Moped Trip website

Dempster Highway

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There was very little traffic on this road in 1978; perhaps a maximum of 10 vehicles per day would pass me (counting both directions).  The farther north I traveled the less traffic there was. Even today (2007) there is not very much traffic.

This road travels through a vast empty land, a silent land - silent that is, from the sounds of humans - the empty wilderness of northern Yukon.

If you go, I strongly suggest that you take your time. You won't truly experience this land by rushing through it. Slow down. Stop and get out of your vehicle to feel the wind, listen to the silence, look at the sky and clouds. Listen to what the land is trying to tell you.

I took 9 days to ride from Dawson City to Inuvik and back: July 22 - 31

  

Here is the moped at Mile 0 of the Dempster Highway, July 23, 1978.  I have already traveled 6,100 miles to reach this point, about 2,600 of it on unpaved roads.

Ahead of me lies a total of 915 miles of the Dempster Highway (457 miles to Inuvik and back).
Then, evetually, 4,500 miles back to Toronto.

 

  

Mile 40, looking south,  just a few miles south of North Fork Pass.

  

Mile 45, just south of North Fork Pass, looking north.

Along here, through the Pass and north of it, there were still the occasional patches of snow left, right by the road, some quite large!

 

  

Mile 47
Twenty-five miles away in the distance is Tombstone Mountain.  This startling mountain sticks up 1000 feet from the surrounding terrain, and is only 500 feet across on top.

This view looking west from the road is on the way up North Fork Pass.

 

  

Mile 47
A view looking north in North Fork Pass.  Empty country, above the treeline.  It is very hard to judge distances here, because of the lack of trees to give scale.

This is the highest elevation on the Dempster Hwy: 4229 feet above sea level. This area is on the continental divide.  All rivers north of here flow north into the Arctic Ocean. The Dempster Hwy crosses the continental divide three times on its way north.

  

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