Hi All!In the planning stage of a summer roadtrip from Montreal to Alaska.We will be driving a 32' Class A gas V10 motorhome. Our plan is not to bring the toad as we would only be staying a maximum of 2 or 3 nights in any ome place.I have been reading about the gravel Dempster Highway from Dawson to Inuvik. It sounds like the type of detour I would like to make, but it also sounds a little rough for our vehicule. If you have made the trip I would like to hear from you to know what to expect and how much time it would take.Thank you

You'll get a sandblast job on your lower body and chassis. Windshields don't fare well either.

Travel on any of the unpaved roads in the north country is a crud shoot. It all depends on when the last pass from a road grader occurred. Recently, no problem, not so recently, the washboard can shake your teeth out, regardless of your speed. If they've just had rain, you deal with a LOT of MUD. If no rain, you choke on dust. All that said, a great adventure. If you don't want to deal with road and rig conditions, check out van tours. We flew to Prudhoe Bay, spent two nights there and toured the oil fields to the Arctic Ocean shore and they drove us down in a van (2 days with a stop overnight at Coldfoot). Toured a lot of interesting places and did not have to deal with reservations, road conditions or damage to our rig, contents, or toad.

Di the whole thing 2 summers ago and only had one section that was not smooth,apparently grader was broken. dusty on the way up and rain on the way back. There are open rv wash bays in Dawson City. If I did it again I would only go to the Arctic Circle and back. Nice boondocking spot at mile 131 ,if I remember correctly.

One of the better gravel roads I've driven, most of the way, in Sept 2013. But the stuff (calcium chloride?) they use to control dust is nearly impossible to wash off a vehicle. It can be driven both ways in ~4 days, or even less if you're not going to stop anywhere, and if the ferries are running on time.

Great trip and well worth doing in our opinion. We took about 4 days to go each direction and spent about 3 days in Inuvik. We made lots of stops along the way and took our time. You will encounter all kinds of conditions as mentioned above as well as the possibility of forest fires and resulting smoke.There is (assume it is still there) a v.g. car wash in town and it is recommended you clean your RV when you arrive. Do it again when you reach Dawson.There are now bridges across the rivers and it is no longer necessary to take a ferry. The road from Inuvik to Tuk will also be open this summer. That would be another adventure and one that not many have done yet. Flying was the only way to get to the Arctic Ocean, but now you can drive! You will see every type of RV on the road. Truck campers are the most suited though.Note that Pigman1 above is talking about the Alaska road to the Arctic, not the Dempster highway in Yukon.

Dempster Highway | Good Sam Community

Tripalot
Explorer
Feb 10, 2018
explorenorth wrote:
Tripalot wrote:
Thanks for this information. I was definitely out of date. A traveller I was gabbing with a couple of years ago told me there were no more ferries. It has now been about 8 years since we did the Dempster. Would love to do it again and drive on to Tuk

The person you were talking to was confused about the bridge(s) - there's a bridge across the Mackenzie on the road to Yellowknife, and that ferry is now history.

That is probably what happened. Thanks for the clarification.
explorenorth
Explorer
Feb 10, 2018
Tripalot wrote:
Thanks for this information. I was definitely out of date. A traveller I was gabbing with a couple of years ago told me there were no more ferries. It has now been about 8 years since we did the Dempster. Would love to do it again and drive on to Tuk

The person you were talking to was confused about the bridge(s) - there's a bridge across the Mackenzie on the road to Yellowknife, and that ferry is now history.
Tripalot
Explorer
Feb 06, 2018
sue.t wrote:
There aren't bridges - still ferries. Usually start running in early June and stop in late October. http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/Highways/Highway_System/NWTHwy8

In winter, highway travellers need to wait for the river to freeze and ice bridges to open.

Thanks for this information. I was definitely out of date. A traveller I was gabbing with a couple of years ago told me there were no more ferries. It has now been about 8 years since we did the Dempster. Would love to do it again and drive on to Tuk
sue_t
Explorer
Feb 06, 2018
There aren't bridges - still ferries. Usually start running in early June and stop in late October. http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/Highways/Highway_System/NWTHwy8

In winter, highway travellers need to wait for the river to freeze and ice bridges to open.
Yeti_plus
Explorer
Feb 06, 2018
When we went in 2016, the ferries were still running and the locals said there were no plans to build bridges at that time.
Tripalot
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
lizzie wrote:
I agree with Tripalot but wonder about the comment about bridges across the rivers. We made the trip in 2016 and did not see any signs of bridges being built.This is a beautiful trip and was, for us, a peak experience. We also took our time. We flew to Tuk and came back to Inuvik by boat. lizzie

You used to have to take a ferry to get across the Peel River near Fort McPherson and another one across the Mackenzie River at Arctic Red River. There are now bridges so there is year round road service to Inuvik. Years ago, it was necessary to wait for it to freeze up in the fall creating the ice road and when it started to melt residents needed to wait for the river to open up and the ferries to run.

Taking the ferries was another experience and gave you a break from driving depending on how many cars were ahead of you.
tony_lee
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
c.traveler2 wrote:
Do any of you guys have plans to drive clear up to Tuktoyaktuk on the new road ?

Yes we will head up there this coming season. Dallas leaving early March to Niagra to western Canada and then up all the way
sue_t
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
Our last trip to the Arctic Circle was in 2015.
http://yukonsights.ca/DempsterHwy.html
Filterman
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
SidecarFlip wrote:
You'll get a sandblast job on your lower body and chassis. Windshields don't fare well either.

Yes , you could get a cracked windshield but the odds are low because there isn't much traffic. To avoid road rash, I covered the front of our trailer the first 4' up with mattress carton and duct tape. No damage and just peel it off and scrap it when you get back to civilization.
Filterman
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
c.traveler2 wrote:
Do any of you guys have plans to drive clear up to Tuktoyaktuk on the new road ?

Our plans are for 2020. I'm thinking it will give it time to settle down a bit.