Violent Weather On The Dempster

Most of the morning I was filled with wonder and serenity experiencing the beauty I saw along the Dempster Highway.   Walking right along the highway I saw bear, moose, ptarmigan, meerkats, beaver, baby ducks and mountain goats.    

 Most scurried into the bush alongside the highway as I approached except for the mountain goats which remained right in the road even as I sauntered by:


 Suddenly enough, however, I saw the rainshowers to my right and heading my way.   At the same time, I saw huge black clouds to my right moving even quicker.   Uh-oh.

And shortly thereafter, I was caught in a violent rain and wind storm that pelted and rocked the car and made driving nearly impossible  The sky was pitch black.   And I was a very nervous dude!

After about 20 minutes of near-sheer terror, the storm abated momentarily, I rounded a bend, and ...Thank God!...there was the Eagle Plains Motel and gas station, midway along the Dempster!

Huddled inside and anxiously watching the weather were 5 other fellow travelers and 6 truckers.   Everyone was watching the weather, trying not to be overly-anxious but none of us was saying a word.   

And then the storm began again.  It was like a terrified silence that reigned over us ... until the bartender came out and announced that the TV was on in the barroom.    That broke the tension.

Everyone there had decided to spend the night.   It was already close to 6 p.m., we were all exhausted from driving the difficult Dempster and worrying about getting a flat tire, and the prospect of driving another 240 miles to Inuvik with no support services on the road appealed to none of us.   

A break in the storm allowed me to take this photo of the motel.  


"Are you going to continue to Inuvik tomorrow?" asked a First Nations husband and wife.   "We're not sure if we're going to or not."
"Now that the storm has passed, my son and I are going to drive right now the 27 miles to the Arctic Cirle, then return here for the night and go back to Dawson tomorrow.   This is too risky for us."  That spoken by a man from Germany traveling with his 13 year old son.    
 I volunteered that I was really uncertain.  "I want to go to Inuvik, but the road is really bad and I just don't want to get a flat tire, especially since the forecast is for more rain tomorrow and the roads will be muddy.  I'm really tired so I'll see how I feel after a night's sleep."   

And what did I decide?.....