TRAVEL TIPS

WHERE TO STAY IN INUVIK
  • The town's three hotels are fairly forgettable, so we looked for alternatives. We enjoyed one night in a room at Delta Guest House, a pleasant place run by a bear biologist and her husband which would be a B&B if it featured breakfast. We had another good night at the Arctic Chalet, a place that mixed Swiss sensibility, Austrian architecture and Far North hospitality.
    		•

    BOREAL BOOKSTORE
  • The Arctic's rich history and spectacular beauty get little attention in the Lower 48, so the collection of books at this wonderful little Inuvik bookstore was an eye-opener. We were particularly drawn to the extensive selection of maps, and bought a Canadian Geographic polar map. It was a surprise to see how few people live farther north than where we stood at that moment.
    		•

    PINGOS
  • The western Arctic is surprisingly mountainous, except for the flat stretches of tundra and lakes near the Arctic Ocean. When some lakes run dry, the underlying permafrost pushes the tundra upward. The largest of these hills, rising as high as 150 feet, are called "pingos." Hundreds surround Tuk, and are popular sites for tourists to climb. A new attraction, the Pingo National Historic Site, offers information about the geology of these fragile monuments.
    		•