Klondike Highway — Whitehorse to Dawson City Full Run

The Klondike Highway (Yukon Highway 2) is the backbone of Yukon overlanding — a paved and gravel corridor that follows roughly the same desperate path stampeders walked in 1898. North of Carmacks the pavement gives way to long gravel sections, and by the time you’re rolling through the Five Finger Rapids viewpoint pullout you understand why this highway earns respect. The stretch between Carmacks and Stewart Crossing regularly throws up frost heaves, loose gravel shoulders, and the odd moose planted square in your headlights at dusk. Pelly Crossing is your mid-point fuel stop — don’t blow past it assuming Dawson is closer than it is.

Any stock 2WD can run this in dry summer conditions, but overlanders who want to branch onto the mining roads and creek valleys flanking the highway need 4WD and decent clearance. Cell service dies around Carmacks and stays mostly dead until Dawson. Fuel up in Whitehorse, Carmacks, Pelly Crossing, and Stewart Crossing — gaps between stations can push 200 km. Best run July through September before early snowfall starts icing the northern grades. Dawson City itself is a legitimate overland basecamp — the ferry crossing to the Top of the World Highway runs late spring to freeze-up.