We just drove over the TOW today (June 9th). As others have reported, the road is mostly gravel on the Canadian side, but good gravel, relatively smooth for much of the road -- a few potholes and washboard areas, but certainly better than most of the gravel roads that I grew up with in the rural Midwest. We encountered none of the muddy stretches or larger chunks of sharp gravel thet we have seen these posts refer to in past years, and only one short construction zone that posed no problem, and that in fact was somewhat welcome because they were spreading water there to keep the dust down for the construction work. We pulled a 21 foot travel trailer and really found most of the challenge to be not the road surface, but the numerous very steep inclines and descents, often around fairly sharp curves-- not white knuckle stuff, especially if you use the braking power of lower gears, but still requiring the driver's focus and attention on driving rather than soaking up the views. Speaking of the views, they were spectacular beyond description, but there were fewer pull-outs than I would have liked for stopping to enjoy them. The shoulders felt a little soft, which is not for the squeamish because there are usually drop-offs on one or both sides of the road with no guard rails, and going off the road would almost definitely mean tipping over, if not rolling down a steep hill. But the road is generously wide for most of its route, so this again is more of an attention-getter than a serious risk. The 10- mile stretch from the border to the turn-off to Eagle is a beautiful new black-top, although it seemed to have a little roll to the surface, perhaps from frost. In my view, the only negatives about the road overall were the gravel dust and the last 25 miles to Chicken, which is a much narrower and rougher road with nothing like the sweeping landscape views on the Canadian side.
This drive was totally worth it, one of the highlights of our trip, but we definitely took it easy so we would remember this as a positive experience.
