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From here, a 138-kilometre extension, completed in 2017, leads to Tuktoyaktuk. This final section, open year-round, was the first road to provide all-season land access to the Arctic Ocean. For motorcyclists, it is both an exciting prospect and a final test. The surface is narrower, often rougher, and subject to sudden weather shifts. It becomes a challenge as many riders struggle with the deep gravel and windrows formed by the passing transport trucks and local travellers. As riders near Tuk, the terrain flattens and ice-formed hills known as pingos begin to appear; strange, dome-like mounds that rise from the tundra like frozen sentinels.
Tuktoyaktuk: Where the Road Meets the Sea
At the end of the Dempster lies Tuktoyaktuk, a small Inuvialuit community of around 900 people. It sits on the edge of the Beaufort Sea, where the land gives way to icy waters that remain partially frozen even in mid-summer. The road ends at a modest sign announcing the Arctic Ocean. Beyond it, nothing but ocean, sky, and silence for the North Pole is a little over 2,000 kilometres further on.
Visitors often mark their arrival by dipping a toe, or more, into the Arctic Ocean. But those who stay longer are rewarded with a deeper connection. Local guides
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