Day 28: Dempster Highway Mile 0 to Tombstone Range Campground

July 2, 2010

As promised, I met the rider I had been told about. As I was heading out, I stopped to take a picture by the big sign of the Dempster. He was there taking his victory picture. His name was Paul Touzin and he was full of good information and horror stories. He confirmed that he lived in a shipping container for 36 hours about 20 km south of Eagle Plains. He had also been stuck north of that for 48 hours. Overall, the ride had taken him 12 days from Inuvik. He considered the Dempster to be the toughest road in Canada. He would probably know because he has cycled across Canada 8 times already.

http://www.threehillscapital.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393:paul-touzin-inuvik-to-ottawa&catid=97:news&Itemid=267

At about 10 km in, a guy in a pickup coming from the other direction stopped and said how he admired how tough the cyclists on this road are. He also mentioned that there was another cyclist a couple of days ahead of me named Doug.

It was very slow going today. The road was rough and muddy at points. It started to rain. There was a lot of uphill involved. It is an intimidating experience to think that there is another 700 km of this, and then I turn around and do it in the opposite direction. There is a long way to go.

I eventually made it to Tombstone Territorial Park ($12) and set up. There is a nice visitor centre there where I was able to get potable water. I cooked myself some spaghetti for dinner, and then sat around in the cooking shelter for a while worrying about what I had gotten myself into. As I was sitting there, Brenda and Ray came in to cook their dinner. They gave me a bit of food and we had a great chat which really lifted my spirits. They are headed up the Dempster and I may see them on their way back. I felt a lot better after meeting them. It's funny how sometimes things seem to come around at just the right time.

End point:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=64.50573,-138.2229&ll=64.50573,-138.2229&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1