Top Of The World



The road into Dawson City from the south is the only tarmaced way in. The road out to the West and into Alaska is gravel. This is the Top Of The World Highway. 

 To reach the start you take a ferry across the Yukon River and then climb up to the top of the hills. The road winds along the ridge line through forest to the Canadian / US border at Poker Creek. Then a fantastic stretch of perfect tarmac for 20 miles before hitting roadworks into the town of Chicken (population 2) and then "sketchy pavement" until you reach the Alaska Highway again in Tok.

So why the MotoGP quality stretch? It is the only part that is high enough for the ground to be permanently frozen. The absence of thaw/freeze means the road doesn't buckle and break up, making it worth building. The road works are going to put in a foundation with a foam layer so that it doesn't thaw in the summer allowing a better quality road through Chicken.


Seems like every trip I do, I learn more and more about road construction.....

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