Dempster Highway

Completed in 1979, the Dempster is the only highway in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle and connects Dawson City with Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. The highway is not paved with various surfaces from gravel to crushed rock and hard packed sand. It is 737 kms in length with a return trip almost 1500 kms. Most travelers breakup the trip at Eagle Plains close to the half way point. The highway is open most of the year closing only during the spring breakup and autumn freezing. This is necessary as the Peel and Mackenzie Rivers are crossed by free ferries in the summer months and with ice bridges during the winter. 

When you turn off the Klondike Hwy on to the Dempster Hwy the above signs meet you. You cross a long one way bridge over the Klondike River and have a sealed road for five kms and then there is gravel.

For the trip up the Dempster Hwy we have a second spare tire with us but not mounted on a rim, we also have sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, two coolers with food, water, drinks and snacks, summer and winter clothes and most important BUG and BEAR SPRAY.

We started climbing into the Ogilvie Mountains almost straight away and entered Tombstone Territorial Park, we stopped at the Interpretive Centre over looking the valley we had just climbed out of at 71 kms. You can see the road climbing out beyond the building.
In the next valley we are above the tree line and the river below still has blue ice on the almost dry river bed.