How far north can i drive

Until November of , this was where roads terminated in the summer. A plane was the only way to reach the isolated village of Contwoyto on the Beaufort Sea during the warmer months, and the ice highway was used in the winter. Since the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway was completed, it is now possible to drive the miles from Inuvik to the northernmost point in Canada on an all season road, at Prior to the new highway, villagers in Tuktoyaktuk relied on airplane service for food and supplies, which is quite costly.

During the winter, the ice highway linking Inuvik to the village was less expensive and more convenient. Now the highway has allowed tourists to visit the village, and a real restaurant has opened. The villagers hope that mining or some other industry will open in the region as well. During the four years of construction, many locals had been employed, and they look forward to the opportunity to engage in more activities outside of the village.

The highway also opened the path to the third coast of Canada, the Arctic Ocean. The hope is that tourists will be interested in driving to the most northern point in Canada and dip their toes into the Arctic.

In the harsh cold of the northern winter, the lakes and rivers freeze, and once the ice is at least 40cm 16in , it is possible to plow the ice so that the thickness can increase without the insulation of the snow. In many places, by February the ice can reach 1.

Many localities rely on ice highways for supplies in the extreme conditions. A core of engineers assesses and maintains the ice highways throughout the winter. They clear the snow, measure the thickness of the ice, and direct drivers away from blowouts, where ice has broken through to the freezing water below.

Speeds are limited to 32kph 20mph or less, and in some places, the trucks must crawl to prevent breakthroughs. High winds and low temperatures further add to the danger. The past few years have had the highest recorded temperatures and the ice no longer freezes as well as it should. The engineers must create solutions to unstable ice and small ponds to prevent deadly accidents. Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is the ice road from Yellowknife to the diamond and gold mines in northern Nunavut.

In November, to coincide with Canada's th birthday, it will be possible for the first time in history to drive to the top of Canada's mainland year round. Currently, the only way to cross the Arctic Circle by car in Canada is to head north on the Dempster Highway, which starts near Dawson City, Yukon, and ends in Inuvik, a frontier town of 3, people in the Mackenzie River Delta.

Now, after four years of construction in brutally harsh conditions, the last kilometres connecting Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, on the shores of the Beaufort Sea, will finally stitch Canada's coasts together. For people in Tuktoyaktuk, like Inuvialuit hunter Robert Gruben, it has been a dream for decades to have a road that reaches them.

There is an ice road in the winter months over the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean. When crews first clear the snow off the ice in December, it's close to a metre thick — enough to support heavy trucks.

Snow is an insulator, so when it's removed, the ice thickness can grow to 1. During the winter months, the ice road is a lifeline. If you are planning to travel to this area, please read this entire page. Please also read the travel guides for each of the roads that you are planning to travel on.

See also the Roads page. Overview map of the Roads The Silence It assaults you. It beats you into submission. It quells your inner chatter. Stop the car, get out, close the door. All you will hear is the odd bird sound and the sound of the breeze, along with a thundering in your head until you shed the noise of driving, along with your own internal noise. When it rains the only sound you will hear will be the rain.

Have you ever heard JUST the rain as it falls? If a vehicle is coming you will sometimes hear it a few minutes before it actually reaches you. You don't hear it very often in today's world! James Bay Road. Trans-Taiga Road. The landscape becomes treeless about two-thirds of the way to Prudhoe Bay, and the best views come from the top of the 4,foot Atigun Pass, a rough path carved through a divide in the northern tip of the Rocky Mountains. The road spans miles from Labrador City to Goose Bay and is all gravel.

The wide, smooth gravel splits rolling hills covered with tall pines. And despite the large trucks that bring supplies and equipment for the hydroelectric industry, the road surface remains smooth and well-maintained.

In the spring, however, massive snowmelt runoff washes the highway away in many places, making the trip to Goose Bay treacherous. Traveling east toward Goose Bay one spring, the runoff washed the road out behind us.

About five miles later, the road was washed out ahead of us. Only a quick fording of the washout behind us to our west prevented us from being stranded miles from either Goose Bay to the east and Churchill Falls to the west. Since then, the Canadian government began a program of loaning satellite phones to motorists making the trip—there are no cellphone towers along Route The road is called E69, it winds up to Nordkapp, a foot-tall cliff on Mageroya overlooking the Arctic Ocean. Distinction: The only way from La Paz to the Amazon—and the closest road to the hereafter.

Hundreds of people die in accidents on this road each year, yet the speed is only slightly faster than a walking pace. After the paved road ends, the route narrows into one lane, with places every mile or two that are wide enough for two trucks to almost pass without scraping each other.

But the final destination of Highway 3 in Argentina, which runs all the way south to the island of Tierra del Fuego, is Ushuaia, a modern city of 50, that packs tourists into five-star hotels and restaurants on their ways to skiing, fishing, sailing, and mountain biking in the surrounding glaciers, mountains, and forests. It is a continuous stretch of road—with the exception of a jungle in southern Panama about 50 miles wide called the Darien Gap. A mile-wide delta of the Atrato River soaks most of the land, keeping the ground swampy.

Several attempts have been made to build a road, but potential environmental damage, disruption of the indigenous tribes who live there, and possible influx of diseased cows from South America to North America, have thwarted roadbuilders.

Since the s, armed revolutionaries FARC guerillas have occupied much of the Colombian side of the gap, and have kidnapped tourists and trekkers in the area—yet another reason not to attempt the crossing. Distinction: Southernmost road in Africa—and one of the prettiest extreme roads.