thickness of the loose gravel, more like riding through sand.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures Thanks. Im trying to get as much info as possible. In my country there are no roads like that at all. Even way up in Norway the roads are all paved, all the way up to Nordkapp.
@@demotorrijder1643 Make sure you bring tubes and/or tire repair kit and a pump and tire spoons just in case. And spare gas too and bear spray and lots of bug spray! Lol, ok, there's lots to prepare for.
Enjoyed the video. Did you travel in September or late August?
Thanks for watching. I was there the end of June.
What tires were you running? Did you air down at all?
I was running Trailmax Mission tires. They are fantastic, in fact, they are still on my bike after 15,000km and I still have tread left. A more aggressive tire may have been a little better on the loose stuff, but others up there said it was bad for them on those tires too. My friend was running Shinko 705's and they were almost done by the end of the Dempster. No I didn't air down.
I noticed the flashing lights on your Speedo display. What is that?
The Tiger 800 has an off road mode which turns traction control down and abs for the rear off. When its in this mode those two light flash to remind you that you are in off road mode.
Where did you find fuel going up?
There is fuel at Eagle Plains and Ft McPherson and Inuvik. But we had extra fuel just in case.
@@TimsMotorcycleAdventures Thanks Tim
Did you jump in?!
No way, way too cold and we had nowhere to change.