Prudhoe Bay or Inuvik?

We drove the Dempster in our truck camper; once all the way to Inuvik and another year, just part way. Not everyone gets their windshield broken! 2X lucky.

Something to consider, things are expensive in the north. Your American $ will go a lot further in Canada just now.

Lots of good advise in the previous posts. Makes me want to do it again but it is a long trip for us.

We didn't do the Dempster, but we did spend 5 days on the Dalton in our truck camper.
All the way to Deadhorse and the Arctic Ocean. Our tour was delayed while they relocated some polar bears.
Air temp: 37, winds 30-40 mph. In August.
BUT it was one of the highlights of our summer. We wanted to drive it BECAUSE its the Haul Rd. DH wanted to see it for himself. we had a blast!
Here's my blog post about it:

Dalton Highway

Sue

Remoteness and Scenery -

I would certainly favor the Dempster Hwy. route on these two categories although I only travelled the first 200km's of this road in 2006, and if it weren't for my passenger side cab mount rusting out that stressed out my steering box-shaft on my rig I would have not turned around and made the entire route (which of course would fix itself after 20 miles down the road).

The remoteness tends to give much more of that "middle of nowhere feeling" on the Dempster in comparison to the Dalton upon two main reasons :

1- the more increased infrequent traffic that the Dalton has.

2- the more infrequent infrastructure and established base camps you see along the way on the Dalton.

Once arriving at Tombstone Mtn. Campground at mile 44 and northward - the scenery changes dramatically like every 10 to 15 miles for the next 70 miles that I know of at my turnaround point, in which blew my mind upon how underestimated the scenic aspect of this road really is just in this stretch alone.....and from the other pictures and images I have seen of this route that were much farther north seems just as interesting.

The most scenic portions of the Dalton Hwy. in my opinion start well north of Coldfoot especially the closer you get towards the Brooks Range and north of it.

Although there are a few highlights of scenic areas in between mile 0 to Coldfoot at mile 175, the majority of scenery along this stretch is still the typical Interior Alaska landscape.

Highway Conditions -

Providing if all the weather related factors and overall maintenance being even, I would still give the nod on the Dalton Hwy. for this category based on the fact of the roadway is partially paved in some stretches (if it is still holding up) and more maintained because of the commercial traffic, however there is always some main reconstruction road project going on at any given area or three during the summer.

In comparison to where the Dempster Hwy. is seal coated in places, seems to do just enough maintenance to keep the road open (as reported at least on the Yukon Territory side) at various troubled spots....as I read a CBC article in 2009 or 2010 of the NWT government threatening to file a lawsuit with the Yukon road maintenance for not emphasizing enough road maintenance on their side of the Dempster as it was depleting tourist dollars with substandard suitable access for road travelling Inuvik residents in their formal complaint....pretty much were reporting the same type of road conditions one would encounter on the east portion of the Campbell Hwy.

Another factor is about a regional section of the Dempster Hwy being exposed to the notorious shale rock that will create havoc to having potential tire troubles (even on commercial tires), where it is quite essential to having onhand extra spare tires when taking on this route, a patch/plug kit with an air compressor I always have onhand anywhere in the roads of the far north in my camper rig.

I always have carried two spare tires onhand on both routes, even during the old Sunday drives I used to take to the Yukon River Bridge.

Now while adding in the factor of a bad rainy season or a period of significant rain developing on either road while you are travelling on it, throw highway conditions out the window because the road conditions on both roads will be equally bad, rough, and fair in various spots.

The best advice I could emphasize for highway conditions on either road is to be flexible and try to time it right upon weather conditions with the least rainy forecasts in the horizon upon travel....and pay more attention to road reports along the Dempster.

Services-

While both road routes are pretty remote to their own, the Dalton has a few more services and fuel stops in between.

The two big advantages if one were to break down and have roadside troubles of the sort, the Dalton is road to be on if comparing the two and that is because of the more resources it has to in order to provide support and keep the oil fields going.

Not only you have the intermittent commercial semi truck traffic of hauling supplies in and out of Prudhoe Bay and various camps and pump stations, you also have a State Trooper Post in Coldfoot with Alyeska pipeline security personnel routine patrolling the road and access to the pipeline so it could be any one of these occupations that could provide emergency assistance if called upon.

Most wreckers will be dispatched out of Fairbanks for broken down rigs to be retrieved, and I would imagine it would be a little cheaper overall but by all means quite expensive versus dispatching some wrecker from Dawson or Inuvik on the Dempster, which was the reason I turned around when I did on my 2006 trip and the fact no immediate resources to rescue me in Canada because of the friends I have that own the haul equipment capable to do so are all inadmissible in Canada anyway so I was pretty much on my own, with only $1500 onhand.

As noted you can only drive to Deadhorse on the Dalton Hwy. and in order to see the ocean and to gain permissible access you have to book a reservation on a tour because of security measures as it is an oil field.

As also noted, the main purpose of the Dalton Hwy is access to and supporting infrastructure to the North Slope Oil as it is all business like and not so called as marketed for the traveler or tourist, as it is now about 20 years or so the public is no longer required a permit to go beyond the old Dietrich Camp Checkpoint at mile 210.

As the purpose of the Dempster Hwy. now is providing road access to Inuvik and villages along the way, which in turn caters a little more to the traveler once you reach those destinations all with limited resources of course.

Note the road sign starting at mile 0 Dempster Hwy :


Both routes are unique to their own and if possible take them both on.....however if recommending upon a choice of only one route to be taken despite weighing in all the factors mentioned above in my opinion......I would definitely recommend the Dempster Hwy. over the Dalton Hwy.

Here are a couple more images of my own pictures :

Aug 2006 - mi 52 Dempster Hwy :


Aug 2006 - mi 77 Dempster Hwy :

The Dempster would be my first choice.

The Tombstone Park area is beautiful, good camping at the park and excellent hiking and photography.

At the Arctic Circle, one can see for miles and miles.

http://yukonsights.ca/DempsterHwy.html

CA Traveler said it very well and 3oaks is also correct. The road is a way of life and so is a cracked windshield. I did not mean to imply that people were rude or inconsiderate. It will be quite the opposite. Most people are friendly and have good intentions. You may feel like you are isolated but you will never be alone. Helping folks is a way of life in the North country. You will also meet tourist from all over the world and be able to share experiences with them.
I could spend all day on this post so I have tried to keep it short.
Anyone may PM me and I will happily buy you a drink and talk to you about the local area if I am in town. Happy travels!

Been to Prudhoe more than I want. Been to inuvik once. I'd call the scenery about even.....but as was pointed out earlier, there's a reason it's called the Haul Road to Prudhoe. Lots of options to go on the Arctic Ocean tours at Prudhoe.....but other than that Inuvik itself might be more enjoyable than Prudhoe/Deadhorse

Damdifino wrote:
From the point of view of remoteness, scenery, highway conditions, ambience, services and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which of the two would you pick to visit? Oh, point of departure will be Fairbanks.

I would say both are pretty much equal when using your comparison factors. Why don't you make the drive to Inuvik and take a flight/van tour from Fairbanks up the haul road to Prudhoe Bay and back. If the weather is clear the flight is really scenic and the drive back across the Brooks Range is a once in a lifetime experience! Especially in a van with a tour guide that will point out all the interesting scenery and stops along the way. Did I mention it's his windshield that takes the rock hits and not yours!!

As mentioned earlier Taylor/Top Of The World highway and Dawson City are definitely part of the must do list! But so is The Dalton Highway with a compulsory stop in Wiseman to listen to Jack Reakoff for an hour or so and a walking tour through town is a must. http://jukebox.uaf.edu/haul_road/htm/int_reakoff.htm

Also you cannot drive to Prudhoe, you stop at that town at the end of the road and make a reservation to take a tour which will take you to the Arctic Sea and Prudhoe. Probably means a night in the hotel there and the tour the next day.

We haven't been there but I have yet to see any comments on how great the Arctic looks with all those oil platforms in it. All the critters are gone, out following the summer ice to the north.

CA Traveler wrote:
Great advice. While I didn't travel those roads my observations:
1. Truckers are the best as they will often slow or move as far right as possible.
2. Visitors including RVs: Some learn and some don't.
3. Locals: Rock damage etc is a way of life, priorites are getting to work, etc. Like "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead."

You summed that up pretty good.
I can't really fault the locals' driving habits. They are still working for a living while we are just touring their state on a pleasure trip. However I will add, we found very few locals that wouldn't be willing to give you a hand if you needed assistance along the way.

bakedalaskan1 wrote:

Some simple rules: slow down for oncoming traffic. 99% of the truck drivers will show the same courtesy and slow down for you. Remember they are trying to manage energy on 80,000 pound rigs so if a trucker is on your bumper get out of his way as soon as safely possible. The other vehicles on the road are another story so you get what you get. Some will slow down others will not. I slow down because I know what flying gravel does and to minimize my own damage when others don't slow down.

Great advice. While I didn't travel those roads my observations:
1. Truckers are the best as they will often slow or move as far right as possible.
2. Visitors including RVs: Some learn and some don't.
3. Locals: Rock damage etc is a way of life, priorites are getting to work, etc. Like "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead."