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Lamb (left) and colleague Jamie Howe (right) reach the northernmost stop on their journey--the Arctic Ocean--near Tuktoyaktuk, NWT.

4Refuel Director Completes Arctic Quest

Spanning two provinces, two territories, one U.S. State and nearly 8,000 kilometres, it was a trip of a lifetime for 4Refuel Director of Fleet and Safety, Keith Lamb.

And that’s not to mention it was all on the seat of a motorcycle.

The two-plus-week long super-trip through the Arctic included stops at the Arctic Circle, the Arctic Ocean and the famous Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City, Yukon.

“Throughout the trip, I was struck by the awe and beauty and vastness of the Pacific Northwest and the Arctic,” Lamb said.

Lamb completed the northern adventure alongside colleague Jamie Howe, Operations Team Leader for 4Refuel GTA, and six of their motorcycling pals, who concocted the idea of the journey as part of their yearly ride together.

In the past, the trips have been extensive, but this time the group decided they’d go big or go home.

“We’ve been on some long rides to some remote places, but we wanted to plan the trip around riding the famous Dempster Highway,” says Lamb. “It turned into our biggest yet.”

After months of careful preparations and planning, the group converged on Edmonton, where their bikes awaited them, having been transported by trailer from Ontario.

Once they landed, they headed northwest and picked up the Alaska Highway at Mile Zero in Dawson Creek, B.C., travelling through Northern Interior British Columbia until they crossed into the Yukon.

Picking up the Dempster Highway in Klondike, Yukon, it was a straight shot north. They passed the Arctic Circle and the Tree Line, arriving at the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories—their northernmost destination—located just below the 70th parallel north.

After a quick stop in Tuktoyaktuk with a potential heavy rain hour away to the south, it was back on the road, riding south Inuvik, NWT for the night, then back down the famous Dempster Highway to Alaska’s Panhandle community of Haines. They jumped on a 36-hour ferry ride through Glacier Bay National Park taking them to Prince Rupert, B.C.

Once docked, it was a trot across Northern B.C. back to Edmonton where the trip wrapped up, at the same place it started.

In the end, Lamb said the group could appreciate all the work that went into making the journey possible.

“You can imagine the planning, preparations and careful calculations needed to make sure we never ran out of fuel, carried the spare parts and tools to perform roadside repairs to get where we needed to be,” he said.

“One wrong calculation here or there could have meant we found ourselves in a lot of trouble. In the end, we got the job done and we’ve each got the memories of completing this epic journey.”

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