If you’ve resolved to do more solo exploring in 2024, local Emma Hull has some advice to share after a road trip to Tuktoyaktuk., NWT.
Hull and her canine companion Johnny Cash embarked on their trip this summer after dreaming of visiting, prompted by the opening of the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) in 2017. The completion of the ITH created a 138 kilometre road, allowing access between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk year-round. Previously, visitors or residents could only access Tuktoyaktuk by plane in warm months or ice roads in the winter.
“At various times I had started planning but never really put anything together,” Hull told SPIN. “This spring, I asked myself, ‘What am I waiting for?’”
Always be prepared
After doing some research, she decided to drive and tent camp along the way, gathering new skills before hitting the road.
She learned the Dempster Highway in the Yukon was brutal on tires so Hull learned how to change them, a skill she used twice along the way. She took a WildSafeBC course to prepare for bear interactions, planned her route with a printed map and set up emergency communications through inReach.
She also had to decide exactly what she wanted to do along the way.
“I wanted to drive the Top of the World Highway, which crosses between Yukon and Alaska, and that border crossing closes at first snow,” she explained.
She knew her trip needed to happen early enough in the year to avoid the closure, but late enough to avoid spring flooding.
“Of course, that put me in the middle of wildfire season,” she said.
This year’s wildfires were the worst on record for Canada, and Hull experienced them firsthand. While driving on Highway 16 to Highway 37 through B.C. and up to the Yukon, Hull knew that road closures could be imminent.
At one point, traffic on the route went to single-lane alternating due to wildfires, and Hull had to drive 1200 kilometres in one day to get past the danger zone.
Another time, she left Dawson City to discover the Dempster Highway was closed about 400 km into her route, so she camped out for 24 hours to kill time before the highway reopened.
“When it opened… you were driving through fire on both sides of the road,” she explained. “It really brought home climate change.”
Plan your adventure for you
When chasing your own adventure, Hull said to plan for what you truly want to experience. For her, taking a risk by going it alone was part of proving to herself after her divorce that she was quite capable of being alone.
“I left my marriage three years ago and wanted to prove to myself that… I’m a powerful, strong, independent woman,” Hull explained with a bright smile while holding a warm beverage.
And even though she has a small SUV, bringing a paddleboard was well-worth the space.
She also kept an audio diary each day because she knew she would be too tired to write, each evening asking herself two questions: What was the highlight of her day and what lesson did she learn?
“That really helped me to have gratitude each day,” she said.
Once she arrived in Tuktoyaktuk, Hull set her tent up as close to the Arctic Ocean as possible and settled in to watch the sun never set.
“It was amazing, at 10 o’clock at night it was still full daylight,” Hull said, describing the midnight sun in August.
Full of pride for her adventure, Hull’s voice cracked when she described how the trip was also bittersweet.
Her mother passed away in May after helping her plan the trip, and she couldn’t call her and let her know she reached her destination.
“The whole trip, I just talked to her as if she was there,” she said, wiping a tear away.
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