Dawson City > Chicken > Tok AK

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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

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.