Hi all,

It's been a while since I've made a posting to the vanagon list about the
upcoming "Top of the World Tour" to Inuvik, NWT in the Canadian arctic, so
here's the skinny:

My partner Christa and I are organizing a trip for VW bus owners to the
northern-most point one can drive to in Canada: Inuvik, Nortwest
Territories, at the north end of the unpaved Dempster Highway.  Until just
last year (I think it was last year), the Dempster was the northern-most
public road in North America.  (Then they opened the Dalton Haul Road to
Prudhoe Bay, AK to public traffic, but it will still only get you a little
over 100 miles further north than the Dempster will).

Driving the Dempster Highway is widely regarded as one of the greatest road
trips in North America, if not the world.  Over 750 km long, it is unpaved
for its entire length, crosses two major rivers by either ferry or ice
bridge (depending on season), and traverses the arctic circle, the
Pacific/Arctic continental divide, rugged mountains, vast plains of arctic
tundra, and some of the most remote country many of us will ever see in our
lifetimes.

Participants in the Tour will be coming from places as far away as Indiana,
Southern California, Texas, and Ontario.  The tour will officailly start in
Vancouver, B.C.  From there to Inuvik and back, we will deliberately choose
to take the roads less travelled--and many of them are unpaved.  In fact,
nearly 3,000 km of our trip will be driven on a complete absence of
asphalt-like surfaces.

And we will have time to smell the wildflowers.  The days will be long,
that far north, so we can poke along all day stopping where ever we like
for a stretch, or a view, or to catch some fish, without worrying about
running out of daylight.

If you have kids, bring 'em along.  Everyone is welcome.

All we ask is that folks respect the wilderness, so no littering, dumping
of sewage, scaring animals, and so forth.  We'll leave campsites cleaner
than we found them, and (sorry CCC folks!) no burning of magnesium!
Forestry supports the economy of much of the North, and the forest in the
summer is usually like a tinderbox.  But I'm sure I didn't have to say any
of that since all the VW bus folks I've ever met are pretty cool.

If you own a VW bus (or pick up) and can get 3 - 4 weeks off this summer,
then join us!  Here're the details:

Leave Vancouver July 22, return to Vancouver Aug 14.
Web site for full details: http://www.chaco.com/~coyote/trek

There are two 'optional' segments to the trip:
1) Taking the Alaska Marine Highway from Haines, AK to Prince Rupert, BC
2) Taking BC Ferries from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, BC
Neither of these trips added to the total time required for the journey.

If you are considering joining us and taking one of the ferry segments,
please make reservations for the ferry VERY VERY SOON as they get booked
solid for the summer very quickly.  Check the web site for a detailed
itinerary, dates, costs, and links to ferry web sites and other useful
resources.

I invite anyone interested in joining us on this trip to email me with any
questions or comments.  Ron Lussier, who has been kind enough to develop
the Tour's terrific web site, has also established an electronic mailing
list specifically for this trip.  I'd encourage anyone interested in the
trip to join the Inuvik mailing list.  It's a great way to keep in touch
with the trip planning, and a very good place to ask questions regarding
travel plans, things to do or see, and how to prepare your vehicle for the
journey.  Here's how to subscribe to the Inuvik list:

Send mail with the text "subscribe" in the body of the message to:

inuvik-request@chaco.com

Hope to see you in Vancouver July 22nd!

Northward ho!

Tobin

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Tobin T. Copley                                 copley@healthcare.ubc.ca
Dept. of Health Care and Epidemiology              Voice: (604) 822-6219
University of British Columbia                       Fax: (604) 822-4994
Vancouver, B.C. Canada  V6T 1Z3