Tok is the first real town you meet in Alaska after crossing the border at Beaver Creek, and for riders who have spent a long day on the Alaska Highway it is a small and welcome sight. About twelve hundred people live here, spread along the highway at the junction of the Alaska Highway and the Tok Cutoff, which leads south towards Glennallen and Anchorage. The place calls itself the sled dog capital of Alaska, and the dogs, kennels and mushing history are genuinely part of local life.
The Alaska Highway was pushed through in 1942 as a military road, built by US Army engineers, including several segregated regiments of Black soldiers who did much of the hardest work, and a good share of civilian contractors. It links Dawson Creek in British Columbia with Delta Junction in Alaska. Tok sits near the end of it, and the highway here is paved, narrow and prone to frost heaves, those rolling buckles in the asphalt caused by the permafrost beneath. They are worth respecting, and hit at speed they can bite hard. Spruce forest closes in on both sides, and the mountains of the Alaska Range stand out far to the west on clear days.
From Tok, the Taylor Highway and the Top of the World Highway head north-east into Yukon Territory. The route climbs above the tree line, following ridges with long views over rolling tundra, and passes through the old gold-rush settlement of Chicken, which supposedly took its name when the miners could not agree on how to spell ptarmigan. The road is paved in parts and gravel in others, and the border crossing at the top is open only in summer, so check dates before you commit. Beyond it, a free ferry crosses the Yukon River to Dawson City.
Tok has gas stations, a few restaurants and a visitor centre, and everyone in town knows the next fuel is far away. Mosquitoes are fierce in summer, wildfire smoke can close roads, and the long summer light lets you ride well into the evening. Carry spare water, warm layers even in July, and a good tyre repair kit.