![\"motorcycle](\"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/30245595044_d323ff44ab_o-300x225.jpg\")
Work Continues<\/strong><\/p>\nConstruction on the Dempster extension from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk began in early 2014, and gravel crews working in each direction met in the middle in April 2016. There\u2019s plenty more work yet to do, but it\u2019s expected to open in the fall of 2017.
\nAccording to the YukonInfo website, the Dempster Highway is steeped in history, and was named after William John (Jack) Duncan Dempster of the North-West Mounted Police, who served in the area from the late 1890s to the early 1930s. The highway was originally a river-based trade route used by the Gwich\u2019in First Nations, and Dempster would have learned the course from them. He then travelled the frozen ribbons of water via dog sled to cover the distance between Dawson City and Fort McPherson to the north.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to the mid-1950s. While it was the lure of gold that first brought prospectors to the Yukon, it was the quest for other resources \u2013 mainly oil \u2013 that fuelled further development. Canada\u2019s prime minister in 1958 was John Diefenbaker, and it was his Conservative government that put a priority on constructing a road system in the Yukon, which became known as \u201cRoads to Resources.\u201d
\nAfter a route for an all-weather road had been selected, the bulldozers and graders arrived. However, between the years 1959 and 1963, only 116 kilometres of the road had been built, and when an expected oil boom at Eagle Plains became a bust, further construction of the 7.5-metre wide road was halted. Officially called Yukon Territorial Road No. 11, it was dubbed \u201cthe Road to Nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n Nothing changed until the early 1970s, when word of an oil pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley reinvigorated what would eventually become known as the Dempster Highway. Construction picked up where it had left off, and the road was finished in 1978. It wasn\u2019t until August 18, 1979, that an official opening and dedication ceremony took place. Thanks to a committed group of Yukon residents who lobbied the government, the road was named after Jack Dempster. An Ancient Coastline<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe Dempster leads you into a unique landscape, passing through land that until 190 million years ago was the coastline of ancestral North America. It takes you through the lands of the H\u00e4n, Gwich\u2019in and Inuvialuit peoples. It introduces you to the winter habitat of the Porcupine Caribou herd. And it takes you across a portion of Eastern Beringia \u2013 the vast refuge that escaped continental glaciation during the last ice age.\u201d Word Spread<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI was in awe of these adventure riders, and I was also a little jealous of them having that kind of ride and thought this could be the basis for others going further, too,\u201d Van Nostrand says. \u201cIt went from four to eight to 12 riders, but once the Internet got going, word about D2D rapidly spread.\u201d No Surprise<\/strong><\/p>\n The D2D event is also cited in the research as an important stepping-off point for motorcyclists visiting Dawson City before riding the Dempster. Blown Away<\/strong><\/p>\n In his own interaction with the Dempster, Solaro learned just how quickly the wind could wreak havoc. \u201cI had a south wind from Eagle Plains, and I naively thought it was the fairing cutting through the air,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t the fairing \u2013 it was the wind giving me an extra push. Down in a gulley, that wind caught me and literally blew me over.\u201d Going back to the Dempster Highway Adventure Motorcycle Research for a moment, the paper asked those who have completed the ride whether there were any issues finding fuel, and if anyone experienced serious mechanical problems.<\/p>\n Fuelled<\/strong><\/p>\n About the fuel, most riders had enough thanks to large-capacity gas tanks. The only real complaint was about the fact there\u2019s no gas station at the start of the Dempster Highway, and riders had to return to Dawson City to top up before venturing up the road. Despite the rider\u2019s trials, this comment found in the research paper reflects how most motorcyclists feel about travelling the Dempster Highway: \u201cAwesome trip of a lifetime, and I would love to do it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n Wide-Eyed<\/strong><\/p>\n Solaro, who says he took physical nourishment from the very surroundings during his northern motorcycle ride, would agree. \u201cI get a wide-eyed, little-boy grin every time I think of the Dempster Highway.\u201d There are precious few places in the world that can still be considered truly wild \u201cBe there, don\u2019t just get there,\u201d says adventure motorcycle rider Oliver Solaro of the northern grandeur that is the Yukon and of time spent on one of its most famous roads, the Dempster Highway. \u201cI\u2019m not kidding,\u201d Solaro continues. \u201cThere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1298,1865],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nA brass plaque, unveiled on opening day, states: \u201cDempster Highway. The first Canadian highway to cross the Arctic Circle linking Southern Canada and Arctic Canada.\u201d It\u2019s a 737 km-long two-lane highway that sits atop a gravel berm that varies from 1.2 to 2.4 metres thick. The berm protects the permafrost in the ground under the road, thus preventing the highway from sinking into the tundra. The Dempster joins the North Klondike Highway near Dawson City, and snakes its way north to Eagle Plains, and on to Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories before connecting to the Mackenzie Highway, ultimately ending in Inuvik.<\/p>\n![\"bear\"](\"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/unnamed_file1039_30250616633_o-300x225.jpg\")
A travelogue published by the Yukon and Northwest Territories governments says, \u201cWhere does \u2018north\u2019 begin and what is it like? Perhaps the answers lie along the Dempster Highway. This is the only road in Canada that takes you across the Arctic Circle and into the land of the midnight sun, where north is a way of life, not just an arrow on a map.<\/p>\n
\nOnly the first 8 km of the south end of the Dempster is paved; the rest is an all-gravel surface. And it pays to be prepared if planning to ride the highway.
\n\u201cI left knowing nothing of the road,\u201d Solaro says. \u201cI made it there and back, but the best message I can pass along is to absolutely plan ahead.\u201d
\nIn 2006, Solaro left Caledon, Ont., riding a brand new BMW R1200GS Adventure. There was less than 2,000 km on the odometer, and he travelled west to spend time riding around the Prairies before heading north to Dawson City \u2013 arriving there in time for the Dawson City Music Festival, held annually in late July.
\nHad he rolled into Dawson City in mid-June, Solaro would have encountered the Dust 2 Dawson (D2D) Motorcycle Ride (Not a Rally!) event. The ride began in 1992, when four riders showed up in Dawson City and vowed to make it an annual pilgrimage. That\u2019s when Van Nostrand, who owned the Downtown Hotel at the time and himself a motorcycle enthusiast, began to coordinate with Dawson City officials on a variety of riding events.<\/p>\n
\nFor Dempster Highway Adventure Motorcycle Research, a 78-page paper published in June 2015, researchers conducted telephone interviews in Phase 1, followed by online surveys in Phase 2 of the study. The goal, quite simply, was to take the pulse of the average adventure rider in relation to the Dempster Highway.
\nThe paper provides a concise and in-depth look at the motorcyclists who use the highway. For example, the document highlights the fact that most riders of the Dempster \u201cwere male, between the ages of 45 and 64, and were either retired or worked in a professional\/managerial setting. More than three-quarters of past riders had at least a college\/technical diploma, and almost half had an annual household income over $120,000.\u201d
\nOther interesting information from the research relates to the make and model of motorcycle most riders used to tackle the Dempster.<\/p>\n![\"motorcycle](\"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/unnamed_file4531_30584430390_o-300x225.jpg\")
It states: \u201cThe most popular motorcycle on the Dempster Highway was the BMW R1200GS Adventure, closely followed by Kawasaki KLR 650, although it\u2019s noticeable that almost half of the riders were on a motorcycle manufactured by BMW. Smaller displacement (500 cc and smaller) motorcycles were rarely used. Only two respondents indicated riding smaller motorcycles, and only one of these rides were within the last 10 years. Additionally, all but two motorcycles were designed to be dirt-road-friendly to some degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe see in excess of 250 people each year for the dinner, and that\u2019s when the Dawson City firefighters cook for us,\u201d Van Nostrand says. \u201cBut, there can be as many as 400 motorcycles in town for this gathering of like-minded motorcyclists, either heading up the Dempster or heading back. We get people from all over the world attending D2D, including Europe, New Zealand and Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSolaro does note that \u201cAs long as the road is dry, it offers great traction.\u201d But when he ran into some rain and snow, it was a different story. \u201cThat\u2019s when the road surface becomes really greasy and snotty. It\u2019s really slippery and it almost pulls you down into the surface. After a rain, it doesn\u2019t take too long for it to firm up again, though.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHalf the riders had no mechanical issues, while those who did suffered mainly from flat tires.
\nThere was one more serious incident that involved a broken chain puncturing an engine case. A local Dawson City welder, TIG welded the hole closed, and with help from Van Nostrand, the anonymous motorcyclist performed further work to his machine and completed the ride, making it back home to Fort McMurray in Alberta.<\/p>\n
\nAnd as of late 2017, should Solaro, or any other adventure rider choose to motorcycle in the north, the Dempster Highway will take them all way to Tuktoyaktuk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"