Dempster Highway

Great trip and well worth doing in our opinion. We took about 4 days to go each direction and spent about 3 days in Inuvik. We made lots of stops along the way and took our time. You will encounter all kinds of conditions as mentioned above as well as the possibility of forest fires and resulting smoke.

There is (assume it is still there) a v.g. car wash in town and it is recommended you clean your RV when you arrive. Do it again when you reach Dawson.

There are now bridges across the rivers and it is no longer necessary to take a ferry. The road from Inuvik to Tuk will also be open this summer. That would be another adventure and one that not many have done yet. Flying was the only way to get to the Arctic Ocean, but now you can drive! You will see every type of RV on the road. Truck campers are the most suited though.

Note that Pigman1 above is talking about the Alaska road to the Arctic, not the Dempster highway in Yukon.

One of the better gravel roads I've driven, most of the way, in Sept 2013. But the stuff (calcium chloride?) they use to control dust is nearly impossible to wash off a vehicle. It can be driven both ways in ~4 days, or even less if you're not going to stop anywhere, and if the ferries are running on time.

Di the whole thing 2 summers ago and only had one section that was not smooth,apparently grader was broken. dusty on the way up and rain on the way back. There are open rv wash bays in Dawson City. If I did it again I would only go to the Arctic Circle and back. Nice boondocking spot at mile 131 ,if I remember correctly.

Travel on any of the unpaved roads in the north country is a crud shoot. It all depends on when the last pass from a road grader occurred. Recently, no problem, not so recently, the washboard can shake your teeth out, regardless of your speed. If they've just had rain, you deal with a LOT of MUD. If no rain, you choke on dust.

All that said, a great adventure. If you don't want to deal with road and rig conditions, check out van tours. We flew to Prudhoe Bay, spent two nights there and toured the oil fields to the Arctic Ocean shore and they drove us down in a van (2 days with a stop overnight at Coldfoot). Toured a lot of interesting places and did not have to deal with reservations, road conditions or damage to our rig, contents, or toad.

You'll get a sandblast job on your lower body and chassis. Windshields don't fare well either.