Driving the Dempster Hwy

We came off the Dempster on Wednesday, June 26. We started back from Inuvik to Eagle Plains on Tuesday morning (the 25th). It had been raining all night, from Inuvik to Eagle Pains and maybe further south. Long stretches were extremely slick; in fact, the road was closed from Eagle Plains to the NWT border from sometime early in the morning until about 11 am or so (NWT time), and we were one of the first ones to cross south on the Peel River ferry when it reopened. It was slow going and downright treacherous in spots, and every vehicle was coated with the black goo that the highway kicks up when it's really wet. I was very happy that we had decided not to tow our travel trailer on our Dempster trip, not only because of the slippery sections, but also because the frequent rough, washboard and pothole stretches of road would have been hard on the trailer. Truck campers and truck body campers do okay -- we saw a lot of them, but many fewer trailers and no big rig RV's. But I knew that the rough sections of the Dempster would bounce and twist a heavy towed vehicle such as a travel trailer with the exaggerated effect of a teeter-totter, because this was our experience towing over the Labrador Highway two years ago, and I did not want to replicate that experience on the Dempster, which is just an up-and-back trip to destinations that have decent places to stay -- a bit pricey, but decent. Having said this, the Dempster and Tuk roads are, as others have noted, excellent unpaved roads for some very long stretches -- certainly for more than a majority of their combined length of 500+ miles -- and the trip as a whole is absolutely worth it -- an adventure to a couple of very interesting towns, with some of the most outstanding scenery in the world along the way, if it's sunny, which it was for us the entire way up to Tuktoyaktuk and from Eagle Plains to Dawson coming home.

We just came off the Dempster yesterday. The road to tombstone is in great shape, spent the first night at Engineer Creek. Lots of mosquitos. Some rough patches signed for 50kph between there and Peel River. Rough before NWT border as well. Road between peel and MacKenzie is good, north of Mackenzie to Inuvik is fantastic. Road construction from the intersection south of Inuvik thru to the Marine bypass signed 50 and 30 kph.
We stayed at Jak campground. Quieter than Happy Valley, more room between sites and great bathrooms. 15a sites available, dump and fresh water available at Happy Valley for Jak campers.

Eat at Alistines on Franklin and Millen if you don’t want to cook. Fish tacos with caught fresh daily from the Mackenzie whitefish are the best I’ve ever had.

Road to Tuk from Inuvik is in great shape. There are patches of deeper gravel in places especially the last few miles into Tuk.
The campground at the point is now $60cdn/nite plus $3 tax. So $63cdn.
Pay at the visitors center a few blocks south on the right as you head up.
The “beach” is signed for no swimming. Traditional fishing grounds.

Last night on the road was at the campground just above the Peel River ferry, between it and Fort MacPherson behind the visitors info station. Also an excellent campground with great bathrooms and showers.

We’re currently at Good Rush in Dawson. Don’t understand the negative comments about this place. Office staff is great to deal with, Pat the owner is very accommodating, we’re walking everywhere around town, and we’ll be using the showers in the am.
I’ll let you know if they’re warm or cold.

k.

It's nice being north of the Arctic Circle on June 21, the longest day of the year. The sun stays above the horizon for the whole night.

You can check road conditions in Yukon at http://www.511yukon.ca/en/index.html
and conditions in NWT at http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/Highways/Highway-Conditions

May as well keep going to Tuktoyoktuk then.
We did it in a 35' over wide class A last season