Eagle Plains is a small dot of civilisation on the Dempster Highway, a gravel road that runs from near Dawson City, in the Yukon, all the way to Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories, over seven hundred kilometres. The road crosses the Arctic Circle about thirty-five kilometres north of here, and at Eagle Plains you stand on a high plateau of tundra and stunted spruce, with the Richardson Mountains on the horizon to the northeast.
The reason this stop matters is simple: it is the only place on the road with fuel, food and a bed. The hotel and service station are the lifeline of the Dempster, and riders plan their day around it. From Dawson City it is roughly three hundred and seventy kilometres, and to the next fuel at Fort McPherson is some distance more. Fill the tank here, whatever the gauge says. The tyre repair shop has seen every kind of puncture, because the surface is made of sharp shale, and flats are a regular part of life.
The Dempster is named after a Mountie, Inspector William Dempster, who went out in search of a lost patrol of four Royal Northwest Mounted Police officers in 1911. The men, travelling by dog team from Fort McPherson to Dawson, lost their way and died in the cold, and Dempster found their bodies. The highway was built decades later, opened in 1979, and it follows the route of the old dog sled trail. Caribou migrate across the road in some seasons, and wolves, bears, moose and golden eagles are common.
Riding here is a serious job. The gravel can be loose in dry weather and turns into slick mud after rain, and passing trucks throw stones. Weather changes fast, and cold winds blow even in summer. The midnight sun means light for most of the night in June and July, and the autumn colours of the tundra, with red and gold bushes, are lovely in late August. Carry spare tyres or tubes, tools, extra water, food and warm clothes, and leave plenty of time. The silence at the edge of the Arctic is the real prize.