Robert HallMy first Land Rover, a ’95 Discovery I, came with my new posting as an Orthopedic Surgeon in Alaska many years ago. It would lead to a Defender 90, a Range Rover Sport, my current ’92 Defender 110 (“Remedy”) and my ’21 Defender 110 L663 (“Tazzy”). I had little time for Land Rover adventures until my recent retirement; the 1500-mile Dempster Highway and beyond to the Arctic Circle would prove the perfect journey.
Our route would take us from Anchorage to Dawson City, Canada via the Top of the World Highway. The Dempster Highway starts just outside of Dawson City and crosses two mountain ranges, the Arctic Circle, and two major rivers before ending in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. From Inuvik, a recently completed road continues north to the “end of the road’ in Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean.
My wife Sue and I invited our nephew, Lucas Hall, a University of Montana student and Land Rover enthusiast to join us and to bring his friend and workmate, Khabira “Bibi” Garib. Sue and I had spent the week prior gathering food and gear and getting the Land Rovers ready. Lucas and Bibi arrived in Anchorage at night, and we hit the road by 8:30 am the next morning. Despite our views of mountains and glaciers, the six-lane highway out of Anchorage left us with an urban feel.
The adventure really began the next day when we turned off the Top of the World Highway and onto the Taylor Highway. Open only from April to mid-October, this scenic route goes up and over rolling hills and features spectacular views that go on forever. About 60 miles up the Taylor is the funky little town of Chicken, AK, a fun stop for pictures and souvenirs.
The first day’s overcast skies and cool temperatures had changed to sunny, 80-degree warmth. Remedy’s air conditioner had quit working, but fortunately the wind-up windows would still go up and down. The original plan of rotating drivers and vehicles had to be set aside as neither Lucas nor Bibi felt comfortable driving a manual transmission; Sue, a marine biologist, wanted to spot and observe wildlife. So the older generation remained in the L316 and the younger ones remained in the L663 for the rest of the journey.
The road out of Chicken up to the junction with the Top of the World Highway turned out to be the windiest and most up-and-down section of the entire trip. At the Canadian border, as the agent returned our passports, he looked at Tazzy and asked if we were traveling together. When I replied “yes,” he said, “Yours is the cool one. The older ones are much cooler.” (I agreed.) From the border, the Top of the World stays on ridge tops, often above the tree line, with amazing views of endless mountains in every direction. The road eventually drops down to the Yukon River and ends across the river from Dawson City. There, we camped at the territorial campground along the Yukon. Next morning we crossed over on the free ferry and spent most of the day exploring Dawson City; its Klondike Gold Rush founding assures a colorful history.
In the afternoon, we started up the Dempster. The stretch up to Tombstone Territorial Park featured rough roadbeds — surprisingly the worst on the highway. Tombstone’s popularity results in a fair amount of traffic up to the park; we had reserved a campsite online so we could relax on our drive. We spent two nights there and enjoyed a day of hiking to stretch our legs.
After Tombstone, we continued north along the Dempster Highway. Compared with the Dalton, the Dempster has a more wilderness feel; its lower section goes through the mountains with terrain changing every half hour. We stopped at the halfway point of Eagle Plains, the only fuel stop during the 370-mile drive from Dawson City to Fort McPerson. After we crossed into the Arctic Circle, we wound our way higher and higher above the tree line. The striking, treeless mountains reinforced how far north we had come. As we crossed from the Yukon Territory to the Northwest Territories, the gravel road improved dramatically because of a recent grading. Regardless of how dry and dusty the drive, the semi trucks never slow down. At times the thick dust cloud from an oncoming truck reduced visibility to zero for a few seconds; we had puffs of black smoke coming out of the air vents. (We later heard about someone who drove off the road due to the dust cloud.)
Crossing a river aboard another free ferry, we stopped at a campground on the Peel River. Except for Tombstone Park, you can set up camp anywhere along the Dempster Highway. We used the conveniently located campgrounds often; they’re uncrowded and well equipped (hot showers at one!) assuring us of finding a campsite at the end of a long day. Even the mosquitos seemed less hungry than during previous trips to the Arctic.
One night, Sue noticed a small oil puddle under Remedy’s front. When I checked under the hood I saw that a leak had developed at the junction of an oil cooler line and the radiator — part of the joys of Land Rover travel. Luckily, the leak never got worse and I only had to add oil once the rest of the trip.
The next morning, a light rain started falling. We packed up and headed out as the rain and winds increased. Soon we came to the last free ferry crossing over the huge Mackenzie River. By the time we arrived in Inuvik later that afternoon, the wind had increased and the temperature dropped into the low 40s. We had planned on camping the whole trip but — to quote Mike Tyson — “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.” We booked ourselves into a hotel in Inuvik for the next two nights. With 3,000 people, Inuvik serves as a regional hub for that part of the Northwest Territories and has all the expected services, although diesel ran $8.00 US per gallon. After locking up Remedy in the hotel parking lot, I later found that the front door locks wouldn’t open due to all the dust and vibration forcing me to climb into the truck through the back door.
It was windy with light rain the next morning as we headed out for the last push to Tuktoyaktuk. The road was narrower, muddy at the edges and more potholed than the Dempster. Rolling over gravel saturated by the rain, it felt like we were driving on a wet beach. About 10 miles out of Inuvik, we made a photo stop and Lucas noticed that Remedy’s tailpipe had fallen on the bracket of the mudflap; we discovered that the rubber bushing holding up the tailpipe had vibrated through. I had some safety wire in our kit and we wired the end of the tailpipe to the back of the truck.
Three hours after leaving Inuvik and seven days after leaving Anchorage, we pulled in to the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk. The temperature reading on Tazzy was 42, the wind 20–30 mph with a hard rain. We spotted some hardy souls camping in RVs out on the spit on the far side of town. We checked out both grocery stores, where I picked up a roll of heavier wire to replace the safety wire we had used on the tailpipe. We tried to have lunch in town but struck out as no restaurants were open on a Sunday afternoon. After we had hit the tourist spots and the town’s gift shop, we were ready to head back to Inuvik.
Lucas had been talking all along about jumping in the Arctic Ocean; a little weather would not stop him. In a relatively protected cove, he waded out into the ocean and dunked himself. He jumped right out, hopped back into a warm Tazzy and we headed for Inuvik. A few miles out of town the rain trailed off. The road seemed to improve immediately and we made Inuvik in about 2 hours. We enjoyed some celebratory pizza for dinner and called it a day.
The next morning, we started back down the Dempster Highway. We took our time returning to Tuktoyaktuk and Dawson City. Potholes, washboards and slippery conditions had formed over the last few days of rain, and our overall speed fell to 35–40mph. To Canada’s credit, we saw road graders in action both up and back. The rain continued as we went below the Arctic Circle, but despite the raindrops we sighted two bull caribou and one grizzly bear in the treeless hillsides along the road. During dinner one night we could hear music in the campground; Lucas and Bibi discovered that it came from an accordionist in the cook shack – how surreal!
After finishing the Dempster, we went into Dawson City for supplies and fuel and cvamped on the Yukon again that night. The next morning, after leisurely lattes, we headed back along the Top of the World highway. By this point, both vehicles had acquired a substantial coating of mud. At the US border crossing, the agent looked us over while trying to read our license plates. He remembered us though, as he asked Lucas and Bibi about the conditions on the the Dempster. We only saw one other Defender the entire trip, likely overlanders given their European license plates. Eager for the comforts of home, we drove a little faster over the stretch south of Chicken, where all the frost heaves in the “pavement” gave the passengers in both Rovers queasy stomachs. Undaunted, we pressed on and arrived home that afternoon after 12 days on the road, covering 2,200 miles, 1,300 of that on gravel, with a feeling of accomplishment and memories for a lifetime.