开云体育

We plan to go to Alaska in July and are thinking of coming back through
Dawson, YT rather than heading straight back to Whitehorse. I notice that
the road from Tok to the Canadian border is unpaved - looks like about 120
miles or so of it. Has anyone driven that stretch recently? How was it? For
that matter, what is it like all the way on that loop from Tok down to
Whitehorse where you pick up the Alaska Highway again?

Thanks,
Terry
'97EVC

hi Terry,
I haven't been on that road personally, but my folks did it in a 33'
winnebago two years ago with no problems.

do you belong to AAA? if so, they're usually a decent source of info. also
check Alaska Hwy dept's website (assuming they have one).
good luck
Bill

Terry,

I haven't ever made that detour although I have driven the Alaska Highway
about a dozen times. (Most recently this summer when our '99EVC was less than
a week old.) Here is a web address that you need to check out.
It is a complete and updated guide of the roads
you will be traveling on. In Alaska we usually buy a copy of The Milepost
each year at Costco for about half the cover price. I'm not sure if Costco
stores in the lower 48 states carry it or not. BTW the best weather for
traveling is from June through the first part of July. After that we often
receive even more cloudy/rainy weather. If you have questions on what is
worth seeing and doing and what is a waste of time just let me know.

Greg
Anchorage, Alaska

Terry Tiessen wrote:

We did the "Top of the World Highway" in August of 1998 as part of our
honeymoon travels through Alaska, the Yukon, northern British Columbia in
our 1995 EVC. The Canadian side of the highway is chip sealed and not a bad
drive. The scenery is supposed to be phenomenal however the day we drove, it
was socked in with fog! The American side, which is the majority of the
drive, was gravel road. We could only do about 50-60 kmh on average and
slower in other spots. There's not a lot on the road. You get to see
Chicken, Alaska (pop. 25) and there are remnants of old dredgers from the
Gold Rush days as well as current placer gold mining sites which was
interesting.

Dawson is worth the trip. It has been preserved and restored to the turn of
the century, right down to the dirt streets and boardwalks.

I'll put in a pitch now for a real driving experience - the Dempster
Highway. It is about an hour outside of Dawson and it takes you over 700 km
of dirt roads (one way) to Inuvik, N.W.T. Check with the visitors centre in
Dawson regarding the road conditions. There's also a register there of
people who've recorded their experiences on the highway which provides
essential information to successful travel. It is recommended that you take
an additional spare tire. It is not uncommon for people to get on and even
two flats during the trip and the only place to get service and gas up (or
even see anyone apart from cars passing on the road) is in Eagle Plains,
half way there. Part of the reason for flats is due to the use of shale to
cover the initial portion of the road in the N.W.T. which can easily
puncture tires with quick breaking. If you underinflate the tires by 5 to 10
lbs, it will dramatically reduce your risk of a flat. We did it both ways
this way and didn't have trouble. It takes about 12 hours to drive, maybe
longer. We did our return trip in 91/2 hours but the roads were dry that day
and we tend to drive like maniacs anyway. If you have squeaks and rattles in
your EVC from road bumps, try to cushion squeaky parts before you go or
they'll drive you nuts! It can be a bumpy ride.

Despite all these cautions, it is well worht the trip due to the incredible
beauty of the region. The tundra rises from the flat to graceful sloping
mountains called pingos. The Peel-Oglvie region has beautiful mountains
almost as spectacular as the Rockies with way less tourists and a majestic
silence that is breathtaking. There are ferry boats over the Peel and
Mackenzie Rivers which operate efficiently and provide a brief break from
the drive. We saw ptarmigan, black bears, and foxes on our drive, however
you can sometimes see caribou and musk-ox.

Inuvik was a lot of fun. There's a good dinner theatre there and you might
want to check out when the Great Northern Arts Festival is happening to
coincide your trip with that. It was around the end of July when we were
there and it just happened to be on then lucky for us. It was great
opportunity to meet Inuit artists from all over the Arctic and buy directly
from them. The deals on art were incredible.

The North is a fabulous trip and I hope you have a long time off to enjoy
it. We were up there over a month and it was too short. We'll hopefully be
making the trip again sometime soon. Have a great time!!!!!


Margaret and Tobi

Went the other way, Dawson to Tok, in '96 at the end of the Grand Vanagon Inuvik Trip. I was lead driver for a while, got complaints for going too slow (60 mph). That was on gravel. Does that give you a clue? It's a very fast unpaved highway.

Of course in that part of the world construction only takes place during good weather, so your probability of running into some (say 20 mi of lousy unpaved hwy) is greater than zero. Mostly on the Alaska Hwy, of course, because it gets all the heavy traffic.

Neil Wigley
'99 EVC
'87 Westy for sale (in Seattle area)

We plan to go to Alaska in July and are thinking of coming back through
Dawson, YT rather than heading straight back to Whitehorse. I notice that
the road from Tok to the Canadian border is unpaved - looks like about 120
miles or so of it. Has anyone driven that stretch recently? How was it? For
that matter, what is it like all the way on that loop from Tok down to
Whitehorse where you pick up the Alaska Highway again?

Thanks,
Terry
'97EVC


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want To Be Showered With Kisses?
Visit eGroups Valentine Gift Guide


eGroups.com Home:
- Simplifying group communications

<wigley@...>
San Diego