Via Dempster and Alaska Highway to the Arctic Ocean

Over the past few days, we've had a lot of doubts about what our next destination would be… At home we heard about the Dempster Highway, the northernmost road of Canada, with which you pass the Arctic Circle and to the town Tuktoyaktuk drives, which is located on the Arctic Ocean. This off-road route, in the winter, we really want from our bucketlist. stripes! However, it does mean that we can't sleep in our roof tent there – because the temperatures are far (far!) below 0 – and we are therefore tied to expensive hotels. If we don't do this, we could be in the USA stay and have a lot more time here. 

After much deliberation, we go into Canada! On to the northernmost tip of western Canada! We drive to the Arctic Ocean via the Dempster and Alaska Highways. So symbolic: from the northernmost tip of Canada to the southernmost tip of Argentina.

Making miles

We drive over the in two days Icefields Parkway by Banff en Jasper National Park. In the winter, a lot of things are closed here and since every night means an extra night in the hotel, we quickly move on. Someday we will have to come back to see everything these beautiful parks have to offer. 

Also read: The Five Faces of Canada

The border crossing

We don't expect a difficult border crossing (again) into Canada, but this exceeds all our expectations! It's faster than the drive-thru at McDonald's! At the sign of the green light we can drive up to the window. The man behind the window asks for our passports and whether we have been to Canada before. Yes, just a few weeks ago. He tells us that we are one of the first tourists he sees in a long time. He almost forgets to put a stamp. We get our passports back and are allowed to drive on. 

Also read: Border crossing from Canada to America by car | Our experience

Dempster Highway

We drive on to Dawson Creek, where the Alaska Hwy begins. Along the way we were warned by several locals about the Dempster Highway. We could do without our windshield because all the loose gravel we get huge bullet holes in our windshield. We definitely have to take two spare tires with us, because there are a lot of sharp stones there between the gravel. But that doesn't stop us.

Alaska Hwy

The Alaska Highway begins with an official 'mile 0 of the famous Alaska Highway' sign. 

Along the way you will pass beautiful nature, but also a number of nice sights of which the Sign Post Forest is the best known. Here are more than 80.000 signs of place names with the distance to the forest. We look out. 80.000 are really unbelievable! We even find Dutch place names. 

We follow the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse. A truck approaches a few kilometers before the city. BUT! A large rock bounces off our windshield. It is not the first star of the past few days, but certainly the largest of about 2,5 cm! Sooner or later this will be a new windscreen.  

At Whitehorse we turn towards Dawson City, this town is located 40 kilometers from the start of the Dempster Highway. 

In our next blog about the Dempster Highway you can see how our adventure ends. Getting to the Arctic Ocean is easier said than done!

You can also find all our images of the Alaska Highway and the Dempster Highway on our YouTube channel: Red's Road Life. 

Until the next, 

Roy and Ellen

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