Tombstone Territorial Park

From Whitehorse, we packed up early and headed North on the Klondike Highway through endless forest and hills until we reached the junction for the Dempster Highway.

The Dempster is the only road in Canada that will take you all the way up to the Inuvik, a small community in the North West Territories well above the Arctic Circle. The road is made of sealed gravel since a paved highway would literally sink beneath the permafrost in the summer. In addition to its remoteness, the Dempster is also notoriously hard on tires. We brought along a full spare instead of a doughnut even though we were only planning to drive the first 100 km of the 735.5 km road and luckily we didn’t have to use it. 

The beginning of the Dempster Highway

Tombstone Territorial Park lies within the first fifty kilometers of the Dempster and spans the next fifty kilometers where the tree line gives way and the permafrost digs deep.

We stayed in the parks’ front country campsite for two nights. When we woke up our first morning there, it was raining pretty good so we spent some time looking around the visitors center. They had some free tea and a museum.

Tea time

 

Glad we didn't run into this guy

 

Taking a rest on the hillside

With the weather on our side, we set out to hike to Grizzly Lake. The trail was a strenuous uphill hike to a lookout point viewing Mt. Monolith and Tombstone Mountain. Beyond the lookout was more steep hiking along the hilltops to the hidden Grizzly Lake.

We started off that morning full intending to make it all the way to Grizzly Lake and back before dinner. I have love hiking, especially in the mountains and I rarely have a problem with altitude sickness, but something about this hike sent my heart racing and my head spinning. We still made it to the first look out but it was a slow going. The view however, was very rewarding. 

The long slope up to the view point

We turned back shortly after the view point. I just wasn’t in any shape to continue on uphill but I’m really glad we made it as far as we did.

The view from the Mt. Monolith lookout. 

  

Relaxing in the tent after dinner

The following morning, we drove up to the Northern half of the park where the tree line ends. 

Driving the Dempster North of the tree line

Tombstone Mountain View Point

The tundra landscape stretched out before us. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.