I read about this recently. It sounds like one of the ultimate paths off the beaten path. Anyone with any thoughts?
Yeah…the first part anyways. Haven’t gone all the way to Inuvik or Tuk yet, though. Next year, for the heck of it…
It has the potential to be one of the most fabulous trips ever, if you like scenery and wildlife. Magnificent views of both.
However, it’s still a gravel road, and gas stations are few and far between. It’s a hard road on vehicles, be sure that you’re driving something with some clearance. And don’t replace your windshield just before the trip. Oh, and remember to drive slowly - you kick up less gravel that way, you don’t beat your vehicle to death on the corduroy parts, and you have more of a chance to avoid having that caribou come through the windshield.
Ummm. Isolation is a key feature to that road. It is possible to drive for hours and see no other vehicle at all, at all. I’ve heard rumours that some find that unnerving. Which leads into the next statement.
A basic Northern car survival kit is a must. Always take candles, matches, granola bars, water jugs, extra gas,an axe and two spare tires. For this trip, I’d also recommend a bag of charcoal briquettes or a few chunks of firewood - should an emergency occur, deadwood can sometimes be hard to find. You are up above treeline for most of the trip. Oh, and your basic car toolkit - your tire irons, a small socket set (ratchet and the five or six sockets you’re most likely to use)a couple wrenches, spare belts - you may have to do a fix on the fly and limp the vehicle into the nearest village.(I speak from bitter experience here…)
A cell phone isn’t always a guarantor of a rescue - there are dead spots for cell coverage along the Dempster, last I heard. A satellite phone works nicely all along, though.
A link (or two, or three) for your enjoyment…
http://www3.sympatico.ca/billh56/ (this one is excellent)
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C’mon up, the water’s fine, the people are friendly, and the wildlife is tasty. 
I don’t have to tell you not to hand-feed the bears, do I? That reminds me - don’t hand-feed the Stone sheep either. We’ve had more tourii hurt by those damn sheep than we have had eaten by bears. People think that because they are herbivores they are harmless - WRONG! If you lose your balance in a crowd of sheep after the potato chips you’re handing out, you could quite possibly die. Those little hooves are razor sharp and make nasty gashes. (Okay, only one fatality I know of, but a lot of ugly, scarring slashes.)
The Dempster Highway has cellphone coverage??!
<reads linked sites>
Okay, that’s it. I wanna go. It would be one of the ultimate road trips: Toronto to Inuvik.
In the immortal words of Calvin the Bold: Yukon Ho!
Spotty cell coverage. The phone company’s trying, but cell towers in the middle of Virgin Bush, Yukon, or Unspoiled Tundra, NWT are kind of expensive, and you need a lot of them in the mountains.
Speaking of which, you may want to plan for a couple extra days on the road - the Tombstone mountain range is quite something, and there’s day hikes and whatnot based out of the campground - or so I’ve heard.
You’ll never call those pathetic hills Down South mountains again.
Further linkage revealed http://wmuma.com/moped78/index.html. In 1978, the author went from Toronto to Fairbanks to Inuvik and back. More than 18 000 km. On a moped. :eek:
Went on a family road trip 20 years ago, up the Alaska Highway and back down again. On the way home, we drove about 2-3 miles of the newly opened Dempster Highway.
All I remember is, everything rattled a lot.
It seemed like they purposely put every sharp, jagged rock they could find in the road, for maximum vibration factor. Driving the whole highway was out, since the first gas station was 265 miles and our motorhome couldn’t get that far. Oh, and the Yukon guidebook said to bring SEVERAL spare tires.
But at least I can brag about having been on that road. Funny thing is, nobody’s asked me…until now.
I made all of the way to the ferry crossing at the Peel River. Lousy stupid flooding. We were planning on going to Inuvik, but were never quite made it. I don’t mind though, because it gives me an excuse to go back. Not that one is really needed, as it is a spec-fricken’-tacular trip.
Basically, everything that Tisiphone has mentioned is very sound, sage advice. I would recommend extra tires very strongly. I was talking to a visitor at our local museum back when I was working there who had just come back from there. He went through three tires, due to the shale on the road.
Bug spray is a must. They aren’t as bad as every one makes them out to be, at least they are not much different than where I live (Prince George, BC. Which is in the north, but not that far north!), but there are a lot, and they can be quite bothersome.
As far as service stations being few and far between, that is a bit of an understatement. I believe once you leave Dawson City, it is just under 400 km until the next gas station. Not a fun walk if you run out. If you go in the summer, it can be confusing as well, what with the sun never setting. I can still remember the sun just hitting the tops of the trees in Eagle Plains, and then going back up. Very cool. I can also remember walking around Whitehorse, trying to figure out why everything was closed. Then I looked at my watch, and noticed that it was 11:30 pm. And i really wanted to go to that used book store. Whitehorse is a very beautiful cit though. I quite enjoyed myself when was there.
Oh, and if any dopers are going through my neck of the woods, drop me a line, I’d love to go for a beer!