Top of the World Highway

Currently at Bonanza Gold RV in Dawson City. Going to tackle the TOW tomorrow. Will report when on the other side.

Thanks to all for the info. We are currently camped at Muncho Lake (Northern Rockies Lodge & RV). Beautiful spot. Highly recommend. Should be tackling the TOW in a couple of days.

We just drove over the TOW today (June 9th). As others have reported, the road is mostly gravel on the Canadian side, but good gravel, relatively smooth for much of the road -- a few potholes and washboard areas, but certainly better than most of the gravel roads that I grew up with in the rural Midwest. We encountered none of the muddy stretches or larger chunks of sharp gravel thet we have seen these posts refer to in past years, and only one short construction zone that posed no problem, and that in fact was somewhat welcome because they were spreading water there to keep the dust down for the construction work. We pulled a 21 foot travel trailer and really found most of the challenge to be not the road surface, but the numerous very steep inclines and descents, often around fairly sharp curves-- not white knuckle stuff, especially if you use the braking power of lower gears, but still requiring the driver's focus and attention on driving rather than soaking up the views. Speaking of the views, they were spectacular beyond description, but there were fewer pull-outs than I would have liked for stopping to enjoy them. The shoulders felt a little soft, which is not for the squeamish because there are usually drop-offs on one or both sides of the road with no guard rails, and going off the road would almost definitely mean tipping over, if not rolling down a steep hill. But the road is generously wide for most of its route, so this again is more of an attention-getter than a serious risk. The 10- mile stretch from the border to the turn-off to Eagle is a beautiful new black-top, although it seemed to have a little roll to the surface, perhaps from frost. In my view, the only negatives about the road overall were the gravel dust and the last 25 miles to Chicken, which is a much narrower and rougher road with nothing like the sweeping landscape views on the Canadian side.

This drive was totally worth it, one of the highlights of our trip, but we definitely took it easy so we would remember this as a positive experience.

High ply, high aspect ratio, high tread depth tires are known to better withstand unpaved roads. Tread pattern is less a determinant.

This might be a silly question but what tire type would you recommend for the unpaved roads. My truck is 2 wd pulling a trailer. I have to buy new tires anyway and wondered about a A/T or highway tread. I know 95% of my driving will be paved roads.

We just finished it today.

From Dawson to the border isn't too bad.

From about 4 miles west of the border crossing to Chicken is really rough gravel. Was very dusty for us and we got a couple of little rain squirts so were covered with mud on the back of the MH and the towed.

Chicken to the where the pavements starts again is about the same as above.

When you get to the pavement to Tetlin Junction it is really full of frost heaves and very few are marked. We saw one passenger vehicle get air coming over one of them.

Tetlin Junction to Delta Junction is a real treat after Chicken to the junction.

Thanks for the report Sue.

Both the Alaska Highway and the Cassiar Highway are open.

Frost heaves, pot holes and some sections of construction on both. Keep your eyes on the road because those pot holes tend to sneak up on you.

Top of the World is open, with soft spots & shoulders and either dust or mud depending whether it has been raining or not. Yukon's May was hot & dry and now we're having some rain but the forest fires are going out, which is a good thing.

Keep up to date with gov't road reports:
- British Columbia
- Yukon


Not much different than any other year. No spring washouts this year as May was extremely dry and hot with low snow pack from winter.