Good article comparing the Dalton to the Dempster
 

The author rode both back to back, and did a good compare / contrast of the Dalton Haul Road to Deadhorse, and the Dempster to Tuktoyaktuk.


https://www.advpulse.com/adv-news/to...way-which-one/

Thanks for sharing - good memories of the Dempster, and good information for the Dalton (perhaps in 2024 - this year will be the other end of Canada).

"Inuvik... has a problem… one that unfortunately plagues many remote communities in this part of the world. After one night in Inuvik, I was anxious to move on…"

I wonder what he is referring to?

Ha, in my simple minded way I didn't realise they were two different roads. :rofl:

So did (do) I. Presumably something about alcohol or other substance abuse, but perhaps not.

When I used to spend a lot of time in the NWT alcohol misuse was a problem for a small proportion of the community. It tended to be viewed as worse than it is because people notice a drunk in the street but don't notice those who are sober; all the same it was a real concern. In some communities if individuals become a problem owing to alcohol/drug misuse they may be expelled from the community and end up in towns like Inuvik and Yellowknife, where they are visible to visitors from outside the NWT.

When we were last there we saw evidence of the continuing problem in Yellowknife, but none in Inuvik, or indeed anywhere else in the NWT.

There have been a number of programmes aimed at helping people over the last decade and there's been some improvement, however the NWT continues to have a problem significantly worse than the rest of Canada.

Here's a report on what has been going on and what gaps remain to improve.

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/E...5_e_44082.html

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.

And I forgot to say - if dipping your toes into the Artic ocean is your thing you have to pay a bus service of around 70 USD to just get to the shore on the Dalton because all the shores are occupied by the oil businesses. In Tuktoyaktuk you can dip your body into the Artic ocean as much as you like. Nobody bothers about that…

Thanks for the info Snakeboy. Landing in Anchorage in June with a hankering for a Northern dip. Didn't like the look of Prudhoe so Tuk sounds like good advice. Will take a look!

At the risk of derailing a thread - would love to see a comparison article between either/both of those and the road to Nordkapp... which, I think, is slightly more north than both of them. :D I guess the problem is that nobody has any scary stories about Nordkapp other than the price of beer!

There is a very big difference between Dalton/Dempster roads and Nordkapp - Nordkapp is tarmac/pavement all the way, so MUCH easier.

Tuktoyaktuk: 69.445358N -133.034181 (69° 26' 43.289" N 133° 2' 3.052" W)
Deadhorse / Prudhoe Bay: 70.2556453N -148.3384293 (70° 15' 20.323" N 148° 20' 18.345" W)
Nordkapp: 71.169493N 25.783164 (71° 10' 10.175" N 25° 46' 59.39" E)

The latitude is misleading though - Nordkapp benefits mightily from the Gulf Stream, warming it significantly compared to northern Canada and Alaska. That means the Dempster and Dalton are in a far worse climate, adding truly bad weather and remoteness to the challenge.

Much as I loved the west coast route in Norway to Nordkapp, it was EASY compared to the Dalton. At the best of times the Dalton and Dempster are slippery mud, gravel, and monster commercial trucks running at very high speeds - you're not much more than a bug on the windshield to them, and you always need to keep that in mind. Not to say that's it's insanely bad, it's certainly doable, we did it two up on our own, and lots of others have done it too. You just have to keep in mind the conditions and don't get cocky, ride too fast, or push your luck in any way.

Anyone can ride to Nordkapp. Not everyone enters though - I know world travellers that stopped at the gate because the entry fee was too high for their budget!
Of course lots of people didn't get to dip their toe in the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay either, as the fee to take the tour into the area from Deadhorse is high!

Some things just need to be included in the budget.:mchappy:

Here's the trick: the ticket booth operators show up at something like 10 or 11 AM. Before they get there, you're pretty much free to rock up and slip past the boom gates - not only is this very commonly done, but it was actively recommended to me by the hostel staff in Honningsvag. :thumbup1: I stayed all the way through to the visitor complex opening, walked around the tunnel and other inside exhibitions etc. - nobody cared or asked to see my ticket.

I have done both and IMO: apples or oranges?

Dempster has nice views (not that Dalton doesn't), but as far as road goes it's mostly wide, flowing and boring. Dalton is a roller-coaster with ups and downs and turns. As truckers say: "there's a turn at the bottom of every hill, and there's a hill at the end of every turn." If it were paved there would be no reason to take Dempster.

Beware that on many of those turns on Dalton (and many of them named with names like Oh Shit!) trucks have no margin of error so you have to pull over and let them through or they will run you over. To avoid traffic the best to go there on Friday and get back before Tuesday when trucks start coming in.