Dempster Highway · part 4

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Eagle Plains

   Eagle Plains is a small dot of civilisation on the Dempster Highway, a gravel road that runs from near Dawson City, in the Yukon, all the way to Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories, over seven hundred kilometres. The road crosses the Arctic Circle about thirty-five kilometres north of here, and at Eagle Plains you stand on a high plateau of tundra and stunted spruce, with the Richardson Mountains on the horizon to the northeast.

   Read the complete Eagle Plains write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Eagle Plains is where the day begins. Next is Inuvik.

2. 2. Inuvik

   Inuvik is the end of the road, quite literally. The Dempster Highway, a gravel road that runs for about 740 kilometres from near Dawson City through some of the wildest country in North America, finishes here, in the Mackenzie River delta, at the edge of the Arctic. The town was built in the 1950s to replace Aklavik, which was prone to flooding, and it was planned from scratch as an administrative centre, with a distinctive layout and utilidors, insulated pipes above ground that carry water and sewage, because the permafrost makes burying them impossible.

   Read the complete Inuvik write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Inuvik comes up about 367 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tuktoyaktuk.

3. 3. Tuktoyaktuk

   The road ends at the Arctic Ocean, and that is why people come. Tuktoyaktuk, which everyone calls Tuk, is a small Inuvialuit community on the shore of the Beaufort Sea, at the top of the Mackenzie Delta, and for most of the twentieth century you could only reach it by boat, plane or a winter ice road across the frozen channels. In November 2017 the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway opened, a gravel all-weather road of about 140 kilometres, and the Dempster Highway, which starts near Dawson City in the Yukon, finally had an end on salt water. Riders who have done the whole thing talk about it the way people talk about a pilgrimage.

   Read the complete Tuktoyaktuk write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least about 520 km into the recorded legs you reach Tuktoyaktuk. Next is back through Inuvik.

4. 4. back through Inuvik

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Inuvik write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Inuvik, about halfway. Next is back through Eagle Plains.

5. 5. back through Eagle Plains

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Eagle Plains write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Eagle Plains sits at 495 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tombstone Territorial Park.

6. 6. back through Tombstone Territorial Park

   Where the Dempster Highway climbs out of the boreal forest and breaks through the Ogilvie Mountains, the landscape changes in a rush. Tombstone Territorial Park lies about seventy kilometres above Dawson City's turn-off and protects a wilderness of jagged granite peaks, glacial valleys and open tundra, with Tombstone Mountain itself standing like a dark fang above the rest. The country belongs to the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation, who have hunted and travelled here for thousands of years, and the park was created with their involvement.

   Read the complete Tombstone Territorial Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Tombstone Territorial Park comes up about 1339 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dawson City.

7. 7. Dawson City

   Dawson City was built on a gamble. In August 1896, gold was found in a creek flowing into the Klondike river, and within two years, more than thirty thousand people had come to the swampy flat at the river's mouth, having crossed mountain passes with tons of supplies, floated down the Yukon, and spent everything they had. Most got no gold. A few got rich overnight, and the town rose, with saloons, theatres, hotels and dance halls, to become the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg.

   Read the complete Dawson City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dawson City closes the day.