I am lucky in that I travel sometimes for work.... to Yellowknife, the biggest settlement in the Northwest Territories, and also to smaller communities, mainly Tsiighehtchic, Fort McPherson and Aklavik, which are in the Gwich'in Settlement Area. I have also taken a personal trip to Tuktoyaktuk, this past winter. For such a remote area, these communities are easily accessible, unlike other communities (in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region) such as Sachs Habour, Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk.
Tsiighetchic (1.5 hours drive away) and Fort McPherson (2.5 hours drive away) are along the Dempster Highway, which runs from Dawson City in Yukon, to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, where I live. This means they are accessible almost year round by road, although a small ferry (which is free) is needed to cross the Peel River at Fort McPherson and the Mackenzie River at Tsiigehtchic. During the winter the rivers freeze, and ice roads are made, providing access (more on that in my next blog!). There is a short period of time in the spring as the ice melts, and in the fall when the ice forms, when there is no access. Alkavik is not accessible by road, in the winter there is an ice road, in the summer you take a 15 minute plane ride there (unless you have a personal boat, in which case it takes about 2 hours).
I had to take two trips to Aklavik the past few weeks. Boy was I in for an awesome flight!!!!! Unfortunately my camera battery died towards the end of my first flight, and the weather was bad for my flight home and both legs of the second trip to Aklavik, but I still managed to capture some good photos of the spectacular scenery.
The Inuvik airport is small, only a few airlines fly out of there, and they each usually only provide one or two flights per day, so its very compact. there is a restaurant there, Cloud 9, which is reputed to have awesome food, open for breakfast and lunch only. Unfortunately, it doesnt open til 9, and I had to be at the airport at 8 for my flight, so I didn't get a chance to eat there. Theres also a car rental booth, and a rack of tourist brochures.
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| The inside of Inuvik airport |
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| The tiny, and only, baggage carousel |
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| Map of the North |
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| Our location |
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| Polar Bear |
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| The rear of the Inuvik Airport (taken on a cloudy, damp day) |
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| The tiny plane |
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| The plane holds 9 passengers, the pilot and a co-pilot seat (though there's no co-pilot) which is sometimes used for a passenger if you're lucky! There's cargo areas under the plane and in the tail of the plane. |
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| Inuvik from the air |
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| There was still some ice on the river |
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| The Mackenzie Delta (you can still see some iced areas - this was at the end of May) |
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| A cloudy day |
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| This is why there are so many mosquitoes |
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| As far as the eye can see, in all directions |
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| Cloud reflections on a sunny day |
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| Aklavik airport - just one airline flies out of here, with 2 flights a day, plus a few charters/deliveries. Literally just one room with 8 seats, washrooms, and a control room! |
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| Aklavik, with mountains on one side |
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| Aklavik population ~650 |
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| A problem with the tiny planes, is that if there's bad weather, such as fog, you end up with delayed or cancelled flights til there's good weather in both Aklavik and Inuvik - my flight was delayed, then after three hours it was cancelled. I waited a total of 10 hours til the next scheduled flight. Thankfully, they did two trips to make sure all the people from both flights got to Inuvik |
A return flight to Aklavik costs $233. Tours are provided by
Up North Tours and
Arctic Chalet
Look to the top right for other blog posts
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