We invested three days/2 nights on the Top of the World in 2011. No hurry to go anywhere. Enjoyed the spectucular scenery and great camping & boondocking along the way.
As for the Cassiar Highway north to Yukon (mentioned above) it is our preferred route. The Alaska Highway is so busy on the south end (Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson) that it isn't enjoyable for us. Whereas the Cassiar is more remote and quiet, with good scenery. The provincial park campgrounds along the route make for a very pleasant overnight.
sue t.
Pictures from our manyRV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska
Travelling with either the 25' fifth wheel or the 8' truck camper.
Hey, it is driving the North. Be perpared for the unexpected & be sure to have the time to deal with it. The unexpected can be anything from a breakdown to a spectacular area you want to spend more time in. Don't worry about getting that pretty RV dirty. The dirt washes off. The memories last a lifetime.
The TOW is not a racetrack. Sure, lots of people do Dawson to Tok in one day. There is not much time for soaking in the area at that speed. We have done TOW twice. Both times in spring very soon after the ferry resumed service. First time with an overnight at a dry CG just over the border. Second time, same CG then another night in Chicken. 2 days & 3 days to do TOW.
Dawson is a great little town too for a few days. Have to do the Dome at least once. Driving around the back streets is a must too. Don't forget a walk around the graveyard up the hill & a walk through the hardware store. The is lots of interesting stuff in there that you won't find in Lowes.
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GrandmaCarol wrote: I've heard that the roads in the Yukon could be much worse than usual this spring due to the rough winter. Guess we'll have to wait until spring to really find out.
Rough winter??? It's been incredibly easy (so far!), with mild temps and a reasonable snowfall.
dhansen871 wrote: We are planning our Alaska trip for 2012. In the last couple of years has anyone driven their Coach/MH from Whitehorse to Dawson City and onto Tok? How was the condition of the road? Just curios if you ever got concerned about the road and your Coach.
Thanks
Last time I was on it, it had gravel 3 ft. high on one side and I had trouble so sent my buddy to Whitehorse to get parts.
I set on the gravel until dark, than build a fire, he returned at 10 pm without the parts. Bears around to. But we parked in the woods and slep in our sleeping bags anyway. We were on out 1961 Honda 305 Dreams, remember it was 1962 at the time.So I guess today with a nice Country Coach,extra Jeep behind, power, and food, cell ph.Tv. it sould not be much of a problem.
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The stretch (Klondike Hwy) between Whitehorse and Dawson is excellent paved roadway with very few minor bumps and maybe you will run into a few gravel patches due to resurfacing projects of the roadway.
Crossing the Yukon River onto the entire route of Top of the World Hwy ending at the Border Crossing is widened and fairly ok with great to good road surface, both paved with intermittent gravel....Top of the World Hwy had a substantial makeover which was widened with smooth gravel surface in 1998, much improved compared to my first visit to Dawson in 1992 when I driven it before, and seen it was almost all paved in 2006 which was the best condition I ever seen this road in, then went to intermittent stretches of non-pavement in 2008, and I noticed in 2010 much of the pavement is gone again from the Yukon River at mile 0 and beyond but still pleasent to drive on which I am guessing they are going to resurface the road back to pavement.
July 2010 - mile 3 Top of the World Hwy
The most (so called) rugged stretch is the next 43 mile portion from the border crossing into Alaska thru Chicken with some narrow shoulder to no shoulder room, as you will start on unpaved surfacing travelling on Boundary Spur Road for 13 miles linking to the Taylor Hwy Jct., and continuing on unpaved surfacing on the Taylor Hwy thru Chicken at mile 66, as the best time to travel thru this stretch in my opinion is when it is dry as you will hit some bumps and rough surfaces along the way, however it can get very rough comparing to the rainy days, but still very passable in a motorcoach type rig...just exercise a little caution thru this stretch.....This portion of the road had washed out in 6 areas and exposed permafrost in 2010 which done some severe damage (10 days after I passed thru and roughest condition I ever seen) due to massive rains throughout June which closed the roadway the majority of the remaining summer and had extensive repairs done around the clock before reopening the roadway in September via pilot escort.
July 2010 - Mile 8 Boundary Spur Road overlooking Boundary with typical road surface after heavy rainfall :
July 2010 - Mile 72 Taylor Hwy :
July 2010 - Mile 69 Taylor Hwy :
Once leaving Chicken enroute to Tok, there is almost two more miles of unpaved surfacing before you will start reaching the majority of paved surfaces once again starting at the Mosquito Fork Bridge as the roadway will have more shoulder room in most portions of this part of the route.
The Alaska Hwy to Mosquito Creek Bridge portion of the Taylor Hwy (mile 0 thru mile 64) was paved sometime well after 1992 as I am thinking it was actually paved for the first time in 1996 or 1997.
July 2010 - Mile 22 Taylor Hwy :
After arriving in Dawson, I would advise checking up on weather and road conditions especially between Chicken and the Border on the Alaska side prior to travel in case there was extensive rainfall present, particularily if commuting in a motorcoach type rig.
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Quote: Rough winter??? It's been incredibly easy (so far!), with mild temps and a reasonable snowfall.
Not here in the Fairbanks Area, it's been a rough winter here....-40 below F or colder the first 10 of 19 days in January while reaching -30 F in 16 of the 22 days this month, as November got real cold here too reaching -40 F below for over a week - had three weeks of December where it was very pleasant (the same typical weather Whitehorse has experienced this winter) which surprised me when I checked the regions of the far north....
Dawson City, Watson Lake and Mayo are sure having the same extreme cold weather Interior Alaska has been experiencing though.
My area is forecasted for continued -40 to -45 F below low temps for at least another week.
Quote: Rough winter??? It's been incredibly easy (so far!), with mild temps and a reasonable snowfall.
Not here in the Fairbanks Area, it's been a rough winter here....-40 below F or colder the first 10 of 19 days in January while reaching -30 F in 16 of the 22 days this month, as November got real cold here too reaching -40 F below for over a week - had three weeks of December where it was very pleasant (the same typical weather Whitehorse has experienced this winter) which surprised me when I checked the regions of the far north....
Dawson City, Watson Lake and Mayo are sure having the same extreme cold weather Interior Alaska has been experiencing though.
My area is forecasted for continued -40 to -45 F below low temps for at least another week.
Maybe help is on the way it is already +10 here outside of Homer. Overcast and we got about 1/2 inch of powder snow last night.
Been cold here this winter also. but as an old timer told me yesterday it has just been warmer than normal the last few years.
dennis
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