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More than 1,000 Canadian towns in 106 days: that’s the epic scale of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. In this continuing series, we’ll keep pace with the run and introduce you to some of Canada’s most intriguing “torch towns.”

Next up: the Olympic torch goes on a circumpolar expedition to Canada North’s three vast, unspoiled territories:  Yukon (YT), Northwest Territories (NWT) and Nunavut (NU).

Day 6, Nov. 4: Old Crow, YT and Inuvik, NWT

Day 7, Nov 5: Kugluktuk, NU

Think you know adventure travel? Then you must know Canada’s raw North. Where else can you cruise the fabled Northwest Passage in an icebreaker, pull up a chair at midnight to watch the greatest natural light show on earth and spot genuine Inuit inuksuit while mushing across the permafrost in a dogsled?

Torch Town claims to fame:

• Gravy-fried caribou in Old Crow
• The Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik
• Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Historic Park in Kugluktuk

Torch festivities:
The westernmost point on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay Route, Old Crow is also the Yukon’s most northerly community, accessible only by aircraft—or by canoe for the truly intrepid.

This friendly Vuntut Gwitchin First Nations community of 300 celebrates the arrival of the torch on Nov. 4 with samplings of fresh Porcupine River caribou and salmon and other ancestral traditions showcasing how the people here still thrive, living off the land.

Later the same day, the torch crosses the border to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories where welcome ceremonies may include a grand feast, traditional Gwich’in and Inuvialuit Aboriginal games, and local music, dance and drumming.

On Nov. 5, the Olympic torch travels to Kugluktuk. A full day of celebratory events includes a parade led by the fire department, while a local dogsledder runs his team through town in advance of the torch relay. After that, it’s the lighting of a ceremonial cauldron, lunch, a craft fair, fiddling, drumming and a dance at the community hall.

Getting here:
A trip to Canada’s Arctic is the adventure of a lifetime, but the sheer size of the territories means you’ll need to factor in lengthy travel times.

Fortunately, all the North’s torch towns are served by major airport gateways. Old Crow is located 800 km (497 mi) north of Whitehorse, the capital city of Yukon. Scheduled and chartered flights run six days a week from Old Crow to Whitehorse, which also has flights connecting to Inuvik, NWT and the southwestern Canadian cities of Calgary and Edmonton, AB and Vancouver, BC.

Fly to Inuvik from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories and famous Diamond Capital of North America. Direct flights leave to and from the Yellowknife Airport to Ottawa, ON, Calgary and Edmonton, AB and Vancouver, BC.

It takes about eight hours to fly from Ottawa, ON to Yellowknife, NWT, roughly the same time it takes to get from New York to London. Summers, you can drive the Alaska, Dempster and Mackenzie highways north to Yellowknife and, from there, take a cruise to Inuvik, NWT on the Mackenzie River.

Two airlines fly in and out of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, which is located north and just east of Yellowknife, NWT on the Coppermine River in the Coronation Gulf. There are no roads or rail routes to Nunavut’s remote communities, and travel days by air could take as long as 24 hours. Leaving from Vancouver, BC, for example, you’d have stops and layovers in Edmonton, AB and Yellowknife, NWT before reaching Kugluktuk in the Kitikmeot region.   

 Worth a side-trip to:

• Experience Old Crow, YT’s famous friendliness firsthand at the town’s only B&B and rental cabins.
• Taste wild crowberries at Vuntut National Park outside Old Crow, YT and to see 100,000-plus migrating Porcupine River caribou in spring and fall.
• Tour the Igloo Church, one of the top attractions in Inuvik, NWT.
• Travel the McKenzie River ice roads that lead north from Inuvik, NWT to Tuktoyaktuk, made newly famous by the TV show Ice Road Truckers.
• Canoe the Coppermine River, crossing the Arctic Circle to the Franklin Expedition’s “Polar Sea,” spotting raptors while en route to Kugluktuk, NU.
• Photograph wildlife and wildflowers on the tundra at Bloody Falls near Kugluktuk, NU and see archaeological remnants of the ancestral Inuit, Dene and Thule cultures. 

http://travelyukon.com/
www.spectacularnwt.com/
www.nunavuttourism.com/
www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-torch-relay/