70mm | 1/1000s | f/8 | ISO 900

After visiting Tuktoyaktuk the only road from here was south, so I started back. Spotted this family of Tundra Swans along with 3 young ones. I’ve spotted and photographed Tundra Swans in Alberta as they pass through to their nesting grounds in the Arctic. So, this was extra special to see the young ones.

420mm | 1/1000s | f/5.6 | ISO 320

Also spotted this fluffy plant along side the road and had to stop and have a closer look. This is Arctic Cottongrass. Found out later that this is a food source for caribou and migrating snow geese. So soft and fluffy!

50mm | 1/100s | f/8 | ISO 100

After leaving the Arctic Ocean, the clouds returned and had rain while in Inuvik. Got to experience a thunderstorm while camping in Inuvik! Wasn’t until I got back into the Richardson Mountain range that the sun came back and I slowed down and took my time exploring.

DJI Mini 2 DNG | 4.5mm | 1/640s | f/2.8 | ISO 100

The area around the Northwest and Yukon Territory border is some of the most beautiful landscapes in the far north. Like a few days before, the sunbeams and scatter clouds played with the light on the landscape.  See photo at the very top of page.

On the way up I had wild camp in the area and did the same on the way back south. This gave me the opportunity to explore the hills. From my camp spot, I hiked up the hill to gain the grandeur view of the area. A drone-selfie on top of the hill.

DJI Mini 2 DNG | 4.5mm | 1/640s | f/2.8 | ISO 100

If I hadn’t climbed this hill, this next photo would have never seen the light of day. The Arctic is a harsh landscape and takes a lot of work for plants (and people) to survive. But this little clump of flowers found a spot on this hill among all the rocks that they could live and thrive.

70mm | 1/640s | f/6.3 | ISO 1000

At this latitude, the sun sets for a brief period overnight but never gets dark. The next morning was a beautiful mostly cloud clear skies and very little wind. I had noticed this odd rock hill structure few kilometres away from the road. Now from the photos I’ve shown here, the landscape looks easy to traverse, but it is actually a lot of bushes and very hard walking through. So, I sent little ‘eagle’, my drone to go check it out. It looks like a rock whale swimming through the Arctic landscape. So odd how it has very little vegetation on the rock hill whereas the surrounding land is completely green with vegetation.

DJI Mini 2 DNG | 4.5mm | 1/640s | f/2.8 | ISO 100

After the 1 km flight out and then back 1km, was able to get a closer view of this unique landscape.

Little further south along the road, the trees start to reappear and slowly you are back into a landscape with trees.

135mm | 1/1000s | f/8 | ISO 720

Few kilometers further, I left the Arctic Circle and the wonders of the Canada’s far north.

Few behind the scenes photos (click edge to scroll through). 1) at the Arctic Circle sign, 2) Arctic Ocean with my 2 travel buddies, Eagle from Pacific Ocean Tofino, British Columbia and Puffin from Atlantic Ocean Newfoundland, dipping their feet into the Arctic Ocean (I did too, but will save you the photos here), 3) Made it to the end of the road!

Hope you enjoyed seeing a few photos from the top of Canada.