Top of the World Highway (469 km)
Dawson City to Tok Alaska · one way, about 469 km back to the start
Open this ride in the planner →
Why this ride
A one-way ride of 469 km, Dawson City to Tok - roughly 6 h 22 in the saddle. The stops in between: Top of the World summit, Poker Creek border and Chicken Alaska. The highest point is about 1,400 m. It crosses from Canada into United States - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Roadbook
- Dawson City
start
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.
Writers and chroniclers made the place famous. Jack London spent a winter in a cabin near here, and Robert Service, a bank clerk, wrote his ballads about the gold rush while living in town. Today the wooden false-front buildings of Front Street, restored by Parks Canada, still give the place a feeling of the past, with boardwalks along the dirt streets and a casino that keeps the gambling hall tradition alive. A local drink called the Sourtoe Cocktail, which includes a preserved human toe, is a famous party trick that you may or may not want to try.
The setting is dramatic. The Yukon River, broad, silty and fast, flows past the town below a steep slope of loose rock called the Midnight Dome, and in summer, the sun barely sets. Winters are long and dark, with temperatures of minus forty. The ground is permafrost, so some of the old buildings lean at odd angles.
For riders, Dawson is the starting point of the Top of the World Highway, which climbs out of the Yukon valley along a ridge toward Alaska. A small cable ferry carries vehicles across the Yukon river free of charge in summer, and the road on the other side is partly paved and partly gravel, with big views. Fuel is available in town, and you should fill up before heading out, since there is none for a long way. The border at Poker Creek is open only in summer. Check weather, carry spare supplies, and expect mosquitoes.
- Top of the World summit
scenic · 1376 m
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.
The road itself is the main event. It is paved in places and rough chip-seal or gravel in others, with soft shoulders, frost heaves and few guard rails. The highway starts from the ferry at Dawson City, which crosses the Yukon river in summer, and heads west toward the Alaska border at Poker Creek. In good weather the ridgetop riding is among the most memorable in the north, since you look down on both sides and can see weather coming from far away. In bad weather, fog and wet gravel make it slow and serious.
It is a summer road. The highway is generally closed in winter, and the border crossing keeps limited seasonal hours, so check these before setting off, because turning back at the line is a very long day. The history is gold: this country was the backdrop to the Klondike rush of 1898, and the old miners' trails run across the same hills. You may spot caribou, ground squirrels, and in the berry season, bears feeding on the slopes.
There is nothing at the summit, no pump, no cafe, no shelter, and no town within easy reach. Fill the tank in Dawson City before you cross on the ferry, and carry water and some food. Chicken, on the Alaska side, has seasonal services, but do not assume anything is open. Dress for cold wind even on a warm afternoon, and bring a layer you can add when you stop to take pictures, because the wind up here does not care what the valley thermometer said.
- Poker Creek border
scenic
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.
The border is open only in summer, usually from mid-May until mid-September, and hours are limited, so check before you go. Alaska time is an hour behind Yukon time, so you gain an hour as you cross. Carry your passport and make sure your documents are in order, because the officers are friendly but thorough. On the Canadian side the road is mostly sealed, and on the Alaskan side it turns to gravel for much of the way to Chicken, which has fuel and a famous cafe in the summer.
The village of Chicken got its name, according to the story, because the miners who settled it could not agree on the spelling of ptarmigan, so they picked something they could spell. Dawson City, on the Yukon side, is a Klondike gold rush town of wooden boardwalks and false-fronted buildings, and a free ferry takes vehicles across the Yukon River to the start of the highway.
Riding conditions are rugged. Expect gravel, loose stones and sudden weather changes, and be prepared for wind, cold and the possibility of snow even in summer. Fuel is scarce, so fill up in Dawson City and again at Chicken, and carry spare if your range is short. Distances are long and mobile coverage is poor. In return you get solitude, vast views and the sense of having ridden along the roof of the continent.
- Chicken Alaska
scenic
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.
It is tiny, with a handful of residents in winter, and it lives on summer travellers and a little gold mining. The old dredge sits on the creek, a lumbering relic of the days when companies chewed up the gravel with machinery. You can still pan for gold here, and some people do, while others have a slice of pie and watch the road. Services are seasonal, so do not assume that anything is open outside the summer months, but there is usually fuel and a place to eat in the high season.
The road in from the east, the Top of the World Highway, crosses the border at Poker Creek, the northernmost land border crossing in the United States, which opens only in summer and closes for the season in September. Check the dates and hours before setting off, and carry your passport. The Alaska side of the highway is rougher than the Yukon side, with gravel stretches and frost heaves, and it winds down from the ridge into the valley of the Fortymile River through forest of spruce and birch.
From Chicken the Taylor Highway continues south to join the Alaska Highway at Tetlin Junction, with fuel and food at Tok. Make that a goal for the day, and bring water, a spare layer and insect repellent, since mosquitoes in the valley can be fierce. In summer the sun barely sets, and the evening light on the river is long and golden, which is the best time to ride this road.
- Tok Alaska
finish
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.