What It's Like to Drive the Dempster Highway

The Dempster Highway begins at a junction about 40 kilometres southeast of Dawson City — a spot known simply as the Dempster Corner — and runs roughly 740 kilometres of gravel to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Since 2017 you can keep going past Inuvik another 138 kilometres on the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway all the way to the Arctic Ocean. It is the only all-season public road in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle, and driving it is the most demanding and most rewarding trip in the North. The first thing that strikes you is the tundra. North of the tree line the landscape opens up in a way that takes some adjustment — no fences, no buildings, just mountains, sky, and a thin ribbon of gravel running to the horizon. ## What the road is actually like The Dempster is built on a thick gravel berm laid over permafrost — the gravel insulates the frozen ground so the road doesn't melt itself into mud. That berm is hard on tires. The shale surface can be sharp, and in the wet it turns to a slick, clay-like gumbo that will have you crawling. I got a flat tire at kilometre 480. I changed it, drove to the next community, borrowed a tire iron and a better jack from a mechanic who seemed entirely unsurprised to see me, and carried on. That is the Dempster: you will probably have some kind of trouble, and you will probably be fine. ## Plan for self-sufficiency - **Fuel** is available only at the Dempster Corner, Eagle Plains (km 371, roughly the halfway point), Fort McPherson, and Inuvik. Eagle Plains also has the only hotel on the Yukon section. Fill up at every opportunity. - **Carry two full-size spare tires**, a proper jack, a tire-repair kit, and the knowledge to use them. One spare is not enough out here. - **Cell service is essentially non-existent** for the whole route. Tell someone your plan; a satellite communicator is a sensible investment. - **Food, water, and warm clothing** for more days than you expect to need. Weather closes the road and grounds the ferries. - North of Fort McPherson, two **river ferries** (the Peel and the Mackenzie) carry you across in summer; in winter you drive over ice crossings. During freeze-up and break-up (roughly late October and May) neither works, and the road is cut. ## What you came for About 70 kilometres up, you enter [Tombstone Territorial Park](/blog/tombstone-territorial-park-guide) — jagged black peaks over open tundra, and one of the great landscapes of Canada. Further north you cross the Arctic Circle (there's a sign; everyone stops) and pass through the lands of the [Vuntut Gwitchin and the Porcupine caribou](/blog/vuntut-gwitchin-porcupine-caribou), whose herd has migrated across this country for thousands of years. Go in late August or early September if you can. The tundra turns red and gold, the light is extraordinary, and the worst of the mosquitoes is past. For current conditions and an itinerary, the official [Travel Yukon Dempster guide](https://www.travelyukon.com/en/see-and-do/itineraries/dempster-highway-road-trip-itinerary) is the place to start. It's a long way to drive on gravel for a road that mostly leads to more road. But I came back changed, and I'd do it again tomorrow. --- ## See Also on TheKlondike.net - [Dawson City Travel Guide](/blog/dawson-city-48-hours) — the Dempster starts just southeast of town - [Tombstone Territorial Park](/blog/tombstone-territorial-park-guide) — the first great stop on the highway - [The Vuntut Gwitchin and the Porcupine Caribou](/blog/vuntut-gwitchin-porcupine-caribou) — whose land the Dempster crosses - [Five Things First-Time Yukon Visitors Always Get Wrong](/blog/five-mistakes-first-time-yukon-visitors) — including underestimating distances