My very personal and subjective meaning is that the Dempster was more adventourous and also more interesting than the Dalton.

The Dalton - after you leave Fairbanks you travel through a couple of hundred kms with a very few houses/settlements and then you cross the Yukon river. On the other side of the river there is a gas station and a service area. After that there isnt anything until you reach Coldfoot and Wiseman nearby. And those are places there hardly live people during winter. Then there is the road north to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. Most of the whole road is really broken up asphalt - and thus almost dangerous to ride on. In Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse nobody lives, people there are only there to work on the oil fields. Thus no locals, no much local culture. Met some really interesting and cool guys in Wiseman though….

The Dempster - after the junction south of Dawson City you travel a couple of hours north and there is a visitor center for the National parks in the area. Then there are a couple of campsites each 200 kms or so. Then halfway to Inuvik there is the Eagle Plain service area, gas station, hotel and camp ground. After that there is a few hours to an actual settlement named Fort Mcpherson, a couple of more hours north another settlement/village of Tsiigethchic. A couple of ferry rides to cross huge rivers (free) and then into Inuvik. And another 140-150 kms to Tuktoyaktuk. The whole road is a dirtroad that is maintained and graded. Ferries are free. And several local settlements along the road where you can meet locals. When I was in Tuktoyaktuk locals struck a conversation with me and where so surprised to see an european guy on a european plated motorbike that actually took photos of me and the bike. In Prudhoe Bay nobody bothered look at me and my bike.

So for me the Dempster felt much more genuin and more of an adventure compared to the Dalton that is a very purposed built road.

But by all means - Im very happy I rode the whole length of both the Dalton and the Dempster and I encourage all other travellers to do the same when in the area. Both rides were amazing!

PS - I spent 2-3 days in the Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk area and didnt see any drug or drunkeness behaviour at all. It could well be such problems there still - but neither did I see anything nor did I hear about such things when I was there.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....