One of the most epic road trips in all of Canada is the Dempster Highway, a 700-km dirt road stretching from Dawson, Yukon to Inuvik, NWT. The highway takes you from one territory to another, passing the Arctic Circle and all sorts of magnificent scenery, and finally linking up to the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk-Highway, which takes you all the way to the Arctic Ocean.
During our 150-day road trip across Canada, this was one of our most epic experiences. After all, how often can you say you drove past the Arctic Circle? The landscapes are so incredible and because we went in the fall, we were greeted by an array of beautiful colours, ranging from dark reds to golden yellows. It was truly a road trip we’ll never forget and a trip that many people wish to take. After all, this is one of the best things to do in Canada.
As mentioned in the beginning, however, the Dempster Highway is a 700-km dirt road with very little services offered along the way. In fact, there’s only one and it’s in a place called Eagle Plains, which is located around the 400-km mark. Due to the highway’s isolation and rough surface, you must do some planning before you go. We read all sorts of blogs and info sites before embarking on our journey and quite frankly, many of them scared the shit out of us. Now that we’ve been on the Dempster Highway ourselves, I can say that some of them exaggerated quite a bit, but probably for good reason – to really make sure people prepare before making such a long-isolated journey.
Depending on when you go and what you’re driving, there will be different ways to prepare.
What is the Best Season for Driving the Dempster Highway
Without a doubt, the best time will be in the warmer, drier months, including certain times in the spring, summer, and fall. Winter driving is an entirely different beast and we don’t recommend doing this unless you’re highly experienced. When it comes to choosing a season, it mainly depends on the weather. A little bit of rain can be a good thing as it calms down the dust on the road. Too much rain can make the road very slippery though, which can lead to accidents. Other things to keep in mind are the bugs. The spring and summer present much more bugs, including mosquitos and black flies. None of these will kill you but you’ll definitely get bitten at this time of year. In our opinion, the best time to go is in the early fall, which is when the fall colours are out and the bugs have almost all disappeared. This also one of the best time for Dempster Highway conditions.
Seven Tips for Driving the Dempster Highway
As mentioned above, you need to prepare for the Dempster Highway and depending on what vehicle you’re driving and when you’re going, this preparation might differ. However, we’d like to share seven tips that we think will come in useful, no matter what time of year you go.
Fill Your Tank!
This might sound obvious but it’s very important. You will not have another option to get gas until the 400-km mark. There is a gas station just outside of Dawson, but even if you fill it up in Dawson, you should be fine. However, you need to know what your tank holds and how many km you can get out of a tank. Our Honda Pilot has a range of about 650 km or more so we knew one full tank would be fine. If you’re not sure, you may want to bring an extra plastic canister of gas with you.
Bring Food and Water
Just like gas, there is no place to buy food or water until you get to Eagle Plains. Once in Eagle Plains, they have a restaurant but they do not have a grocery store. You’ll want water and snacks, especially if you break down. Also, groceries in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk is very expensive so stock up on what you can if you want to save money.
Don’t Speed
Driving on a gravel road is not the same as driving on pavement. Even when the road is dry, a gravel road is much more slippery when taking turns. If it rains, it’s much worse. In addition, the faster you drive, the better the chance you’ll get a flat tire on the loose shale rock along the way. Even during our trip, we saw a minivan turned upside down in the ditch. Behind the wheel was an obvious foreigner who likely had no idea how to drive a gravel road. Drive 80 km/h or less and you should be fine.
Bring a Full-Size Spare Tire
We chose to rely on the dummy tire that came with our Honda Pilot but this was taking a risk. We also bought a product called Slime, which is used to plug small holes in the tire. On our way back down the Dempster, we got our first flat and the Slime did not work. Thankfully, we were only 20 km away from Eagle Plains and the dummy tire got us there. Once in Eagle Plains, they repaired our tire. However, if you break down 100-km from the nearest service centre, a dummy tire might not make it. If we ever go back, I’ll be bringing at least one full-size spare tire, just in case.
Stay the Night in Eagle Plains
The community of Eagle Plains has a hotel, a campground, a restaurant, a bar, a gas station, and a car mechanic. It’s a little more than halfway between Dawson and Inuvik. We highly recommend spending the night, especially if you’re enjoying the scenery along the way. Summer daylight is long, but if you try to stretch it too much, you could get tired, or have a higher chance of breaking down at night. There’s also ferries along the way and you don’t want to miss one and be stranded in the middle of nowhere. Obviously, staying a night in the Eagle Plains Hotel is not required but we recommend it just for being extra safe and enjoying the area. Eagle Plains is located right on the Arctic Circle as well, and when we spent the night, we saw an incredible display of Northern Lights.
Get a Satellite Phone if you Want Service
If you want to be able to have access to a phone in case of emergency, you will need to buy or rent a satellite phone. There is NO SERVICE from any of Canada’s cellphone carriers. None. The only possibility is a satellite phone and yes, they can be expensive. We chose to rely on other people in the rare chance of an emergency and never did need one. However, many people feel safer with access to a phone and so we just wanted to mention it so that you know your options. If you do want to rent one, you’ll need to do so in Whitehorse.
Bring a Windshield Repair Kit
The Dempster Highway is known for broken windshields. It’s quite common to get some sort of crack or ding due to rocks being flung up by passing trucks. Surprisingly, we didn’t get any BUT we did get them on the Alaska Highway heading to Whitehorse, Yukon from British Columbia. If you get one or two, it might be nice to plug them up with a proper windshield repair kit, which costs around $20 per crack. However, if the crack is too big or you have too many, you may want to just consider getting a new windshield once your trip is over. The main purpose of a windshield repair kit is to stop the crack from spreading further. You can buy them at Canadian Tire or a similar shop.
Enjoy Your Drive on the Dempster Highway
The Dempster Highway is not as bad as some people make it out to be. However, it still requires some planning and safe driving. Read over our tips above and decide how you want to prepare for the journey. It’s about 400-km to Eagle Plains and then another 300-km or so until you reach Inuvik. Once in Inuvik, most services are available, as well as a variety of hotels and restaurants. Either way, the work to get prepared is worth it because this is easily one of the best things to do in the Yukon and one of the best things to do in the Northwest Territories. Enjoy your drive on the Dempster Highway and let us know how it went!
If you have any tips, comments, or questions, leave a comment below!
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Thanks for sharing this. Your tips are very helpful. I am a travel freak and travel a lot. Next year Alaska is on my card.Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness., and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Next year I definitely want to explore Albany.
People often have a theme that they base their worldly travels on, but how about a mental mantra for your travel? Out of a cheerleading event that consisted of our family shouting supportive words at our daughter who was attempting to kill a rather monstrous spider that the rest of us were too chicken to get close to, came this great quote, “If you don’t think, and you just do….then it’s done!”
This quote came back to haunt me when on vacation in Seattle. I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids on the Seattle Great Wheel, the ferris wheel overlooking the ocean, but as we approached it, I realized how high it went and immediately panicked! Just as I had decided to put the kids on it on their own, my daughter says, “Come on dad…If you don’t think, and you just do….then it’s done!” What could I do at that point?! She was telling me to stop thinking and creating more fear about the situation and just get on the thing!
“If you don’t think, and you just do, then it’s done!” We all now keep this quote in our back pocket, ready to whip out at any time to push one of us forward into an adventure we know they won’t regret. No hesitations, don’t allow any time for fear to set in, and be prepared for your kids to turn your life advice back on you
Thanks, I’m glad you found it helpful. Haha, that’s great that your kids helped push you forward. Count to three and go haha. Good luck on the Alaska vacation. I was only there once and it was a long time ago but I’m sure it’s similar to the Yukon except with more ocean 🙂
great info. there’s always soon much hype today. this was clear and refreshing. thank you for sharing your experience
I drove the Dempster highway this year at the end of July. I found it to be a well maintained gravel road. In my opinion it was equal to or better than most mainline logging roads. My vehicle is a 350 Ford 4×4 crewcab with good tires. The highway gets better when you enter the NWT.
I was able to travel at speeds of 80 – 110 km/hr comfortably. I heard of some driving strategies that are dangerous. On this highway travel at your comfortable speed, slow when you meet oncoming traffic and give the oncoming traffic lots of room.
It was an incredible drive through absolutely magnificent county.
Totally agree. I found the only issues are sharp shale rock puncturing tires or on-coming traffic spitting rocks into your windshield. Get any cracks? Pop any tires?
I definitely agree that early autumn is the best time to drive the Dempster hwy. I went in mid September 2008 and took tons of photos of scenery and wildlife (lots of wolves along the klondike and first 100 km of the Dempster hwy.) Beautiful drive, tundras almost like walking on a waterbed. The bugs aren’t active in the higher elevations, but were a nuisance in the lower forested areas. Missed the Ferry at the Mackenzie crossing… but was treated to a truely psychedelic light show straight overhead (very active swirling multicolored auroras.) Was a great trip, took 3 days (including a flight to tuk… pingos from the air, dressed in orange and red, look like an alien world.) I’ll do it again sometime… probably same time of year, will want to drive the new extension to the coast… and I’ll probably also book the flight too, just for the photo op.
No flats… just adventure… but if you go hiking, bring bear spray and something to protect yourself with should that fail… up on the tundra there’s no trees to climb, and I noticed walking on the stuff is awkward… running on it… impossible. Coming across fairly fresh bear tracks keeps you alert out there, especially miles away from my car… and possibly hundreds of miles from help. Also put a sign on windshield with an arrow in direction you went hiking, as well as date and approx time you expect to return. Cheers all!
Great tips Dave! Thanks for sharing. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any wildlife, but we know they’re out there! haha.
Awesome tip with the sign idea! Thanks a lot, Dave. I’m aiming to conquer the Dempster a second time this Christmas!
oh wow! Doing it in the winter?
I would like to travel the Dempster in an RV- about 25ft. Do you think it is safe on this road?
Hmmm, I’m not sure. Perhaps email tourism Yukon? I’ve never driven an RV. I think you could if you take it easy. You may get a flat and you’d want to take it easy around turns, but as long as the road is dry. I might be cautious if it rains though
We did it in at 20ft Class C motorhome. If the road has sunk into the permafrost as it did when we were there in 2018 and they pile on the gravel (think sinking up to your axels is sand), you’ll never make it in a 25ft RV as it’s just too heavy. Make sure you check the road conditions carefully, and don’t go past Inuvik if there is any doubt, up to there you should be fine. Also keep your speed down, especially between the 2 ferries as the gravel is crushed shale and more likely to get a flat. It happened to us and it wasn’t fun changing a destroyed tire on an RV. We had 2 full size spare tires and used them both!
Amazing trip, will never forget it!
Thanks for the tips. We get people asking us about RV travel there all the time but we haven’t done it
What we’re doing we’re on our way to drive up through Canada, then up into Dawson City. Then we’re going to park our trailer we have a small 15 ft trailer I will park that in the Dawson City area and then we’re going to drive a truck with a small camper top over it. I’ve done this trip before but this time we’re going to do the new highway from a new Vic to Tuck but I would not suggest taking any type of RV on that road
thanks for sharing this nice places photos i would like to visit these places.
A wonderful write-up. Thank you, Matthew! May I ask what week of what month in the fall did you travel this road? I love the look of the landscape from the photos you took as well as the weather and would like to travel at the same time, if possible?
Yeah, for sure, this was late August. I believe we went up around August 20th and came back on September 2nd. It’s a great time as there’s very little bugs!
Intresting tips and comments on ths site.Tuktoyaktuk mas been on my bucket list for several years.I decided to make the this journey early fall this year from Manitoba to the arctic and I was wondering if my truck needs to a 4 wheel drive or is 2 wheel drive unit.
Cheers Chuck….
Awesome! I’m not totally sure. I’ve seen locals doing the drive in cheap cars, and those definitely don’t have awd. So, I think it’s possible as long as the weather cooperates.
Great advice – I have lots of related Northern & Arctic experience.
I’d emphasize
– FULL SIZE SPARE (or two) and be sure you can change it yourself (jack works, proper lug wrench, wheel nuts not too tight (from the shop’s air impact wrench).
– Food and water – you won’t starve if you get stuck but you need water
– tire inflation chemicals aren’t much help with cuts from shale (most common problem)
– Winter travel – Don’t do it unless you are experienced in winter driving, have a well maintained winterized vehicle, and proper winter survival gear
We are travelling to Inuvik mid August 2021- will be in Lance truck camper- brand new tires on the truck- with car- new Ford Ecosport (new tires) travelling with us- being driven by someone else.
Curious about the recommendation to bring a spare tire. This is our first time travelling to Inuvik and would like to know if necessary/good idea to bring extra tire for both vehicles.
Thanks Michelle
Sounds like a sweet trip! Yes, everyone always recommends at least one full spare tire. It’s quite common to get a flat on the Dempster Highway as they use sharp shale for the road…
Thanks so much for the tips! I’m planning on doing this in early/mid-September, do you think winter tires are needed or all-seasons are still okay? I’m really excited but also kinda scared 😀
For the Dempster, probably winter tires if not chains. I would definitely speak to some locals about the winter drive. That’s a whole different beast as breaking down would be much worse at that time of year
What about traveling with dogs? Are there places to stop and get off the road to walk dogs? Are there places to camp other than public campgrounds? I do a lot of dispersed camping in the states and recently went into Northern BC and finding legal places to camp away from people was a challenge. Thank you for all this info.
mmm good question. I’ll have to inquire with the people up there. I know a significant part goes through indigenous land, so I’m not sure about dispersed camping, but it might be allowed
Many places in Canada call it ‘random’ camping. It is allowed only on public lands designated for that land use. Some of these areas allow vehicles, others don’t. Check with Provincial/Territorial government, all have a department that administers their public lands, and will likely have that info through their website.
Being away from others is becoming more difficult with each passing year.
Yes, for sure. I often wonder if anyone ever wonders how much more expansion is possible in the world
i feel on this site by surfing for places to go remote thats how i found you. this is very interesting reading thank you,
john m.
Hi There! My 18yo son and his friends are pondering/planning (very detailed) a road trip from the US up to Tuktoyaktuk, and I came across this write-up. They’re interested in reaching out to anyone who has done it and learning more from their experience. Would you be open/available to them connecting with you and learning more?
They can send us an email for sure. One caution though, which could change, is that the Northwest Territories is completely shutdown to visitors stil.
Thanks for the great tips. I’m wondering if reservation are necessary for driving the Dempster in mid June. There will be two couples in my party so not sure if we need to get reservations for both Eagle Plains & Inuvik.
Hmmm, tough to say. For Inuvik, you should be okay but Eagle Plains really is limited for rooms. I believe the NWT is still closed to visitors so if they open soon, it might depend on all the pent-up demand 🙂
It looks like if you breakdown on the last leg of the trip you’re smack in the middle of Polar Bear country.
mmm, no one mentioned polar bears there. I don’t think it’s very common, but either way, there’s other big bears
Did you have 10 ply tires or regular tires?
Just regular