INUVIK
You could say Sergio De Barba marches to the beat of a very different drummer.
Sergio De Barba of Belgium strolled into Inuvik April 17 after spending a month walking and camping on the Dempster Highway from Dawson City, Yukon. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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That might be the only way to explain why the 63-year-old Belgian spent a month walking and camping the daunting Dempster Highway from Dawson City to Inuvik in late winter and early spring, completely independently. He was alone with no support system of any kind.
The Inuvik Drum was tipped off to his presence by an anonymous caller who said she had first seen him along the Dempster in the Yukon several weeks ago. The unnamed woman spotted him again on April 17 close to Inuvik.
Unlike other people who do such out-of-the-ordinary things to support a cause or to raise money, De Barba, who runs a cheese shop in his native country, seems to be from the Sir Edmund Hillary school of thought. He did it because it's there.
"It's a dream," said De Barba in an interview on the shoulder of the highway April 17 near the government weigh station. "Now my dream is coming true. I'm very happy."
He comes from the French part of Belgium, about 100 km from Brussels, where little English is spoken, but was quite proficient in the language when speaking to the Inuvik Drum.
He said he had first thought of making the trek a few years ago after seeing a documentary about the NWT's ice roads on TV.
"I thought it was a good idea to come and see it," De Barba said.
He initially thought of Nordic skiing the route, but some research quickly showed that wasn't a viable idea. As he said, the Dempster is a regular highway, after all.
Undaunted, he re-thought his approach and decided on the walking tour. He built himself a wheeled sled he could haul with relative ease. It was to carry all of his possessions and supplies for the trip.
"My friends and family thought I was a crazy man," he said with a hearty laugh. "But I like winter, I like snow, and we never get any in Belgium anymore."
De Barba quickly found out the winter in Canada's Northern territories is a beast of a different colour. He quickly acclimated though.
"It's very cold here," he said. "It was hard to get used to it, but I have good clothes."
He camped everywhere he went, and packed all of his supplies on the sled.
The lowest temperature he faced was in the -40 C range, and that was in the Yukon shortly after he set out on his trek March 19 or 20.
He walked 20 to 25 km a day in most spots. He hustled up to 34 km a day with the 90-kilogram sled as he approached the Yukon-NWT boundary, trying to outpace a blizzard. Surprisingly, he managed to do it.
Conditions were milder in the NWT, De Barba said. Here, he faced temperatures only in the -20s C.
He said he enjoyed the mountains of the Yukon, but also noted there were far more people there. He also didn't particularly enjoy the activity associated with oil and gas exploration there.
He saw more wildlife in the NWT, but nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary.
"I didn't see any caribou," he said with some disappointment.
Many people stopped to chat with him along the way. Some would ask if he needed assistance, while others offered food and drink. All were interested in his story, he said.
De Barba said he didn't do anything special to prepare for the trip. He obviously likes walking, and just continued with his daily routine of hoofing it around his home and doing some cycling as well.
He planned to spend four days in Inuvik before returning home. This time, though, he was being more conventional in his approach.
"I'm flying," he said with a wink. "My dream has become a reality."
