Why this ride
The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Canada into United States - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Top of the World Highway: Poker Creek border to Tok Alaska
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 197 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 29
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Poker Creek border is where the day begins. Next is Chicken Alaska.
2. Chicken Alaska
Chicken, Alaska, is spelled that way because the miners could not agree how to spell ptarmigan. The story goes that the early prospectors on Walker Fork wanted to name the settlement after the willow grouse that gathered there, gave up arguing over the spelling, and settled on something they could all manage. The village has kept its sense of humour ever since, with a gift shop, a cafe and a good deal of cheerful chicken-themed signage.
Read the complete Chicken Alaska write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chicken Alaska comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tok Alaska.
3. Tok Alaska
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.
Read the complete Tok Alaska 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 197 km.
Leg by leg
Poker Creek border to Chicken Alaska
Poker Creek border → Chicken Alaska is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chicken Alaska to Tok Alaska
Chicken Alaska → Tok Alaska is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.