August 30, 2009, I travelled North on the Dempster Highway starting about 9:30 in the morning. Since I had only the one day to do the trip and couldn't stand to travel without stopping often for photos, I decided to give myself the assignment of taking a photo from the road (most of them from inside the car) every 30 km as we travelled up the road. Of course there were a few times where we stopped for special sights along the way.

I'm hoping that my photos will encourage you to take the trip yourself. After all, if I can take these photos from inside the car while making a quick trip up the highway, imagine what you can do if you take the time to explore and get out to stretch your legs every now and then!

By the way - if you like my photography, you can request printed copies of any of these photos.

Enjoy the trip! (and my photos)

Mary Beckett

Our first photo was taken between milepost 30 & 40 after the Dempster Corner. If you're driving the Dempster, it's important to make sure you gas up at the Dempster Corner because there won't be another gas station until you reach Eagle Plains.

Our next photo is approx km 58.

We are starting to climb now - entering the Tombstone Range.

The next shots were taken at approx km 72 but we couldn't leave out the Tombstone Pass and the view across the valley. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented us from getting a shot of Tombstone Mountain itself.

Another vista I couldn't resist at km 75.5

Km 90

and in the other direction from the same spot...

Between km 115&116

Now we're moving out of the Tombstone range and into the Ogilvies...

At approximately km 115-116 the mountains turned to gravel... slide warnings posted all along here.

Km 180 - For a lot of the time when you're not on a mountain ridge, you're travelling next to a mountain stream. The colour of the water is caused by iron in the rocks around this area.

Km 210 - water is still close at hand...

My kids used to call these the Dinosaur Mountains when they were little - I think they reminded them of the horns they saw on the skeletons at Drumheller. (This is approx km 212.)

After leaving the creeks, we begin the climb to the Eagle Plateau... This photo is taken at approx km 240

When you get to the top of the hill (for now anyway) you get an awesome view of the Ogilvie Ridge (appr km 266) If you think it looks a bit damp, just blame that on my personal travel size rain cloud - whenever I have to drive a long distance I can almost always predict the weather without checking the forecast.

Still climbing up to the Eagle Plateau. We caught up with someone else that was slowing down to have lunch next to this spectacular view (km 270).

Just so you can see the view we had out the driver side window - one more shot from the same location...

Okay - so now it's really raining! (km 300)

By km 330 we can almost taste the top of the plateau...

Km 360 - Almost to Eagle Lodge! And yes, it's still raining!

Eagle Lodge - Km 371

Our next shot is back on the 30k plan - Km 391 we saw a grizzly bear - I guess they like blueberries, too!

The Arctic Circle is a great spot for that special shot - not only an interesting location because of the latitude, the scenery there is pretty awesome...

Km 414 we saw another Grizzly...

he was eating berries when we got there, but he soon started to move...

Km 420 - The tundra is already turning colour at the end of August. Even though there are very few trees, we don't miss getting fall colours.

A couple of kilometres later, we saw some caribou moving north...

Km 450 - the weather was still wet and rainy and we could see the clouds piling up in the Richardson Mountains as we were approaching Wright Pass and the Northwest Territories border.

The Northwest Territories border at Wright Pass was engulfed in cloud...

but we were glad to see we were getting closer to home...

The mileposts switch over when you get to the NWT border and start again at 0... so our next shot was taken at NWT km 10... our best guess as to our next 30km photo-point. One thing we were glad of is the excellent road crew in the NWT -- even though it has been raining for over a week at this point, the road here is in excellent condition.

The search for the Mad Trapper made Rat Pass famous - we entered this pass at approximately Km 20 on the NWT side. The Rat River runs at the right side of the road - barely a creek now, this river has been known to overflow its banks and wash the highway right out from time to time.

Km 40 - we are starting to descend from the mountains now. Even though it's only 5 p.m., the rain clouds are making it much darker.

Km 70 - we are starting to enter the boreal forest again. Of course the trees here are not as tall as the forests in the south.

Approximately Km 100 you get to the Peel River ferry crossing. The Abraham Francis is a cable ferry that crosses the Peel River on demand between 9:00 a.m. and midnight every day during the ferry season. Recent high water has washed away the landings so the crew use the tractor to rebuild the approach to the ferry. Fort McPherson is just beyond the Peel River ferry crossing.

Km 130 we are part way between Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic.

At the Mackenzie River, you cross the river on the Louis Cardinal, a free running ferry - no cables on this one, and it stops in three places - two sides of the Dempster Highway and the community of Tsiigehtchic. This part of the river is where the Mackenzie and the Arctic Red Rivers come together making for a wider crossing than the Peel was.

Tsiigehtchic is not on the highway and is only accessible by ferry or ice road in the winter - during the spring and fall the community is cut off for a period of time each year.

Back on the road again - at Km 160 we pass a CAT at the side of the road waiting for the next shift to start.

Km 190 and still raining - you can see the mud splash up from the truck ahead. All the vehicles that drive the Dempster in the rain end up exactly the same colour... Dempster brown.

They installed a new bridge on the highway at Caribou Creek when the culvert failed a couple of years ago. (Km 220)

Km 250 is near Campbell Creek (at the bridge). From here you can see the shale gravel pit where high school students from Inuvik have often found fossils with their science class. Just over the next set of hills we will come to the Inuvik airport and the turn-off onto Airport Road and home...

Since we got too excited to remember to take the final shots for this photo tour of the Dempster highway, I thought I would include a couple of shots from other days to let you know what our home looks like...

From the air...

and a September sunset... from the town boat launch (or the entrance to the Ice Road in winter)...

Have a great fall! Hope you enjoyed our trip!