Top of the World Highway (Yukon Highway 9)

The Top of the World Highway earns its name from the sweeping alpine views that stretch endlessly across the Yukon wilderness. This 104-kilometer gravel road climbs through the Ogilvie Mountains, reaching elevations over 1,200 meters where you’ll cross windswept ridgelines with nothing but caribou trails and mining claims for company. The highway connects Dawson City to the Alaska border at Poker Creek, passing through historic Boundary and offering access to countless abandoned mining camps along Jack Wade Creek.

This is a moderate route that any high-clearance vehicle can handle in good weather, but conditions change fast up here. The road closes completely from mid-October to May, and summer storms can turn the surface into a slippery mess. Fuel up in Dawson City and carry extra water — services are non-existent between town and the border. Cell service disappears 20 kilometers out of Dawson. What you get is pure northern wilderness solitude and some of the best aurora viewing in the territory when darkness finally returns in late summer.