We decided to buy an RV in the spring of 2011. Tell us the story of how you decided to go to Tuk. What they didn’t know was just how bad the road conditions would be. With their Northern Lite 8-11 Special Edition and Ford F-350, they set out. They wanted to reach Tuk and meet its people before tourists permanently changed their way of life. ![]() News of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway opening was exciting news for Nate and Nancy. The road was finally opened to the public in November of 2017. Along the way they erected eight bridges and battled a myriad of ever-changing ground conditions. Starting in early 2014, crews from Inuvik and Tuk endured 24-hour shifts, arctic temperatures and punishing winds. After debating the feasibility of completing all-season road over permafrost for decades, Canada finally committed to the $65-million dollar project in 2012. Located on the Arctic Ocean in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Tuktoyaktuk (or Tuk) was only accessible by an ice road spanning frozen sections of the Mackenzie River delta and Arctic Ocean. That might sound challenging (and oddly delicious) but that tower is coming down. Evidently, building a road on permafrost is a bit like playing Jenga on a Klondike Bar during the dog days of August. Essentially frozen soil, permafrost freezes solid in the winter, melts in the spring, and can be nothing more than mud all summer. Not if you’re attempting to build on permafrost. In an age when our cell phones can answer the question, “When did the Romans first build roads?”, building actual roads should be easy – right? After all, Romans were building roads in 300 BC for goodness sake. ![]() It’s hard to imagine that something as simple as building a road could be that challenging in modern times. Don’t attempt this run without a spare or two, and gum boots. Nate Kew and Nancy Murray take their Northern Lite truck camper rig to the Arctic Ocean via the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway.
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