Dempster Highway Crash - Running Off The Road In The Arctic Circle

Thick mud swallowed the rear tire and the Rocky cliff sped closer. Turning the steering wheel as far to the right as possible, I speared into the muskrat swamp. Propane and spare fuel flew from the roof racks and slammed into the windshield. I was stuck. In the arctic circle.

I consider myself a pretty alright driver. Not amazing, not terrible. In all my 15+ years of driving, I’ve only had one crash. And knowing my luck, it’s no wonder that crash was in the arctic circle in northern Canada.

Alright, confession time. The crash happened just south of the arctic circle. Literally less than a kilometer, and because it sounds cooler just saying “arctic circle”, that’s what I’m sticking with.

Anyways, why was I in the arctic circle? It was part of a month-long road trip through Canada and Alaska. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and in 2015 My partner set off from sunny Edmonton in fall (autumn) and headed north.

My travel story - Running crashing my car in the arctic circle — My travel story – Running crashing my car in the arctic circle

Connecting the Klondike Highway in the Yukon to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, the Dempster Highway is one of Canada’s most notorious roads ever since it was constructed in 1979.

Sharp shale is scattered along the 731km (454 miles) highway, and with only one hotel (the only other building is the Tombstone National Park Information Center) on the entire road, a flat tire could be a very big deal.

Having a bed in the back of the truck, my partner and I slept just inside the arctic circle, with the intent to drive all the way to Inuvik, the end of the Dempster Highway.

But the weather had other ideas. Locals said how the storms in the north were the worst in 18 years. Causing the river levels to rise and the two ferry’s you need to cross to get to Inuvik became impassable.

The dirt road turned to deep and thick mud. There was no escaping it.

The arctic circle in Canada - Driving the Dempster Highway — The arctic circle in Canada – Driving the Dempster Highway

Defeated, we turned back towards Dawson City. But our day was about to get much worse.

Up ahead, a small and unsuspecting bend would be my downfall as the driver. In an instant, my back left tire was swallowed and it sent the car to the left – facing right into a ravine.

Instinctively, I turned right as hard as I could, and plowed into desolate muskrat swamp at around 40 km per hour – sending spare gas and propane shooting from the roof racks.

Crashing on the Dempster Highway in Cabada — What did I take away from my travel mistake on the Dempster Highway

For the next hour, there were no cars. Pretty common along this empty stretch of road. I tried to dig my way out until my hands and feet were soaked.

Then, rolling up the mud pot called a road, a road grader was repairing some sections of the road. As we tied chains to the underside of the truck, it was pulled out almost as fast as it went in.

Even though this was incredibly lucky, we weren’t out of the woods yet. The truck would hit around 40km per hour. Something was majorly wrong.

It was a little over 500km to the first town of Dawson City, and the mechanic at Eagle Plains Hotel’s garage had left for the week. Not wanting to stay in a quite dated hotel for a week, we set off south. Driving for around 11 hours at a top speed of 40km per hour.

My car accident in the arctic circle in Canada — My arctic circle car accident taught me lessons

While it was a super long and exhausting drive, it gave a great chance to really look at the tundras surrounding the Dempster Highway.

After everything, a mechanic discovered the issue easily. The 4×4 system was failing to fully engage. The mechanic explained it a lot better than that, but not knowing much about cars and how they work, it went straight over my head!

We did win the award for the “dirtiest car of the year” at least!

So what does my Dempster Highway crash mean to you?

What does my Dempster Highway crash in Canada mean to you?

While I took plenty away from this experience, other than being a really good story, I learned a lot from my Dempster Highway crash.

People can be amazing to one another. That construction driver could have driven on, right passed us. But he didn’t and got us out.
Shit will happen when you travel. You can’t always be prepared for every bump or sudden swerve off the road. So when things do go wrong, keeping calming and solving the problem is much more effective than getting all worked up.
I love travel stories. Some are good and some bad, but I love telling stories from my experiences.