Is Top of the World Hwy paved

Hubby wanted me to add:

We met a truck pulling a flatbed trailer with a D9 Cat with blade going the other way. We pulled over to the soft shoulder looking down on about a 1,000 ft shear drop. We were in our small rig, it's a skinny Winnie only about 7.5' wide and we still almost touched mirrors as the truck went by. Hubby said we didn't need seatbelts, with the way our butts took a suction on the seats. :D

lizzie wrote:
We hung around Tok several days last summer waiting for the rain to stop so we could cross into the Yukon on this highway. The RV's incoming from Top of the World were incredibly dirty. Not just road dirt, but a thick layer of greasy looking grime. They had some horror stories too! We were backing away from making the trip when we met a couple from the RollCall 2013 group who assured us that we would have no problem. Thank you Aprilwhine! We had a great trip and would not have missed it for the world. lizzie

And we loved meeting you!

You are not exaggerating about the grime! Here's some pictures of our rig during/immediately after our trip across Top of the World:

We protected our dinghy with tape



In line for the free ferry across the Yukon River at Dawson City



Top of the World highway sign, about mid way



Chicken AK, the end



And YES we got DIRTY!

Where I grew up all we had were dirt and gravel roads. The road through my hometown didn't get paved till sometime in the 1960's.

So when I drove to Alaska,pulling our fiver,I heard all the horror stories about how bad the roads were. But... I found the roads to be a lot better than the roads I learned to drive on. It is all a matter of perspective.

We have travelled Top of The World several times. The first time was back in the late 70's with tents/gear in a Chevy Blazer. The road was not much more than 2 dirt tracks and was only open about 6 weeks of the year. That is the trip we remember the best!

The road has got so much better over the years. I think if you do not drive it, you will always wonder what you missed and will regret not trying it. Do it - take your time and make several stops along the way to enjoy the scenery. Thousands of people drive it every year so it is doable - give it a try.

For a real experience, camp overnight at the gravel pull out near the border.
The border closes overnight so there is no traffic and it is so quiet and peaceful. Last time we stayed overnight there were 3 other RV's and cariboo walked around our units while we watched in awe.

The majority of the RVers whining about all the troubles they had on roads like the Top of the World Highway, were responsible themselves for the problems. Drive the appropriate speed for the conditions and realize that commercial vehicles are making money, not sightseeing, then there would not be the problems they describe.

The pictures Sue T posted show just some of the awesome scenery you would miss by not going that way. Make your voyage on that section on a Sunday and you won't have all the commercial traffic, but still may have to put up with tour groups. We try and do that section as we go north so the traffic is minimal. If you wait and do it southbound, you will have more traffic.

We hung around Tok several days last summer waiting for the rain to stop so we could cross into the Yukon on this highway. The RV's incoming from Top of the World were incredibly dirty. Not just road dirt, but a thick layer of greasy looking grime. They had some horror stories too! We were backing away from making the trip when we met a couple from the RollCall 2013 group who assured us that we would have no problem. Thank you Aprilwhine! We had a great trip and would not have missed it for the world. lizzie

No pavement on Top of the World
http://yukonsights.ca/TopOfTheWorld.html

No guardrails or concrete barrier anywhere that I remember.

This is typical road conditions




This was a bit east of Chicken



And on the Canadian side of the border, you'll see this (in September)

When we went in 2010, left Iowa mid May, we only had about 20 of non paved just before Alaska border. We took the Alaska Canadian highway, didn't go to Chicken.

It is not paved from DC to Chicken (120 or so miles) but there was a prior attempt at chip sealing it. There are no guard rails and soft dirt shoulders that run along the mountain ridge. Have you read the 2014 Milepost?

If you don't want to drive in dust or gravel then don't go to Alaska as you'll have both in construction areas and access roads. The typical Canadian construction zone is 15 miles long with rocks, dust, potholes and slow driving.

boogie_4wheel wrote:
It is paved from end to end. I remember there being a small rock wall on the low side that may stop a majority of vehicles from accessing unpaved ground.

I think you're referring to "Going to the Sun Highway" in Glacier Park Mt.

Top of the World Highway is from Dawson City Yukon to Chicken Alaska.

To answer the OP's question...at one time the road was sorta paved on the Yukon side but once you get into Alaska, the road is all gravel and no, there are not many (if any) barriers on the side to keep you from going over. When we went on this highway (?) in 08, the Canadian side had a LOT of gravel parts with some pavement under the gravel.....no pavement on the U.S. side at all.

The road is built up with gravel such that there basically (in many parts) no shoulder at all, in fact, the closer you get to the shoulder, the more unstable the gravel is...especially with a very heavy rig like a large DP.

In addition, the road is used by logging and other large trucks that typically travel down the middle of the road at a higher rate of speed than I felt was safe. When a truck approached us, I would get over as far as I dared (usually about three or four feet from the edge) and stop and let the truck go by. Sometimes there wasn't much distance between our mirrors and was surprised we made it to Chicken with the mirrors intact.

It's only about a 100 miles, but it will take about 6 hours to travel it, more if you like to pull out and sight see. We stayed overnight at Chicken (did a little panning and checking out the dredge) and then drove on to Tok the next day. The road from Chicken to Tok starts out gravel but within a few miles turns into pavement.

Once we got to Tok, our mh and toad was tan or a dirty brown color. Took two hours to wash all the mud and dirt off of them. Tok RV Park has a wash area for rv's.

My DW says she'll never go over that road again, but I felt it wasn't all that bad. Take it slow and easy and enjoy the sights.

Ron