Why this ride
A one-way ride of 130 km, Dawson City to the finish - roughly 2 h 44 in the saddle. The highest point is about 1,400 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Top of the World Highway: Dawson City to Poker Creek border
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 130 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 44
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Dawson City → Top of the World summit
The ride follows Dawson City → Top of the World summit for 88 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 88 km
Top of the World Highway
62 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it. This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 42 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Top of the World summit.
2. Top of the World summit
Somewhere past the last bend, the trees just give up. The Top of the World Highway, on the Yukon side, climbs out of the Klondike valley and follows a bare ridgeline for miles, with the sky enormous and the hills rolling away in every direction in tundra shades of rust, gold and grey. The listed height here is around 1,376 metres, which is not Alpine, but at this latitude it is well above the tree line and feels like the roof of the continent.
Read the complete Top of the World summit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Top of the World summit comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Poker Creek border, mostly downhill.
3. Poker Creek border
Poker Creek is as far north as most riders will ever cross an international border by road, and it has the feel of a place at the end of the world. The tiny US customs post sits on a bare ridge on the Top of the World Highway, a road that follows the crest of the hills between Dawson City in the Yukon and Chicken in Alaska, with views that stretch for a hundred kilometres across a sea of rolling, treeless mountains. Here the boreal forest thins out into tundra, and the light in summer is long and golden.
Read the complete Poker Creek border write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 130 km.
Leg by leg
Dawson City to Top of the World summit
Dawson City → Top of the World summit is 88 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Top of the World summit to Poker Creek border
Top of the World summit → Poker Creek border is 42 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.