Touring - Cycling the Dempster Highway

Hi, im planning to cycle the Dempster highway (nwt canada) next summer and I was wondering if anyone has tips, info or are interested in cycling it too. (ive got quite alot of info on the route and the conditions but not much on travveling to Dawson city (start) from the uk. or any specific equipment or tyers i might need for riding a 400 mile gravel road etc. thanks, Luke

Yea man, you are in for some rough stuff. I didn't cycling the dempster, but I have a friend who has. After comparing his stories with mine of the Dalton Highway, I figured they are comparable roads.
Ready your bike for unpaved road. Ready yourself for unpredictable weather and breakdowns. But the scenery is amazing so I'm sure it will be worth it. From my experiences, I would recommend tires around 1.75-2.0 with some tread. Also make sure your rims and spokes are tough enough to handle the touring weight on the harsh road. Bring stuff for maintaining your chain, derailleur, etc. because everything gets gunked up quick.

You should work it so you can celebrate your accomplishment at the Dawson City Music Fest afterwards. It was a blast for me. I'm sure the road will be a challenge but the experience will be out of this world. Good luck and have fun.


Dave

Also, be prepared for massive numbers of mosquitos and/or black flies. Be on the lookout for bull moose and grizzly bears at all times, especially if you are camping.
Trucks on desolate Canadian highways are usually quite large, too-most being 9 axle doubles, and they do create a big wind when they pass.

I have never biked the Dempster, but have driven it (back in 1991). There was a stretch of road, a hundred or so miles from the Junction with the highway going to Dawson City, that was notoriously hard on car tired. The road surface was made from local material -- shale, lots of little rock knives for car tires. We had a flat along there. Most cars carry two spares.

Further north, (north of the Arctic Circle) we passed a cyclist heading north. A mile or two later, we saw a grizzly sow and her cub ambling down the road.

Back in 1991, I do not recall any heavy truck traffic on that road, but that could have changed. Many of the mines in the area, though, are not currently operating. There has to be some truck traffic, bringing fuel and supplies, just not a lot. More of a problem than wind gusts from big trucks, I think, are stones thrown by their tires (or other vehicles, too). A lot of the vehicles up there have broken windshields from flying stones on the dirt roads. While driving the Denali Highway, in Alaska, an oncoming pickup truck coming around a corner tossed a stone over the top of our VW bus. Whew. Then there is the dust cloud the vehicle tows behind it. Everything near the road is pretty well dusted.

From the junction with the Dawson Highway there are no services of any sort, except a couple unattended campgrounds until you get to Eagle Plains, about 350 miles. Fort McPherson is another 150 miles, or so further. Inuvik, further still.

It is amazing country. The long lingering afternoons treat you to some of the best light for photograph there is. There will be vehicle traffic, so you won't be totally on your own. People up there help each other.

Camping can be pretty much anywhere you want. The Tombstone Mountain campground is the only established one that existed in 1991. (Water from the river. Pit toilets. Picnic tables.) It's about 50 miles up the road.

Mosquitoes, no-see-ums (and larger bitting midges), black flies.

It can rain a lot in the summer, or be quite dry. Either way there can be lightning caused files that can turn the skies murky.

One thing you might consider (you'll figure this out when you get there) is that because the bugs are active during the day, but it is bright enough to ride even at midnight, you can avoid most of the bugs by riding at night (it isn't dark, more like a shallow twilight). Then you can crash during the day.

It can be muddy in June. July is the buggiest. Frost can happen in August --but, it kills off most of the bugs.

Good luck. Have fun planning.

Mike Sakarias,
Juneau Alaska

Hello
We cycled this amazing highway in 1997. It was truly awesome. In Dawson you can get a good information sheet with the campgrounds etc marked on it plus elevations etc. This is quite useful. We only had to camp wild twice which wasn't really much of a problem although we were a little concerned with the food and bears. We sometimes stayed in the rest areas and you can put your panniers in the back of the bear prook rubbish bins. You can restock in Fort McPhearson and at Artic Red River plus some small supplies at Eagle Plains. Re the traffic we went late in the season and didn't come across too many RV's but there are quite a lot of heavy trucks. Be nice and stop and get off the road before the trucks reach you. We did this and didn't have any problems. Other cyclists determined to hold their line were often run off into the ditch. We have some more details on the previous tours section of our website.
Enjoy and if you really like it try the Top of the World Highway from Dawson to Tok, Alaska. This was harder but what scenery.

Kind regards
Christine