Dempster Highway--Where to park my trailer?

O.P. here... The reason I ask is because two years ago I drove the Campbell Highway, then the Top of the World Highway--a total of about 450 miles of gravel. I got a lot of rock rash on my Arctic Fox (see my sig.)

More importantly, somewhere along the road I cracked my three-stack leaf springs on the trailer, which resulted in a catastrophic failure outside...wait for it...Hope, Canada. The leaf spring snapped in two, throwing my two right tires into contact and burning them up before I realized what had happened. Thank God I run Michelin XPS fully steel belted tires and didn't suffer a blowout.

Long story short, the only leaf spring available in Canada was a four-stack, which meant I had to change out all the springs to match. Took a week to get the parts in, and a couple of thousand dollars.

So I'm thinking running the Dempster with just my Land Cruiser would be a lot more carefree. I figure I'll grab a room in Eagle Plains and Inuvik.

If I recall correctly the worst of the black gravel (and sharp shale) is north of the midway Eagle Plains stop, the Richardson Mtns - roughly from there to the river crossing. Past posts have mentioned that a tire repair man in Fort MacPherson does a brisk business.

If you don't want to go all the way, or don't have time, the drive the Tombstone Mountain Campground (72kn) or Engineer Creek (193km) would still give a good taste of the road.

Don't forget that if you are heading west to Alaska, you have another good stretch of gravel road across the Top of the World.

There's another stretch of road in southern BC that's known for its tire cutting gravel, the Highline above Anderson Lake - a scenic alternative to the Duffy Lake Rd between Whistler and Lillooet.

I came to the conclusion when in Alaska and the Yukon that in the far north every road is either a city street or a highway; those seemed to be the only two options for naming. I guess relative to setting out across the tundra any road is a highway.

I didn't take the Dempster, but I did take the Dalton all the way to Deadhorse (with my RV) and I suspect it's at least a little bit comparable. My brother asked me if I would go on the Dalton again; I said I would love to, but wasn't sure if I'd take my RV. On one hand, it is undoubtedly hard on the vehicle and its contents; there's a lot of bouncing around. On the other hand, having a kitchen and bedroom and bathroom and shower along is awfully useful when services are very few and far between.

In the end, both the RV and the driver survived, and the driver at least is very glad to have had the experience and seen some truly magnificent scenery.

Well, Willie & Waylon & Kris were not really highwaymen either, but everything is relative. Suppose we call it a road, the "Dempster Road". Is that better? Huge oil trucks travel this road daily as do all types of RV's, motorcycles, and passenger cars. Folks live out there and they travel back and forth. We had extra spare tires for the truck and the TT as well as a flat jack and two five gallon gas cans (w/ gas). If you are anxious and doubtful....don't go.=, but if you do.....it is SO worth it. lie

I have a friend who lives in Ft. Nelson and makes his living traveling the resource roads in his area. Very experienced off the pavement. He drove the Dempster to the Arctic circle last year and advised me not to take my trailer and have at least two spares, sharp shale rock.

He said it is not a highway.

Go to street view on Google earth.

We drove the Dempster in 2016. 2 days up to Inuvik , and 2 days back down. Now that the road is open to Tuktoyaktuk, I would add another day up and back. Need a day to see Inuvik and a couple hours for Tuk.
The campgrounds on the edge of Dawson, have spots they rent out for people to leave their rigs there so the shiny Class A's stay shiny. The truck and camper were pretty much the same colour after the trip. But $10 at the pressure wash got them back to almost black and almost white.
The links for the campgrounds are back a couple posts.
The scenery is amazing. Enjoy.

We towed our TT over the Dempster in 2016 and I can't imagine making the trip without our "home away from home". With facilities so spread out and so limited and with the condition of the road and the ferry crossings being unpredictable,having your RV with you is invaluable. You know that you will have a place to sleep and something to eat no matter how long you get held up. I may be wrong but I don't see the road getting that crowded either. It's a tough haul no matter what. That said, the scenery is beyond belief and equally fabulous both ways. It is so much more than a "been there==done that" experience. lizzie

Veebyes wrote:
With the all season road opened this year to the ocean it is looking like the Dempster is going to look like a Disney access road at opening or closing on the busiest weekend.

I think that the number of people going to Tuk will be in the tiny hundreds, not thousands. If there are an extra 10 vehicles per day on the Dempster I'll be very surprised.

With the all season road opened this year to the ocean it is looking like the Dempster is going to look like a Disney access road at opening or closing on the busiest weekend. No thanks. Not on a 35mph gravel road. The novelty of going to the Arctic may be huge for the 'been there, done that' factor but it is looking like it will be a real circus on that road this year. Add rain, mud, people in a hurry, people inexperienced with that type of road & the people who live & work in the area not interested in the scenery or wildlife & you have quite a dangerous mix. JMO.

There are several RV parks in Dawson City, rent a site for a few days.

Dawson City RV

Goldrush Campground

Bonanza Gold RV

Yukon Campground

What time of the summer are you to be there, we'll be traveling the Dempster highway all the way up this coming mid summer. Dempster hiway isn't any worst than any of the other hiways so why not take your trailer, round trip is about a thousand miles.