Rt 4 Watson Lake to Carmacks

The drive from Carmacks to Faro can be scenic and interesting, and has enough traffic on it that it is maintained well enough. It would be worthy of a drive in and then taking the same route back out.

South of Ross River the conditions vary greatly year-to-year. There was one year the Visitor Centre in Faro was highly recommending not travelling further south. Same with the Watson Lake Visitor Centre - they recommended going through to Whitehorse rather than taking the Campbell Highway to Ross River and Faro.

In 2015 we thought we'd drive the whole route from Watson Lake north, but turned around at Simpson Lake and drove back to Watson Lake. The conditions were rough.

Sue, you are giving me second thoughts about doing the route as much as we like taking roads less travelled. The truck is a 2WD dually & we have been stuck a time or two but at an event camping area where there has been a tractor around to haul people out.

At near 55' we are large & loaded for dry camping, we are heavy. We know how soft the shoulders of gravel sections can be, especially it water soaked. Ross River to Watson Lake look like sections of potentially very treacherous driving.

The negative risks seem to be outweighing the positives. The road seems to be a better risk for a truck camper or light weight small 5er than a rolling condo like ours. Oh well, it seemed like a good scenic idea.

Maybe we will take a second look at it when we get in the area & get current road condition & weather for it.

My hubby just commented that he'd recommend you have a 4x4 if towing on the Campbell Highway because if it is wet, it can be slippery and some of the sections can have thick/slick mud. We've had to switch to 4wd when towing our 25' fifth wheel.

The mud came up to the truck's hubs in this construction zone

stickdog wrote:
What does the "Mile Post" say?

That was helpful. Don't have a Milepost.

Info so far is gleaned from Google Earth street view & official YT websites. Carmacks to Faro seems to be the only paved section.

Fuel availability? I can do over 600 miles towing level highway between fuel stops. 30mph on a gravel road will drastically reduce that range.

Check photos of the route on one my pages at http://yukonsights.ca/CampbellHwy.html

Conditions vary year to year depending on construction phases. Some trips it takes four hours to travel 100 miles, and the mud collection on your rig will be substantial.

Do not rely on fuel being available in either Faro or Ross River. In Ross River, the one gas station can be out of fuel until its next delivery which can be 3 or more days. At Faro, the fuel is available at credit card self-serve fuel facility (no staff or other services). Sometimes the computer goes down and you have to wait until a techie arrives to reset the system. We waited three days but were there for an event so no big issue.

So have enough fuel to take care of yourself on the 360 mile route.
The only campground with services is the community-operated site in Faro.

This is the highway south of Ross River


And this was one of the construction zones about 40 miles north of Watson Lake in 2015 2015-09-16_Liard-SimpsonLk

What does the "Mile Post" say?