Dawson City > Chicken > Tok AK

[nrbsr]

2018 F150 3.5 Eco towing a Keystone Bullet 230bhs

Wife and I will be leaving in a couple weeks from upstate NY headed to Alaska. My plan on the way up to Fairbanks and Denali was to take Rt 2 from Whitehorse to Dawson City then Rt 5 through Chicken towards Tok.

While researching I've come across some negative comments on road conditions traveling from Dawson City through Chicken, including one (I think on tripadvisor) stating that they would never tow a camper on that route.

I'm not against a little "adventure", but I also don't want to get the wife and I into a situation I might regret.

Seeking comments!

[nrbsr]

You guys were right. Weather wasn't an issue so we didn't hesitate and took the TOW from Dawson city (yes we did do Diamond tooth Gerties). I loved it (TOW). The wife says that if I do that again my clothes will be on the front porch when I get home. I think that means she won't go with me on the Dempster highway!
It rained a bit in the morning which helped keep the dust down. Scenery was gorgeous though you can't wander your eyes too much while driving and the wife was afraid to look out the window. We stayed at a govt Campsite that night and went into Chicken in the morning. Unfortunately Chicken was packed with people and vehicles for "Chicken stock" so we didn't get a chance to check it out. Quick bite and back on the road to Tok.

I met 2 of the people Soren mentioned at Chicken. The first said the road from Tok was fine. The second guy said the roads were terrible, construction wasted a lot of time and he was going to turn around and go back to Tok rather than continue.
From my perspective, having prepared for the worse, I found the roads to be much better than I expected. I've been traveling almost 2 months and I estimate that I've only spent about 1 1/2 to 2 hours waiting for pilot cars. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well the roads have been on our travels.
I highly recommend that if you visit Alaska you should do the TOW. There are only 2 kinds of visitors to Alaska. Those that have done the TOW, and those that should have.
On a side note, my daughters plans to join us in Anchorage didn't work out with her work schedule So we didn't have to adjust our travel plans.

[cross21114]

AKsilvereagle wrote:

cross21114 wrote:

Just for reference for those who plan to drive the Top of the World Hwy. or the Taylor Hwy. route during October :

For those planning to cross the International Border in either direction that late in the season, there is a current trend that travellers might be out of luck in doing so as CBP and CBSA Poker Creek Station had recently decided to close the border crossing earlier than usual.....

In 2017, the border closure was effective on September 25th.

In 2018, the border closure was effective on September 23rd.

They were posted scheduled closures not due to any typical bad weather or road related conditions either as in the past when it was a more random decision upon when to close the border for the season, so keep that in mind.

Thanks for this. I had actually looked at this and thought I had found comments about it closing later than your report. Will do some more research. I think I could get through OK if it closes Oct 3rd. Hope so because I would really like to drive the Robert Campbell again.

[D_E_Bishop]

Soren's post is one of the best I have ever read on travel. To really enjoy travel, you MUST be in tune with the reality of where you are.

Alaska to my wife and me was just another ho hum day in paradise, we didn't go there or any other place we've been in the world in order to find someplace just like home. We have gone to see another wonder of the world.

As far as our rigs, it's like life, the object is not to buy an RV use it and then sell it in showroom condition, don't abuse it but wear it out. Our rigs have been and are nothing more than a means to see as much of our part of the world as possible.

To us, the TOW was hour after hour of wonders and in order to see them you have to slow down. We bought a window sticker that said, "The Alaska Highway, 1400 miles of untamed wilderness". It beats the devil out of 1400 miles of interstate highway.

[AKsilvereagle]

cross21114 wrote:
Funny reading the comments about different drivers perspectives on road conditions.

I did Top of the World in October, 2005 in a truck camper. Going to do it again this October in an 2 year old coach. By the time I get done spending September in Alaska, the rig will be a mess anyway. I'll probably clean it up after I get back to the states. It'll be really messed up by then. Can't wait - will be my 1st time back to Alaska since 2005.

This was a ice cloud on the ToW road approaching the border.

Just for reference for those who plan to drive the Top of the World Hwy. or the Taylor Hwy. route during October :


For those planning to cross the International Border in either direction that late in the season, there is a current trend that travellers might be out of luck in doing so as CBP and CBSA Poker Creek Station had recently decided to close the border crossing earlier than usual.....

In 2017, the border closure was effective on September 25th.

In 2018, the border closure was effective on September 23rd.

They were posted scheduled closures not due to any typical bad weather or road related conditions either as in the past when it was a more random decision upon when to close the border for the season, so keep that in mind.

[AKsilvereagle]

After July 2010, portions of the Taylor Highway have been much improved since the major washouts happened in that timeframe along the most rugged stretch between mile 66 (Chicken) and mile 96 (Jack Wade Junction).

Starting in August 2014, the 13 mile route of Boundary Spur Road (Mile 96 Taylor Hwy. to the International Border) has been completely paved and is real nice and smooth !

Do take your time and drive with care thru the unpaved and rugged parts of the route and you will be fine - this is NOT a route to be driving fast or pushing it trying to make time on in a large or heavy haulin' vehicle as not only potentially dangering yourself but others as well, especially on rainy days where the road surface will be washboarded quick !

[cross21114]

Funny reading the comments about different drivers perspectives on road conditions.

I did Top of the World in October, 2005 in a truck camper. Going to do it again this October in an 2 year old coach. By the time I get done spending September in Alaska, the rig will be a mess anyway. I'll probably clean it up after I get back to the states. It'll be really messed up by then. Can't wait - will be my 1st time back to Alaska since 2005.

This was a ice cloud on the ToW road approaching the border.

[lonnie4801]

Forgot to mention the ChickenStock Music festival in Chicken Alaska. It is 14 and 15 Jun and has great country and bluegrass music. We have been twice and really enjoyed it both times.

Also took a drive to Eagle, Alaska. We took a picnic lunch and stopped off in the mountains. It was a great drive to Eagle.

[lonnie4801]

I have made the TOW trip 3 time in a motorhome, always with a tow. If I am not too old, and healthy enough, will make it again next year.

My opinion on people that give advise on road conditions:

1] Three drivers, driving the same rig configuration, driving the same road, with a 15 minute separation between vehicles. Each are ask what they though of the road condition.

2 ] First one said it was the best road he has driven in years.

3] The second said it was OK but there were a few bad bumps, rough in a few places, and the road was too narrow.

4] The third one said it was the worst roads he had ever driven on in his life.

My point. If you don't know the driving history of the driver you are listening to, you have no point of reference to determine how good or bad a road is.

Tens of thousands of vehicles are driven over the roads in this section of Canada and Alaska each year. They are not that bad.

My observation, and none of you know me, if you have driven the highways in Louisiana, I don't find any roads in Canada or Alaska to be any worse than those.

[snowedin]

You mentioned Juneau and one way to see it as well as some fantastic scenery is to take the fast ferry (passengers only and not connected with the state of Alaska ferry system) out of either Skagway or Haines. It is a day trip with a bus trip from the ferry terminal into Juneau and the Mendenhall Glacier. We really enjoyed seeing the sights around this part of Alaska, seeing whales along the way to Juneau, seeing bears fishing near Haines, and like I said, fantastic scenery. One can take a camper on the Alaska Ferry between Skagway & Haines, it's only about a 20 mile trip. The highway into Skagway and then the highway between Haines and Haines Junction offered scenery well worth seeing, awesome in my thinking. www.alaskafjordlines.com

[PA12DRVR]

Ideally, in my not-really-that-humble opinion, one should take a separate trip (not even necessarily an "RV" trip) to "do" Southeast AK. Take the Alaska Marine Highway ("ferry') from Bellingham or Vancouver or ??? up North, i.e. to Juneau, then fly back or something similar.

My view is that combining a road-based tour of Southcentral (i.e. Anchorage) and Interior (i.e. Fairbanks) with visits to SE Alaska (which is mostly accessible via air and water) creates difficult (which means $$$) logistics issues....certainly do-able, but makes for a long and time-inefficient trip.

If the daughter is interested in seeing Juneau (or Sitka, or Ketchikan, or Petersburg, or ...), a suggestion might be for her to fly there after the joint trip with y'all then she could spend a day or two doing the local tours then fly home.

[nrbsr]

PA12DRVR wrote:
Suspect I'm interpreting the words wrong but if "south towards Juneau" means going to Juneau itself, that involves a ferry ride or a park somewhere and fly into Juneau.....

AHa, I'll have to look into that. I have no need to go to Juneau but my daughter is thinking about flying into Anchorage to hook up with us and possibly flying out of Juneau. Any ideas or suggestions?

[PA12DRVR]

Suspect I'm interpreting the words wrong but if "south towards Juneau" means going to Juneau itself, that involves a ferry ride or a park somewhere and fly into Juneau.....

[nrbsr]

Thanks to all your comments. Dawson city and TOW through Chicken is a definite go.

I'm probably the opposite of OCD. I can wash my truck when I get home. We have general goals but hope to keep all options open. We're leaving upstate NY on Thursday and our only hard goal is to get to Denali in 25 days. We've got 5 days at Teklanika and the 4 days at Riley Creek. After that we'll head towards Anchorage and the Kenai then south toward Juneau before heading back east towards Montana.

Can't wait to get started!

[PA12DRVR]

soren wrote:
Regarding any one RVer, who tells you to avoid any part of AK. or the Yukon, as a particular road is hell on earth. I've done the trip from PA. to AK. four times, so far. 99+% of other travelers I've met are in tune with the reality of where they are, and how and why being in some of the most amazing places on earth, means that roads are far from perfect. However,every so often you end up having interesting conversation with a fellow traveler that has simply become unglued, when dealing with the stress of driving their rig (which they are OCD about to the point of it being unhealthy) in that environment, They just can't deal with the possibility of it becoming damaged, stone chipped, or even filthy.

I was heading north in Prince George, early in the year, and met a guy who was heading south in a class A. This guy had made it another half day north, and lost it. He abandoned his Alaska trip, since he couldn't imagine another hour of gravel roads, or following a pilot car through another rough construction zone. Fact is, he never really started his journey north.

Another year I was south bound filthy and tired from dealing with **** roads. I stopped at border city for the night, and spent until ten PM repairing my fridge. As I went to bed, I noticed that a rig was STILL at the free rig wash, having been busy washing a stunning Class A with a matching Jeep GC for a few hours. I got up at 2 AM to pee, and they were still detailing the rig. That couple should of never left the states,lol.

Bottom line, to quote an old cowboy I worked for, "some guys would whine if you hung em with a gold rope". IOW, there is a small demographic in the Alaska bound crowd that will tell you that any and every road is the road from hell, and will destroy your rig.

Have a GREAT trip, the TOW is magical.

If there was a "LIKE" button, it would have saved some space, but, from a more-or-less lifelong Alaskan with 20+ trips on the Alcan perspective, the above is absolutely spot on. The incredible scenery comes with a few corollary conditions, one of which is that the roads don't match equivalent roads "outside".

...but the roads are what they are and they allow folks to (relatively) easily access some areas that are pretty spectacular. Given the terrain conditions, the weather, and the fact that the REAL state animal is the road grader (in both summer and winter plumage :C , dings, scratches, and chipped glass are somewhat to be expected.