Tombstone Range Road — Dempster Highway to Grizzly Creek Trailhead

Tombstone Territorial Park sits 70 kilometres north of Dawson City along the Dempster Highway, and the side roads threading into the park’s interior give overlanders a taste of the subarctic that sticks with you. The primary access roads off the Dempster — including the track toward Grizzly Creek and the park visitor centre at kilometre 72 — cross tussock permafrost terrain, shallow braided creek channels, and loose shale sidehills with the Tombstone Range’s razor-edge spires overhead. The valley floor is classic Yukon river gravel, and in wet years the creek crossings bite hard even in July.

A stock high-clearance 4WD with good all-terrain tires handles the main Dempster portion, but the secondary spur tracks into the park reward a lifted rig with skid plates. Fuel up in Dawson City — services don’t exist on the Dempster north of town until Eagle Plains, 369 km out. Bear canisters and a bear banger are practical, not optional. Best season is late June through September, but early-season snow is real and the fall colours in late August are worth every muddy kilometre.