We left our black-fly infested campground in a hurry to go to Inuvik and had a breakfast of omelettes at the Mackenzie Hotel, after which we strolled through the downtown area. The first stop was the town hall where we picked up our Certificates of Passage North of the Arctic Circle and Northwest Territories pins.

Before seeing the famous Igloo Church, shopping was on the agenda. We visited two of the arts and crafts stores and ran into the family that we’d gone to Tuk with yesterday.

In the first store we found a beautiful sculpture of an Inuit hunter with traditional sun visor, typically made of driftwood, antler or bone. We left the store undecided and visited the second store but nothing there enticed us. Back to the first store we went only to discover that there was no price tag on the piece, that the owner of the store was in Mexico, and that the salesperson who thought she knew the price had to confirm it with the owner before being able to sell it to us. She tried twice to get a hold of her boss but was unable to reach her. Very disappointed we left the store and went back to the van, ready to leave Inuvik. We drove past the store on our way out and had to simply stop to try one more time. This time she was able to contact the owner and it turned out that the piece was 20% less than what the sales person had thought it was. We were thrilled and helped bubble wrap our treasure before packing it in the van, right next to the dog food.

The famous Igloo Church was built without blueprints and was completed in 1960 and is Inuvik’s most photographed landmark.

We also photographed the Mad Trapper Inn with its mural depicting the RCMP hunting the Mad Trapper for 49 days.

One last look around Inuvik and a gas stop and we were on the 360 km trip back to Eagle Plains, half way down the Dempster highway again.

Right before the first ferry crossing we saw two black bears in the bush eating berries.

We passed through the amazing geological formations and scenery again before crossing the Yukon border and arriving at Eagle Plains in time for dinner.

In the restaurant we met two motorcyclists who are racing up the Dempster at up to 120 km/h (we drove 60-80 km/h) and who are determined to drive all the way up to Tuk on the unopened highway extension.