NURSES OF THE NORTH

Dear Followers,

We hope you are ready for another installment of Nurses of the North! It has been a week since we last spoke. Not too much has happened because work has been taking up a good amount of our time. However, we were able to squeeze in a day trip to Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk). Tuk is one the the most northern communities in Canada, sitting right on the Arctic Ocean. It is a small community with a population of 954 and marks the end of the Trans Canada Trail.

During the winter, the Mackenzie river becomes an ice road which connects Inuvik to Tuk. Tuk is the farthest north you can drive in Canada during the winter but in summer months you can only fly. One of our goals when coming to Inuvik was to drive the infamous ice road. First challenge, finding a driver. Second challenge, not falling through the ice or spinning out of control. As previously mentioned, we are both non-drivers so we had to hope that someone would find it in their heart to drive us there. Luckily, since we are both so charming we were able to make a friend and have a fun road trip to Tuk.

The drive is approximately three hours each way, and requires good wheel traction and a steady driver. Thanks Dawn! It was very different from the 401 highway in Toronto that's for sure! In a total of three hours we maybe passed four cars, had no cell service and there were no pit stops along the way. In other words, if you have to pee then you pop a squat and if you have car trouble then….you are screwed. Good thing is that as typical girls we planned ahead and brought food. Chocolate included!

Our second challenge was to avoid falling through the ice or spinning out of control. We were fortunate enough to make it to and from Tuk alive and relatively warm but there were a few bumps along the way. One bump in particular sent the car flying and resulted in high pitched girl screams. Good thing we had just emptied our bladders on a pile of snow before the ski jump. Note to self and everyone, don't eat yellow snow, it is most likely urine.

The beginning of the drive was more scenic with trees and mountains on either side of the ice river. As we got closer to Tuk, the landscape changed to complete whiteness. The road was white, the ground was white and the sky was white. It was very hard to see the road boundaries. Lets just say if we were to spin out of control we wouldn't have known which way was up. After driving for three hours and being surrounded by pure white for the last two you start going crazy. There was an underlying anxiety in the car as we all felt that the road would never end. But we made it to Tuk just in time, before one of us turned Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

While we were in Tuk we visited an igloo, got to stand on the Arctic Ocean, saw the end of the Trans Canada Trail and visited an underground permafrost cellar. It was a quick visit and a long journey but we got some good pictures, had some fun and got to experience the true north. We even saw a caribou on the drive. It is true dedication when you sacrifice your fingers to take a good selfie #frostbite. Enjoy the photos!