Driving To The Arctic In The Winter - FULL DOCUMENTARY - Living The Van Life

foreign [Music] for some winter content I decided to point my heading north about 2 600 miles from Northwest Washington all the way to tuktiyaktak and start looking at what lies up in the Arctic the journey starts now I've been driving for eight hours 37 minutes we are now 476 miles into this adventure day number two Prince George British Columbia to kituanga 700 miles into the journey start putting in the hours start laying down the miles then the reality sets in that this is going to be one hell of an adventure vanderhook Canada geological center of British Columbia now halfway through BC that feels good this right here is the start of the Stuart cassiar Highway I have a feeling that this is where the adventure is truly going to start a little bit of a treacherous drive right now several inches of solid ice over the top of the actual Road surface if I touch the brakes tires lock up and I just slide 1 200 miles since I left Northwest Washington that right there is a sign that welcomes me to Yukon foreign [Music] this right here is the Arctic Circle it's been a hell of a push it's been a lot of driving but it's been a hell of an adventure after more than 40 hours of driving I'm standing in the most unbelievable winter landscape foreign just clicking by 17 to 18 more hours to go to reach the Arctic Ocean it feels like it's just never ending [Music] so far I've driven all the way to the very top of British Columbia all the way through the Yukon and now entering Northwest Territory foreign we have officially entered the insanity Zone negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit [Music] let's get this show on the road we got a trip to the Arctic Ocean to make what's up guys this is Chad with living the van life up here in the Pacific Northwest of Washington state I know a lot of you guys have been waiting for some winter content I came up here to the Pacific Northwest after Baja to get into some winter camping and by the time I got back up here winter in the Pacific Northwest had pretty much all but disappeared the month of January was quite warm it was extremely dry with almost no precipitation and I got tired of waiting for the kind of Epic winter Adventure that I wanted to sink my teeth into so at that point I decided to point my heading north and start looking at what lies up in the Arctic driving up to the Arctic was always on my bucket list so I figured you know what there is no time like the present the journey Starts Now now my plan is to drive all the way up to a little village called taktiyaktuk now the Trek from Northwest Washington all the way through British Colombia across the Yukon into Northwest Territory and onto tuktiyaktak is about 2 600 miles and to put that into perspective that's like driving from Los Angeles to New York City it's going to be a lot of driving and as I've been researching the temperatures the further north we get the colder it will get once you get into the Arctic and cross the Arctic Circle temperatures start dropping well below zero temperatures of negative 30 negative 35 degrees Fahrenheit we are getting into some winter camping right now ladies and gentlemen boys and girls welcome to this adventure to the Arctic [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] 390 miles into this Trek been driving for eight hours 37 minutes it feels like it's just never ending of course that's a very very small dent and the total of 2 600 miles all the way up to tuck The Hectic when you spend enough time looking at things on a map you develop a perception that maybe it's not too far away but I tell you what you start putting in the hours you start laying down the miles then the reality sets in that this is going to be one hell of an adventure [Music] I think the thing that intrigues me the most of this 2600 mile Journey to the north is just how vastly the landscape will change the vegetation will change the weather the temperature right now it's 37 degrees Fahrenheit which is about three to four degrees Celsius there is snow now starting to come down my goal for tonight is to make it to Prince George which I would say is about a third of the way up British Columbia little stop and get some rest to continue on tomorrow [Music] well here we are up here in Prince George British Columbia we are now 476 miles into this adventure since we left Bellingham Washington Prince George is actually a fairly decent sized city up here in the interior of British Columbia matter of fact for the evening I am hunkered down here at a Walmart parking lot so a little bit of urban stealth camping here this evening in the Sprinter van figured I'd give you guys a little bit of a walk through of how I've got it set up to make it even possible to successfully Urban Stealth cam as we can see here I've got the Sprinter van parked out at the back of a parking lot off to the outer edge we've got another fellow van lifer that is uh decided to hunker down here in the Walmart parking lot as well as we can see standing outside the van here there is no evidence of any sort of lights on inside the van and here in just a second I'm going to take you inside and actually show you how much light is truly on inside now that's made possible by the Window Tint that's installed here and I've got the extra dark limo tent that assists with that I was going to take you guys inside here and show you what's going on inside but let's do a little temperature check here as we make our way North looks like we're sitting at about 28 degrees Fahrenheit which is about negative three degrees Celsius so while it's getting chilly outside there the diesel heater is cranking away let's go inside and see how nice and warm it is in here [Music] we've got plenty of light going on inside here in fact I've been chilling out here watching some Baraka on the iPad hanging out while the DC heater cranks away down below here now up here at the front we can see the partition curtain that is spread across so not only is this curtain actually blackout but it is also insulated there's a closed cell foam inside there that insulates that which is great because it keeps all the heat from the diesel heater back here in the living space instead of escaping out through the windows as we start approaching zero degrees fahrenheit as we go further north I'll be able to put those window coverings up also will provide more stealth but also more heat protection to keep the heat here inside the cab we've got 476 miles under our belt on this adventure so far and that leaves just about 2 200 miles you get to go until we get up to tucked yuck tuck in the Northwest Territories people ask well why are you doing it in the winter time you're crazy I feel like anybody could do it in the summertime I wanted to challenge myself even further and try it in the winter I'm looking forward to getting myself as well as the Sprinter van down into some extremely low temperatures I spent 38 weeks of building this thing to be capable of just about anything I could think of throwing at it definitely wanted to make sure that it was good for cold weather situations so this is going to be the test that's it for day one I'm gonna go ahead and call it a night here hunker down and get some sleep and we'll catch you guys in the morning thank you 14 degrees Fahrenheit negative 10 degrees Celsius this is only the beginning for cold temperatures as we head north so here we go day number two we're headed from Prince George British Columbia to kituanga and that is the start of the casiar highway which runs up the interior of British Columbia North all the way to Yukon Territory if you guys haven't done so yet head on over to livingthevanlife.com get yourself your own living the van life hoodie keep warm with me on this trip North to the Arctic let's hit the road [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you Vanderhoof Canada the geological center of British Columbia and what that means is that finally making some progress on my trip North yesterday as I watched the map and watched my location barely creep up I felt like I was making hardly any progress now halfway through BC that feels good [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] yesterday was kind of a long mundane drive with the overcast and the occasional snow but now getting out closer to the cassiar highway starting to see the mountains and this reality is starting to set in that its Adventure is actually happening having the Sun out definitely brings on a new sense of Hope in this situation that it's not just going to be overcast and gray the entire time [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] I just stopped here at this Petro Canada fuel station I topped off the Sprinter van with diesel this right here is the start of the Stuart cassiar Highway runs about 500 miles north to basically the border of British Columbia and Yukon Territory to the Alaskan Highway my understanding is that the major portion of this highway is actually unpaved and it is gravel and it is the middle of winter time I have a feeling that this is where the adventure is truly going to start [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so I just made it the 150 miles up the first bit of the cassiar highway and I am at meziaden Junction and basically what I have found here is that it's kind of what appears to be like a logging Camp they do have it set up like a hotel so if I so wish I could get a room here they're basically just set up with permanent buildings inside shipping containers and uh job office trailers so it's kind of interesting but I think that's how life rolls the further that we get North up here but nonetheless the staff has been friendly here there is a gas station so I'll fill up before I leave here in the morning and there is a uh a cafeteria here that serves food and they say the food is actually pretty decent in fact they said tonight is spaghetti and Rib night so I think I might go enjoy myself a nice warm meal before I hunker down in the van for the evening foreign [Music] foreign I think one of my new favorite drinks is a good old crack and spiced rum and Coca-Cola that's what I'm drinking here this evening gonna sit down and enjoy a um a bit of a cocktail uh as we hunker down for the evening up here on the caviar Highway making our way towards the Arctic Ocean one thing that I did actually get installed on on the trip today was my new thermometer system with this little thermometer here it's pretty nice because I can of course monitor the temperature here inside the living space of the van but I also have two remote Wireless sensors that I've installed so I can see what the outside temperature is and then the temperature in the garage space here underneath the bed there's no heat blowing back there from the diesel heater as temperatures get well below zero the further north that I get I want to make sure that that garage space area is maintaining the proper temperature to be able to allow the batteries to recharge as I use them along on the trip we're getting up into some interesting territory where the weather really comes off the Gulf of Alaska and blasts into the side of British Columbia and Alaska and causes quite some interesting weather patterns and we'll be seeing more of that as we travel North so anyways guys I'm going to go ahead and hunker down here in the van for this evening I've got some movies that I have downloaded on the iPad and I'm gonna kick back I'm gonna enjoy my Kraken in Cola and enjoy some movies way up here in the mountains of British Columbia so that is the end of day number two and we'll see you guys in the morning for the beginning of day number three all right guys cheers we'll see you in the morning [Music] [Applause] [Music] this video okay here we go leaving Messi Aden Junction 7 50 a.m in the morning the sun's just coming up got an interesting journey ahead today let's see what we find on the trail ahead foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] has just become a solid sheet of ice most of the traffic that is on the casiar highway is all big trucks and so as the snow accumulates the trucks just pack it in and pack it in and pack it in then it melts then it freezes and it just becomes several inches of solid ice over the top of the actual Road surface the van is definitely sliding in and out and bouncing through the ruts and it is very very slippery so a little bit of a treacherous drive right now making my way through it it's going to make for a long 300 miles still yet to go but it's part of the adventure got myself into so we'll get through it come out the other side hopefully safe and successful foreign [Music] [Music] foreign Lodge and there is a fuel stop here so I went ahead and just stopped and topped off the fuel it only took about 14 liters which is not much it was only 50 miles or so since the last fill up but being out here in the wintertime not knowing what is open seasonally up here I just take an extra precaution going ahead and topping off fuel every chance that I get it sounds like the next fuel stop is about 150 miles north of here at Dee's lake so that's not too far I feel confident in that but there again because my only source of heat is from the diesel heater I don't ever want to catch myself in a situation where perhaps I'm stuck or broke down and the van is low on fuel and I run out of heat so that's why I keep up on that it looks like a very interesting Lodge here in the wintertime it appears that they offer ski tours as well as heli skiing which is pretty cool but uh we're definitely getting up into some deep snow and this Lodge looks really cool covered in snow [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] this is crazy insane this just looks like wet dirt road but watch when I touch the brakes I'm locked up right there that is an absolute slick sheet of ice right there but the good thing is the Sprinter van is actually handling it very very well even with the brakes locked up on this thing the anti-lock brakes work amazingly and just keeping this thing in a straight line and still able to handle it the traction control works great I'm actually in two-wheel drive right now and not even needing a four-wheel drive [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] well we have traveled 184 miles since we left the junction this morning the terrain has been very very cool the weather has been off and on cloudy foggy a little bit sunny but now the clouds have set in precipitation is set in and it's now snowing I'd say it's probably considered a light snow at this point the vegetation has changed tremendously kind of reminds me of a Dr Seuss illustration of some sorts the roads are now fully covered in snow which I prefer over just the sheets of ice still rolling in two-wheel drive well I just pulled into Dee's Lake this little town this little Community just literally popped up out of nowhere this is known as the most important fuel stop on the route the direction that I'm heading it is uh 150 miles to the north I've got 188 miles of fuel left this loader here that is removing snow in the parking lot just dug up the only telephone line this is the only store this is the only gas station right here their telephones are now out and that telephone line is responsible for credit card well let's just put it this way telephone repair guys aren't uh readily available and it could be five to six days before phone lines are ready so it's cash only I think what I'm going to do is scrounge through the van and see what a little bit of cash that I actually have with me and maybe it'll buy me enough to uh at least get up the road [Music] this literally just happened as I was pulling up uh other people that are fueling at the station here or having the same problem I think one thing that actually might be saving grace is when I travel down to Mexico I did grab a whole bunch of cash and I actually stowed it away in various different spots in the van and I'm hoping that I can actually find where that stuff is it was small amounts but who knows it might be enough look at that small handful there's another handful back here in my backpack I also stored some in here and we still got that there as well so I like to see that that's a five so between that and what I've got here in my wallet 10 5 15. there's 30 11 12 13 19 20. ah 75 dollars in cash thanks to Mexico actually had me prepared 75 dollars and this is gonna save my ass and get me the heck out of here okay well that was a close one topping off with fuel continuing on from Dee's Lake got 150 miles to get to the Alaskan Highway [Music] Association [Music] just hitting about the 1215 mile mark since leaving Northwest Washington that means it's approaching just about the halfway mark to the Arctic Ocean and tucked yuck tuck got about 35 more miles to go before I hit the Alaska Highway pretty much all the way at the very most northern point of British Columbia which all in itself feels like quite the accomplishment for sure foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] 1200 miles since I left Northwest Washington that right there is a sign that welcomes me to Yukon reaching the Yukon that feels damn good it's been a hell of a push it's been a lot of driving especially to do it in three days but it's been a hell of an adventure so here we are from here it's just a couple miles if that to the Alaska Highway then I got a back track to Watson Lake which is where I'll stay the night and fuel up there home sweet home for the night here in Watson Lake about six degrees Fahrenheit which is about negative 15 degrees Celsius so it's definitely getting cold out here that's the coldest it's been so far on the whole trip [Music] foreign cheers to accomplishing the Trek across British Columbia the cassiar highway and making it all the way up here to Yukon unfortunately it was so sucked in most of the time I didn't really get to see as much of the scenery of what I uh had expected to be able to see up there but nonetheless it was uh about making the journey and doing so in winter time and uh here we are it ended up taking me about 10 hours and 15 minutes from leaving the junction this morning to getting up here into the Yukon so simple dinner for tonight but looking forward to it a little bit of mac and cheese in the old jet boil just a little bit of comfort food as I kick back and relax for the evening and I like to go ahead and cook my noodles in the jet boil here actually in the sink because if and when the damn thing boils over at least it boils over into the sink and not over my cabinets [Music] the actual lid of the jetboil has a strainer built into it so when it comes to draining your pasta you just do so right out of the lid itself [Music] [Applause] okay and so we don't just have regular old Velveeta mac and cheese let's go ahead and add some chili garlic sauce to it just to put a Twist on it let's go ahead and add some New Mexico green chili just for the fun of it because you know what why not and at least that'll put a little bit of a Twist on it I know this isn't cooking over a campfire or anything like that but after a long haul like that I just need a simple meal damn that looks tasty right there haha that's some plain old simple mac and cheese twist it up to have a bit of a bite New Mexico green chili comes through tremendously got the window coverings up here I've got the partition curtain up here also window covering there and here as I get into bed I will put up the rear partition it's an insulated covering that partitions the whole back door section off and it's another layer of insulation when I open the back doors to access anything in the garage down underneath this is all partitioned off with insulated material and none of the heat escapes none of the rain none of the snow comes in and falls on my bed or my pillows and that'll really help keep things much much warmer uh as things continue to cool off as we head north it's going to be a test uh to see how prepared this vehicle is how prepared I am anyways I'm gonna go ahead and uh hunker down for the evening get a good night's sleep we'll catch you guys in the AM survive night number one up here in the Yukon temperatures drop to about negative two degrees Fahrenheit which is about negative 20 degrees Celsius uh the van so far has done very very good I have the diesel heater set at uh about three out of a 5.5 uh so just over halfway I would say and it kept the uh interior of the van at about 61 degrees which is uh more than comfortable this morning making the 242 mile Trek to the town of white horse the temperature is three degrees Fahrenheit negative 16 degrees Celsius the snow is coming down hard the roads are treacherous ice extremely slippery if I just touch the brakes the tires lock up and slide I've got five hours of driving in this but who knows how that'll go in these conditions driving in this is all hands on deck mentally the snow continues to fall harder and harder the road is becoming flat white ever harder to discern where the lanes are and where the road ends and the ditch begins to make this drive all the way to White Horse in these conditions then all owed by two motorcyclists who are completely exposed to these weather conditions that I realized if they're making this Trek and this kind of weather I can certainly be making this Trek here inside my van thank you [Music] [Music] the snow has now let up and the visibility on the road is much much better matter of fact the clouds have lifted and now I'm able to see a lot of the beautiful landscape and the terrain and the mountains everything is covered in snow it's downright beautiful [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] White Horse got here last night it was like 46 degrees Fahrenheit which was really really warm everything was melting by 10 p.m it was 32 degrees and it was snowing and overnight it just laid down a nice thick layer of some fresh snow in downtown white horse [Music] the crazy thing is is that driving to get here you felt like you're driving through the middle of nowhere for hours and hours and hours and then you come up on the city and it's pretty wild to me how these cities exist out here I'm gonna start out this morning I've got about a six hour drive up to Dawson City which is north of here so from here I'm going to leave the Alaskan Highway head out on the Klondike Highway all the way to Dawson City been driving now for 32 hours and according to the map I've got about 21 hours yet to go so it's a big track but making our way for sure guys living the van Life stickers living the van life hats living the van life t-shirts or maybe it's living the van life hoodie whoa guys don't be a fool be cool living thevanlife.com go check it out get yourself some ltvl swag lots to choose from live in the vanlife.com okay Dawson City let's go foreign [Music] thank you [Music] about a hundred miles into the Klondike Highway and found this cool little General Store got a spot to stretch the legs feed the Sprinter van the back of my fan here is a Lifeline to tools and equipment that I need in the back so just about every time I stop in fuel I try to hit it with the ice scraper in the brush I've had this actually freeze up on me at one point and not be able to get inside and on we go foreign [Music] the mighty and the wild Yukon river that runs from the interior of British Columbia up through the Yukon before it eventually ends up in the Bering Sea foreign [Music] foreign absolutely stunning and the fact that it's clear out with sunshine is the icing on the cake I couldn't be more thrilled right now with the way this is going [Music] foreign [Music] just clicking by I've been driving for 36 and a half hours since I left Northwest Washington the territory the landscape the snow it's just a complete Winter Wonderland at least 17 to 18 more hours to go to reach the Arctic Ocean [Music] [Music] so here we've made it the whole 331 mile Trek from White Horse up to Dawson City [Music] [Music] failing my absence I'll be surely missing you I've been working every day and I sure hope you love this too how do you know when you are deep deep into the far north of Canada that's when you find a snowmobile sitting outside the the pub just idling to stay warm so when they're done with their cocktails at the bar they just load up on the snow machine and they get the hell out of here foreign [Music] ER I live here in Boston I've lived here for 18 years I used to operate the taxi the only legal taxi in Austin but it went bankrupt due to covid it has gotten as cold as negative 50 Celsius which is about well maybe negative 60 on the Fahrenheit scale wow and this year the amount of snow that we've got is a lot more snow than we've had in the last 18 years oh mostly just uh walk my dog and go on hikes do a little bit of hunting and fishing there's a lot of dog sledding and as you can tell there are a few bars that are open new restaurants there's fire going on down there [Music] okay now we know we're in Canada that is for sure I'm gonna go find myself a nice warm Pub enjoy a cocktail or two before turning in for the night that I can see the light it seems to be about Dawson City where things start to get severely into the Negative Zone hey Siri what's the temperature outside it's minus 20 . right now it's uh showing as 67 degrees here inside the van I would consider this being the first night in the true far north okay guys I'm gonna go hit the hay and uh wake up in the morning because we've got a big drive as we start up the Dempster Highway working our way towards the Arctic Circle and this uh wintertime Adventure all right guys catch you in the morning foreign how's that for some cold temperatures right there holy hell negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit we have officially entered the insanity Zone The Zone where the Celsius scale in the Fahrenheit scale actually start Crossing each other it's negative 40 degrees celsius as well the good news is actually survive through the night this is by far the coldest that I have ever camped in in my van it hurts to breathe which is actually pretty crazy I can feel my nostrils like freezing up I've only been outside for maybe two minutes this is wild the van did everything it was meant to be the diesel here cranking away I actually had to wake up in the middle of the night and turn the heat down because it had gotten too hot it was like 75 degrees inside there the fact that the diesel heater kept everything so warm inside the van it's a huge Testament to that but not only that there has to be something that actually runs that heater and that's where the battleborn batteries come into play and here we are at negative 40 degrees and this whole entire operation is depending on the battleborn lithium batteries it has become the lifeline of this whole entire project all the camera gears charged there all my lighting most importantly the Heat here's the true question of all is how does a diesel Sprinter van start at negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit without being plugged in I do not have a block heater on this [Music] a lot of what we're hearing right now on that cold startup all the pulleys are cold all the belts are cold that's just a matter of how that's got to work until this thing gets warmed up all that stuff will quiet down but the good news is it started hell yeah outside maybe five minutes mustache is already collecting ice sleepy little town but yet has so much character super cool [Music] foreign [Music] let's get this show on the road we got a trip to the Arctic Ocean to make [Music] this is the start of the Dempster Highway 541 miles to tucked yuck tuck I've prepared myself I've prepared my equipment it's time to put it to the test and see if we can conquer the Dempster Highway in the middle of winter all the way to the Arctic Ocean I'd be lying to you 100 if I said that I was not nervous about this Trek matter of fact I'm nervous as hell this is definitely the Zone where everything becomes no joke I have to be very very careful with everything that I do everything has to be calculated and well thought out these are very dangerous temperatures for sure and we're about to embark on this journey let's see what it's all about [Music] foreign foreign unbelievable I cannot I can't even put into words to explain what it's like to be here the journey that it's taken to get this far after more than 40 hours of driving I'm standing in the most unbelievable winter landscape [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] the remoteness I've seen it in pictures I've seen it in in movies and videos but to actually stand here you don't get this feeling by looking at it and books or pictures or videos it's a whole different feeling and just the Journey of what it takes to get out here and how remote it is it makes it truly special and it's one thing to do it in the summertime but to take on the feet of doing it in the wintertime it's definitely an accomplishment that feels very very good [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] tell you what I have never been more happy to find a bit of civilization about 250 miles into the Dempster Highway that is a long long remote drive through some treacherous winter roads just in time for a magnificent sunset well good morning guys we are uh waking up here this morning it's negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit there is a bit of a wind blowing here this morning so the wind chill factor is definitely down there I'm here at Eagle Plains which is a halfway point between the junction and anuvik on the way to tuck to yuk Tech here you've got gasoline you've got diesel you've got a small automotive repair shop but then also there is a hotel a lounge and a restaurant here for the truckers and The Travelers who are passing through to stop and bed down overnight and I tell you what that was a welcome sight when I rolled up on that here last night I've had to make quite a few adjustments to the Sprinter van in order to make it work the temperatures are so cold and when you are driving 50 to 60 miles an hour you can imagine the wind chill factor on your whole entire cooling system it becomes too overpowering for the engine to actually keep up and build enough heat to operate properly in fact it got to the point where the diesel exhaust fluid system was beginning to fail so I've spent the last hour or so shoving cardboard into my grill to block that cold cold air and allow the Sprinter van to actually get up to proper operating temperatures I've found that that has been hugely important up here in the far north hopefully this does the trick and we can get ourselves up and into anuvic all right guys let's get this adventure started back up let's hit the road still got about another 250 miles to go on to anuvic negative 40 degrees this is crazy to be able to jump out of this printer van for just a second and experience it's one thing but if anything were to go wrong and trying to survive out here it wouldn't take long this is no joke I can feel my nostrils freezing as I breathe air in hands out for not even a minute or two it instantly wants to freeze just to operate the camera it's it's almost impossible then you add a wind chill factor and it's insane let this be an example of how remote this is here driving along on this highway I come across this sign watch for aircraft landing on roadway you're so remote that there's no air strips out here that they actually use the road uh as emergency landing strips way the heck out here very very dangerous indeed oh my god oh [ __ ] literally out for the two minutes to take a picture of the Sun and the trees everything freezes on your face you can fear your eyelashes freezing it doesn't take long this right here is the Arctic Circle that means we are officially in the Arctic from here on North there's at least one day out of the Year where the sun does not set for 24 hours and there's also one day out of the year that the sun does not rise for 24 hours and that is what defines the Arctic Circle everything [Music] foreign no big deal just eating some lunch up here at the Arctic Circle I think that's one thing that I've realized that I need to make more time to stop and actually eat some food nourish my energy the last I can't even remember how many days I've been driving now but five or six days I've just been driving solid and it's easy to not stop and eat but it's important I notice it definitely helps with the mood and the energy to just get through these drives so I made myself some bone broth with some ready-made fettuccine noodles and I actually had some Frito corn chips sitting in the cabinet so I went ahead and threw those in just for some extra added texture but makes a bit of a soup the fact that it's nice and warm is perfect because right now we're in the Arctic [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] just screams through here and the absolute frigid temperatures put a whole nother Vice on the landscape this here is truly the Arctic [Music] foreign [Music] so far I've driven all the way to the very top of British Columbia all the way through the Yukon and now entering Northwest Territory the van still continues to be a champ although I've had to make some modifications to it for it to actually withstand this cold it's much much happier now and now this Sprinter van is getting us all the way up to the Arctic Northwest Territories let's go [Music] foreign this ice Road as soon as I cross North into Northwest Territories has become absolutely phenomenal it is smooth I don't know that I've ever driven anything this smooth definitely none of the freeways down south this is like a NASCAR track up here in the Frozen north of Canada foreign the longest river in all of Canada it also turns out that McKinsey is the second largest drainage basin of any North American River after the Mississippi now in the summertime this River Crossing on the Dempster highway is actually operated by a small ferry that carries cars and people across the McKinsey but here in the Arctic in the wintertime temperatures get so cold that the whole entire River actually freezes over they have to pull the ferry boat on Shore and the only way to cross the McKinsey River on the Dempster Highway in the winter time is by driving this ice Road foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] rolled into anubik this evening about sunset so I'm just throwing together a quick simple meal with some items that I had here I had a can of salmon so I decided to make a bit of a tuna style salad here so I make some mayonnaise with it some relish even put some bacon bits in there and mix it all up I also had some ready-made rice I just boiled some water in the jet boil getting that heated up and gonna put that with the tuna salad I've got some bread over here and of course got a whiskey mixed up some good old Canadian Club here this evening but uh yeah just hanging out here inside the van you know the temperatures are far far below zero a very dangerous temperatures uh and it's taxing on the vehicle and it's just remote so there's a lot of nerves of just a lot of distance to cover and some extreme temperatures uh with not a lot of people around and a lot can go wrong very easily but other than that it is absolutely gorgeous it truly felt like you're on a different planet uh so that was that was very cool enjoying my evening sipping a cup of whiskey listening some music and uh ready for a meal then I'm gonna hunker down for the evening catch good night's sleep and then tomorrow we head on to tuck sounds like there's a little bit of weather moving in but we're gonna see if we can overcome that hopefully that doesn't hinder the 100 miles that we've got to go to the Arctic Ocean all right guys we'll catch you later on well this is the urban stealth camping situation for last night here in anubik when you're dealing with those kind of weather conditions these kind of temperatures where it's been known to get down like we've found negative 40 degrees uh this isn't quite the time to go out and have the Romantic Camp outs out in the wilderness I've opted to stay closer to town closer to facilities if anything were to go wrong with the van the diesel heater anything at least I'm close by civilization rather than parking myself way out in the wilderness it's a big enough Trek to be making the trip between these communities so when it comes to hunkering down for the night I'm choosing the urban stealth Camp route this morning woke up to about eight degrees Fahrenheit snow's coming down there's a high wind warning blowing snow and low visibility still got 95 miles to go about two and a half hours worth of travel and with this weather this could be a little bit sketchy got the diesel heater got plenty of water got lots of Power full up on diesel and lots of backup Food Supplies so definitely prepared for that today is Summit day we're gonna go Summit this mountain this 2500 mile Mountain all the way to the Arctic Ocean we'll go see what this is all about let's do it [Music] foreign [Music] well damn it with these wind storm warnings coming in and then of course the snow is starting to fall I wondered how that was going to affect travel up to tuck gotta go ahead and Trust the authorities on this and if they've closed the road I'm gonna go ahead and heed those warnings I'll probably just stand by here in anuvic and just wait this weather out and of course I've got the facilities to be able to do that and hopefully this weather passes I'll head back toward anubik see what I can drum up [Music] so here we are we're stuck in a new Vic but why don't we just take a moment to talk about the new living the van life merch guys we've got living the van life hats living the van life t-shirts living the van Life stickers also my favorite this is a nice comfortable whoa living the van life hoodies we've got all sorts of colors we got all sorts of sizes we got all sorts of options guys you know the drill don't be a fool be cool live in the van life.com make sure and go on over get your merchandise and be cool just like the rest of us that have our cool living the van life hats hoodies t-shirts stickers live in the van life.com do it with that being said I actually just got word that the road all the way to tucked yuck tuck is now open we've got a trip to the Arctic Ocean to make let's do this it's uh later in the afternoon but I just checked my travel time I've got time to make it up there before uh Sunset so uh it's still snowing but I think the major concern was the winds and it sounds like the winds have died down so I'm gonna go ahead and jump in make the push see if we can't reach the Arctic Ocean here this evening so got a bit of a drive gonna start going let's do this so here we go again the Adventure Continues once more 94 miles two hours 33 minutes estimated time of arrival at 6 13. gray weather has socked in both hands on the wheel headed Northbound out of anubik [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so prior to 2017 the only way to be able to drive up to talk to yuk tuk was in the winter time on the very famous ice roads that actually headed up the MacKenzie River that's actually where the famous Ice Road Truckers came from the truckers that would travel from anubik up to tuck and Hauling their dangerous loads in 2017 this highway was finished being built and that allows people to be able to drive to and from over land in all four seasons [Music] foreign [Music] smelling a tinge of diesel exhaust inside the van and figured it had to bend with the heater the end of the tailpipe down here ended up filling up with ice and actually plugged up the exhaust tapped the end of that pipe and luckily it became unplugged and it's all fine now it's actually building up some heat starting to thaw that pipe out so I think we'll be okay now unfortunately the exhaust of these diesel heaters end up in spots a lot of times where they're susceptible to spray from the slush the snow the ice the rain Etc and if you're not careful it can build up and actually plug up either the intake or the exhaust so what I like to do in these cold cold situations is crank the heater up so it's generating enough heat to keep itself thought out and that was a mistake I made before I traveled the day is I still had it set on low and it just couldn't keep up to to keep its system thought out sounds like it's running good now crisis is averted and now we head on North up the highway [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] the snow drifts along the sides of the highway here are reaching seven eight feet tall in some spots the wind starts blowing and it just accumulates snow in huge huge drifts and that's what makes this stretch up to tuck so dangerous if you were to get caught out here in one of those snow drifts it could be a long time before they are able to get to you foreign [Music] I've driven this whole entire way in two-wheel drive mainly just to conserve as much fuel as possible because it's such long distances between fuel stops I have been absolutely impressed with the performance of these BFG ko2 tires they have performed very very well on hundreds and hundreds of miles in this slick icy snowy road conditions I can't say enough about the traction control on the Mercedes drivetrain with the performance of the tires the performance of the Mercedes-Benz traction control I've been able to do this thing just fine comfortably in two-wheel drive and maintaining good speeds I'm usually going between 50 55 miles an hour definitely pleased with how all of that is performing and [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] beautiful [Music] two thousand four hundred and eighty seven miles 56 hours and 48 minutes worth of driving all the way to get to this point and here we are standing on top of the world there's not another human there's not another building there's not another bit of civilization of nothing between me and the North Pole besides hundreds of miles of Frozen ice out there across the frozen Arctic Ocean on February 22nd 2022 that means it's 222 22 on a Tuesday in tucked Yak Tack and we are standing at the Arctic Ocean ladies and gentlemen boys and girls we made it I'm currently standing on the Arctic Ocean I think one thing that a lot of people think is that it's still an ocean at this time of year but in the dead of the winter the true fact is the Arctic Ocean is frozen over with many many many inches of ice and you can actually walk out on it most people that visit this spot in the summertime they take a dip in the Arctic Ocean when it's thawed out and they are part of the Polar Bear Club however I don't have that opportunity here in the dead of wintertime so I guess I have no other choice but just to lay down and do a snow angel on top of the Arctic Ocean [Music] foreign to put your sticker up here and leave your mark on having made it all the way up here to tuck and the Arctic Ocean and right here above me I see the Expedition Overland has left their sticker here the folks over at Expedition over land have been a huge inspiration in making this Trek all the way up here to the Arctic Ocean so I think that's a perfect home for living the van Life sticker right there to commemorate the old van again this is the sticker that I'm gonna put up on the sign at least it made it here in spirit thank you just jumped in the van here to do a quick simple warm snack uh here in the jetboil got some chicken bone broth got these a cup of noodle style little meals here I'm gonna whip something up here um the great thing about this stuff is actually I've got it all stored up here in the upper cabinet uh the bone broth stirs nicely up here I've got several meals worth of that all tucked way back in here a few of these a cup of noodle things these are really nice it's a healthy sized meal and then a couple other just you know canned soup some lunch and meat uh some canned fish up here but anyways all the food goods are up there and for this trip I've just done things quick and simple because it's so much driving and it's so much trying to survive the cold so anyways rather than just putting boiling water in this here A cup of noodle meal I'm gonna actually warm up uh some bone broth here in the jet boil and use that for the soup give it a little extra kick [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] would have been nice to be out doing some campfire cooking and chilling around a fire but I hope you guys can imagine what kind of challenge that would pose in conditions like this the task of driving the task of filming the task of just flat out surviving these conditions is a challenge all on its own so warm simple meals it is normally these cup of noodle meals here just require hot boiling water but like I said to give it that extra kick I went ahead and fixed it up with some of the chicken bone broth [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] the wind is blowing like crazy coming in off of the frozen Arctic Ocean [Music] picking up all the snow blowing it in through the buildings and the houses here in Texas foreign it's amazing how they've created and sustained life up here what they endure so isolated in the far north in The Frigid Arctic I am one of the first Outsiders to be able to come in and experience this in nearly two years [Music] very very cool to be able to make the Trek up here I feel thankful the fact that the community of tucked yuck tuck and Northwest Territories as a whole actually allowed me to come into film my film about coming up to the Arctic they take covid very seriously up here in these small isolated towns an outbreak could be disastrous so they have kept it on lockdown foreign [Applause] foreign people are extremely friendly the mayor of Tucky and his friend Eddie they came to hang out at the van and welcome me to the town of taktiecta we shared a selfie in front of the Arctic Ocean sign very very thankful very very fortunate so thank you guys for accepting me in here it has been absolutely phenomenal a trip of a lifetime I'm greeted here by Mr Rob he is a local he's lived here for 48 years all his life hi I'm Robert grubin I've been born and raised here and do all my livelihood hunting polar bears whatever is good for our community for the elders because some of us still live on traditional foods polar bears and foxes wolves Wolverines we're basically still living off the land so it's brutally cold and isolated if you don't have the money to get out once in a while it's brutal so some of us really get isolated and some of us uh try and you know the odd jobs that the economy really low in the epidemic so right now it's it's slow but it's nice to see tourists come in good to see different people and friendly people so it's it's really good it's a pleasure to meet you everybody pleasure yeah [Music] I have a feeling you're gonna make me take you home aren't you you literally will not leave my side the whole entire town hey hey you want to get up as I rolled up to the Arctic Ocean sign here this afternoon I was greeted by this cute little puppy uh these sled dogs are raised up here to live in these kind of conditions it's definitely found interest in hanging out with me this afternoon as I cruised around town it's been quite cold and blustery out so I figured I'd bring it inside and feed it a warm snack According to some of the locals that I chatted with it sounds like the pup lives here in town and then we're going to go ahead and notify the owners that uh they could come down here and get it I know do a cute putt yes you are a cute pup [Music] thank you what an adventure it's like climbing a mountain we all have our own mountains to climb this was definitely one of my mountains definitely my biggest mountain yet it's a big world out there there's plenty of Adventures so who knows what mountains come Beyond this but cheers to this mountain right here and cheers to all the mountains that led up to this mountain because before there is ever any biggest mountain there's hundreds of smaller mountains that come before the big one so to be sitting here on the Arctic Ocean and looking back at all the adventures that have been had all the times that have led up to this all the successes all the failures all the heartaches all the rejoices this this is right here is what it's like to stand on top of a mountain at least on top of the world this is the mother Arctic Ocean guys the [ __ ] Arctic Ocean what in the hell I mean there's always enjoying a sunset at the beach that's all great and all but when you can sit and spend an evening enjoying a sunset over a frozen Arctic Ocean truly a special moment I definitely want to give a cheers to the old van again the old Vanagon that could had Many Many Adventures he's definitely part of having climb this mountain all right I gotta turn this off and enjoy this for a bit sorry guys this is my time for a second foreign [Music] you wanna come inside come on come on come on come on come on come on [Music] come on I don't know if it's better for you to come in or stay out you come in here and get a warm there you go there you go I hope you stay warm out there I just spent the last hour and a half setting up a time lapse to go for the next four and a half hours because outside there's a pretty incredible Northern Light Show going on out across the Arctic Ocean and uh wanted to take the camera out with the slider set up and capture that time lapse is a big commitment and you don't know until the morning when you go and check to see if you have a treasure or not but nonetheless it's out there capturing and we are camping at the Arctic Ocean the Arctic Ocean right now is literally just a matter of a few yards outside the slider looking due north towards the North Pole okay I'm gonna uh get to work on cleaning this place up and getting it ready for bed [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I can say that I've woke up in some pretty amazing places in my time of living the van life never did I ever think that I could wake up here on the Arctic Ocean in the middle of wintertime this might go down as perhaps the wildest Camp spot I've ever ever had it did get down to a negative 26 degrees Fahrenheit last night but the van inside stay nice and comfortable as a testament to the diesel heater kept it nice and comfortable and the Sprinter van it's past the true test the fact that it got me all the way up here to the frozen Arctic it managed to keep me safe it managed to keep me comfortable and warm it's become an amazing habitat for sure 487 miles eight days 56 hours and 38 minutes of driving and here we are the top of the world we made it all the way the frick up here so crazy so so crazy yeah just what it's like to be standing out here it's unbelievable like I said this for me has been my mountain and now to have been able to stand at the top at The Summit as any good mountain climber will tell you once you get to the top your climb is only halfway done got a long ways to go to get back but I think this goes ahead and wraps up this Arctic van Life Adventure and I'm gonna get out of here and start making my way South guys thank you so much for being part of this adventure I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did if you're not already part of the channel I'd like to welcome you to go ahead and hit the Subscribe button hit the like button make sure and share it with any friends and family you think might appreciate this video but most importantly I'd love to hear your comments in the comment section down below the video all right guys I'm out of here peace out keep on trucking [Applause] [Music] foreign

Channel: Living The Van Life

Views: 1,160,758

Keywords: Living The Van Life, Living, Life, Live, Lived, van, camping, camped, camper, camp, cook, cooking, survival, surviving, survived, RV, campervan, wild, wilderness, woods, outdoors, car, truck, vehicle, mercedes, sprinter, 4x4, mountain, mountains, vlog, vlogging, vanlife, chad, bushcraft, bush, offgrid, off the grid, adventure, travel, traveling, snow, winter, ice, cold, weather, prepare, freeze, freezing, preparation, food, prep, overland, overlanding, explore, exploring, backcountry

Id: G8MQQ7jgQZw

Length: 108min 12sec (6492 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2022