Dempster Road Map Page 1.Ai
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N INFORMATIO ANALYSIS RESEARCH 1 folded map. folded 1 Geological Survey, NWT Open Report 2007-009 & YGS Open File 2007-11, File Open YGS & 2007-009 Report Open NWT Survey, Geological ESINEOFFICE GEOSCIENCE most northwestern road; Northwest Territories Geoscience Office and Yukon and Office Geoscience Territories Northwest road; northwestern most Highway, Northwest Territories & Yukon, A geological roadmap for Canada’s for roadmap geological A Yukon, & Territories Northwest Highway, OTWS TERRITORIES NORTHWEST Jones, A.L. & Pyle, L.J. (compilers), 2007. Roadside Geology of the Dempster the of Geology Roadside 2007. (compilers), L.J. Pyle, & A.L. Jones, Citation locally if certain sites are critical to your visit. Enjoy the geology and the drive! the and geology the Enjoy visit. your to critical are sites certain if locally a result some distances recorded on this map will be inexact. Please check Please inexact. be will map this on recorded distances some result a the old route at Chapman Lake (Km 116). (Km Lake Chapman at route old the the kilometre posts (northern section) are periodically moved or re-placed. As re-placed. or moved periodically are section) (northern posts kilometre the www.explorenwt.com www.travelyukon.com www.explorenwt.com McPherson. The patrols were discontinued in 1921 and the highway intersects highway the and 1921 in discontinued were patrols The McPherson. quarries are opened and closed by highway maintenance crews. Furthermore, crews. maintenance highway by closed and opened are quarries planning your trip, please consult the following websites and links therein: links and websites following the consult please trip, your planning annual mid-winter dogsled excursions of the Dawson RNWMP to Fort to RNWMP Dawson the of excursions dogsled mid-winter annual parts of the road are re-constructed, and various borrow (gravel) pits and pits (gravel) borrow various and re-constructed, are road the of parts halfway) at Km 369, to Inuvik at Km 717. For more information about information more For 717. Km at Inuvik to 369, Km at halfway) in 1911. The tragedy was the only serious mishap in the in mishap serious only the was tragedy The 1911. in ” Patrol Lost “The of section) and September 2006 (southern section). Each summer, however, some however, summer, Each section). (southern 2006 September and section) River 45 km east of Dawson City, through the Eagle Plains Lodge (roughly Lodge Plains Eagle the through City, Dawson of east km 45 River He was the “Iron Man of the Trail” and led the expedition to find the remains the find to expedition the led and Trail” the of Man “Iron the was He The road distances and outcrop access were correct as of July 2005 (northern 2005 July of as correct were access outcrop and distances road The are along the east side of the highway, beginning at Km 0 at South Klondike South at 0 Km at beginning highway, the of side east the along are who served with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) for 37 years. 37 for (RNWMP) Police Mounted Northwest Royal the with served who served by daily flights from Yellowknife and Whitehorse. Kilometre signposts Kilometre Whitehorse. and Yellowknife from flights daily by served The Dempster Highway is named for William John Duncan (Jack) Dempster (Jack) Duncan John William for named is Highway Dempster The note the time change as you make plans, particularly for the ferry crossings. ferry the for particularly plans, make you as change time the note or Inuvik, NWT. Dawson City is 536 km by road from Whitehorse. Inuvik is Inuvik Whitehorse. from road by km 536 is City Dawson NWT. Inuvik, or you cross the boundary from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories. Please Territories. Northwest the to Yukon the from boundary the cross you You can drive (or bike!) the Dempster Highway from either Dawson City, Yukon City, Dawson either from Highway Dempster the bike!) (or drive can You withstand wet weather and heavy loads, while providing good grip for tires. for grip good providing while loads, heavy and weather wet withstand The time changes from Pacific Standard Time to Mountain Standard Time as Time Standard Mountain to Time Standard Pacific from changes time The How to get there get to How challenge was finding nearby deposits of road-surfacing gravel that could that gravel road-surfacing of deposits nearby finding was challenge dark road surface absorbs more summer heat than tundra vegetation. Another vegetation. tundra than heat summer more absorbs surface road dark expansive wilderness. Maintain respectful and safe distances from wildlife. from distances safe and respectful Maintain wilderness. expansive • Km 528.5: Tetlit Gwinjik Wayside Park: viewing platform, interpretive signs. interpretive platform, viewing Park: Wayside Gwinjik Tetlit 528.5: Km • thick. The thickness is required to insulate the frozen substrate, because the because substrate, frozen the insulate to required is thickness The thick. accident on this remote road will be a long time coming. The highway crosses highway The coming. time long a be will road remote this on accident • Km 465: Northwest Territories / Yukon border; and border; Yukon / Territories Northwest 465: Km • ing. Along much of its length the highway sits on a gravel pad 1 to 4 metres 4 to 1 pad gravel a on sits highway the length its of much Along ing. portion of the road. Never park along sharp or blind curves. Help after an after Help curves. blind or sharp along park Never road. the of portion • Km 405: Arctic Circle and Richardson Mountains; Richardson and Circle Arctic 405: Km • most building over ice-rich ground occurred during the winter to avoid melt- avoid to winter the during occurred ground ice-rich over building most important to seek pullouts or completely move your vehicle from the traveled the from vehicle your move completely or pullouts seek to important • Km 378: Eagle River: RNWMP manhunt for the “Mad Trapper of Rat River”; Rat of Trapper “Mad the for manhunt RNWMP River: Eagle 378: Km • ; permafrost of challenge the faced engineers highway construction, During encounter pedestrians, dogs or middle-of-the-road sightseers. Thus it is it Thus sightseers. middle-of-the-road or dogs pedestrians, encounter • Km 259.2: Gwazhal Kak Rest Area: geology, petroleum exploration; petroleum geology, Area: Rest Kak Gwazhal 259.2: Km • way and drivers of large trucks treat it that way. They are not expecting to expecting not are They way. that it treat trucks large of drivers and way • Km 102: Two Moose Lake: “thaw lakes” and waterfowl; and lakes” “thaw Lake: Moose Two 102: Km • completion the highway in 1979. 1979. in highway the completion Conversely, despite the lack of traffic, remember that this is a first-order high- first-order a is this that remember traffic, of lack the despite Conversely, • Km 74: North Fork Pass Viewpoint: Tombstone Mountain, valley history; valley Mountain, Tombstone Viewpoint: Pass Fork North 74: Km • ten years. Oil exploration in the Mackenzie Delta and the Beaufort Sea saw the the saw Sea Beaufort the and Delta Mackenzie the in exploration Oil years. ten • Km 71: Interpretive Centre: natural history displays; history natural Centre: Interpretive 71: Km • decreased government funding and sporadic construction for the following the for construction sporadic and funding government decreased many hours before another vehicle passes by, so plan ahead. plan so by, passes vehicle another before hours many • Km 0: Landscapes, wildlife resources, services for the motorized traveler; motorized the for services resources, wildlife Landscapes, 0: Km • Less than hoped-for results in the search for hydrocarbon exploration led to led exploration hydrocarbon for search the in results hoped-for than Less essential when traveling in this remote area. If you are stranded it may be may it stranded are you If area. remote this in traveling when essential Well maintained pullouts with informative signboards are currently located at: located currently are signboards informative with pullouts maintained Well 1958 and 1961, about 115 km of road was completed from the southern end. end. southern the from completed was road of km 115 about 1961, and 1958 for the trip. Spare tires, emergency kits, extra food and additional fuel are fuel additional and food extra kits, emergency tires, Spare trip. the for established the route through the Ogilvie Mountains to Eagle Plain. Between Plain. Eagle to Mountains Ogilvie the through route the established depending on seasonal conditions and traffic. Ensure your vehicle is suitable is vehicle your Ensure traffic. and conditions seasonal on depending Western Arctic Regional Visitor Centre in Inuvik. in Centre Visitor Regional Arctic Western resources of northern Canada. Winter hauling of oil drilling equipment initially equipment drilling oil of hauling Winter Canada. northern of resources The Dempster Highway is a gravel road; quite narrow in places and rough, and places in narrow quite road; gravel a is Highway Dempster The the Western Arctic”; Tombstone Mountain Campground (Km 71); and the and 71); (Km Campground Mountain Tombstone Arctic”; Western the “Roads to Resources” policy which addressed the need to access the natural the access to need the addressed which policy Resources” to “Roads Delta Visitor Information Centre in Dawson City is dedicated to the “Road to “Road the to dedicated is City Dawson in Centre Information Visitor Delta Cautionary notes Cautionary Construction of the highway was sparked by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s John Minister Prime by sparked was highway the of Construction Dempster Highway and are staffed from May to September: the Dempster/ the September: to May from staffed are and Highway Dempster History and Inuvik. Three Interpretive and Visitor Information centres focus on the on focus centres Information Visitor and Interpretive Three Inuvik. and and lodging are available at Dawson City, Eagle Plains Lodge, Fort McPherson, Fort Lodge, Plains Eagle City, Dawson at available are lodging and multi-day journey, so take some time to enjoy it! enjoy to time some take so journey, multi-day Six territorial campsites are located along the highway.