Dempster Highway — Dawson City to Eagle Plains via the Tombstone Highlands and Blackstone Plateau

The Dempster starts 40 kilometers east of Dawson City on the Klondike Highway and immediately starts climbing into Tombstone Territorial Park — jagged quartzite peaks, U-shaped glacial valleys, and in September, a tundra that burns red and gold as far as you can see. The North Fork Pass at 1,289 meters is the first high point, and it’s where the road earns its reputation. The surface alternates between compacted gravel and greasy clay shale — the same shale that turns to black snot in rain and will sidewall your tires without warning. The Blackstone Plateau opens up beyond the park boundary, vast and wind-scoured, before the road drops into the Two Moose Lake country and eventually reaches Eagle Plains — a single fuel stop and lodge at the halfway mark, stranded-looking and essential.

Any high-clearance vehicle with good all-terrain tires can run the Dempster in dry summer conditions — that’s the honest truth, but bring two full-size spares because the shale is brutal on sidewalls. The Dempster is open year-round except for freeze-up and break-up on the Peel and Mackenzie river ferries in spring and fall. Fuel only at Dawson City and Eagle Plains — plan accordingly. Cell service ends leaving Dawson. The Yukon government posts real-time road conditions at the link below. Go in late August for peak fall color; go in February on a cold-air cleared day if you want to drive under the northern lights.