Dez Loreen
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 19/05) - Living in the North gives you many opportunities to meet tourists. However, some of those visitors don't always use conventional methods of travel to reach the Great White North.

During a recent bicycle trip to the North, Armel Castellan was taught how to smoke a whitefish by Alice Andre of Tsiigehtchic.

Being at the end of the Dempster Highway, Inuvik tourism development officer Judith Venaas has met her share of visitors. "There was one man from New York who came in the winter on a motorcycle, and drove right through to Tuk," said Venaas.

For Tsiigehtchic resident Don Horrocks, it's always a pleasant experience when someone from the south visits his community.

"I'm very interested in other cultures, so I'll stay up late with visitors, listening to their stories and giving them advice," said Horrocks.

Horrocks has lived in Tsiigehtchic for the last two years, and has met many different people from all over the world.

"I remember last summer, we had a Russian fellow come through. Very nice man, with lots of stories."

Unfortunately for the visitor, he was the target of youth vandalism, said Horrocks. "Some kids came out one night, and threw some rocks through his tent."

Horrocks talked with the Tsiigehtchic band office, and made sure the man left with a new tent.

Cyclists aren't the only type of travellers that have been by the small community. Horrocks recalled a Japanese man, and his friend from B.C. who canoed from Fort Smith to Inuvik and passed through Tsiigehtchic. "They had a really long canoe, an 18-footer, I think. They had it crammed with supplies. I thought they would have sunk," said Horrocks. "I'm very impressed with these people. They must possess a lot of strength to travel all the way up here so unconventionally."

Horrocks and his wife have always kept their doors open to weary travellers.

"I know what it's like, to come a long distance and not know anybody. It's the biggest reason I welcome guests into my home," said Horrock's wife Terry.

"Life is all about being neighbourly. It doesn't matter where you come from."

Most recently, a group of cyclists rode from the tip of South America to Inuvik, finishing a two-year journey though the two continents.

They passed through Tsiigehtchic and spent time learning some traditional skills from elders.

The group's final destination was reached in late August. Inuvik resident Deborah Bisson was there to welcome them.

"They had some very entertaining stories of their trip here," said Bisson.

The cross-continental cyclists had an easier ride back home said Bisson. "They drove a truck back down the Dempster, to southern B.C. Must have been a nice break."