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Veebyes's avatar
Veebyes
Explorer II
Nov 24, 2022

Highway 4: Watson Lake to Carmacks

Been to Alaska 4 times now & thinking about doing trip #5.

We have driven most every road possible to drive. Not many are left. Hwy 4 is one of them. Considered doing it in 2011 but was advised not to due to late snowmelt that year.

Anyone done it with a large towable or a class A? It looks to be no problem with a class B or a Truck camper. I don't suppose there is much traffic on it. How is the road surface? We have done the TOW four times & always impressed with the way the Canadians keep their part maintained. Is 4 any different?
  • Veebyes's avatar
    Veebyes
    Explorer II
    Dec 10, 2022
    Of course the next question is when is the better time to do it?

    Every trip before we have done the Whitehorse, Dawson City, TOW in an anticlockwise fashion. Each time has been early June.

    This time the thought is to do it clockwise on the return which would be mid to later August.
  • c_traveler2's avatar
    c_traveler2
    Nomad
    Dec 08, 2022
    We did that route in summer of 2018 in our TC no problem doing this gravel road with any size vehicle. Plenty of boondocking places along the way.
  • JaxDad's avatar
    JaxDad
    Explorer III
    Nov 25, 2022
    Doug, I didn’t go as far as Carmacks, only to Little Salmon Lake (haha) a few years ago now.

    It was a mixed bag of narrow’ish gravel 1.5 lane wide to 2 lane hard surfaced road. Traffic tended to be in ‘bunches’ of 3 to 6 pickups or 2 semi’s at a time.

    I did it with a 20’ tag trailer carrying a dismantled airplane behind a 34’ class A. I won’t say it was exactly a relaxing drive, but not a white-knuckle expedition either.

    I was told by locals that time of year and recent weather was key, so that’s what I used to time the trip.

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