Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Twelve km /8 mi south of Fort McPherson we come to the Peel River crossing. A free
cable ferry carries us across. It's a simple system. The gravel road descends down to the
shoreline. When the ferry arrives it drops its ramp onto the gravel and you drive on. Noth-
ing fancy but it works just fine especially in terrain where the winter ice-up constantly
changes the contours of the shoreline. When the river ices over in the fall, the ferry is
winched out onto a simple timber drydock. During the transition to an ice road no one
crosses the river until the ice is proclaimed strong enough to carry vehicles. When the ice
starts breaking up in the spring there are another few weeks when no one crosses the Peel.
Then the ferry is rolled back into the water and summer is on.
Next up was a planned stop for lunch in the only town between Eagle Plains and Inuvik,
Fort McPherson. We assumed there would be restaurants. It's not that we need the food,
more that we are looking for entertainment. It is interesting to sit in these small town cafes,
kibitzing with the waitress, chatting up the locals. It's how we get a sense of what is im-
portant to these people and what life up here is like.
But no cafes. Not a one. Apparently they had one once. But it's been closed for a long time.
There is not too much to recommend Fort McPherson to tourists. Its one claim to fame
would be the memorial to “The Lost Patrol.”
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