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Old 04-30-2008, 04:10 PM   #1
kwolff7
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Top of the World Highway - Alaska

For those of you that have gone to Alaska, would you take the Monty from Whitehorse to Dawson City and then down to Tok or drive to Tok, park the Monty and drive the truck to Dawson City. I know that this is supposedly the roughest road on the trip. We want to stay in Dawson City 3 or 4 days and are leaning towards taking the rv there but don't want to destroy it either. Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
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Old 05-01-2008, 02:44 AM   #2
adelmoll
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That will be your roughest section.. 100 miles and over 8 hours for us in the rain but it is an experience everyone should have at least once... Would we do it again? No but we are not sorry that we did it the first time..

Dawson City is a ball... Be sure to drive up to the top. I think it was called Dome Road and watch the sunset... What an experience... It touched down about 1:30 in the morning and was already back up when we got to the bottom of the hill four miles later.

Helen
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Old 05-01-2008, 07:07 AM   #3
kwolff7
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Helen

I have been reading your trip journal and using it to plan our trip. I knew that you drove the Top of the World Highway with your fifth wheel in the rain and am not sure I would want to do that. We definitely plan to drive it, just trying to decide whether to drive up from Tok in truck only or drive with the fifth wheel from Whitehorse. I guess driving 100 miles in 8 hours in rain would eliminate the rock hits. Still think we will drive from Whitehorse since we want to stay in Dawson City a few days. We plan to drive to the top and watch the sun go down.
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Old 05-01-2008, 10:24 AM   #4
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Dawson City was neat, we enjoyed the town. I recommend that part of the trip. As far as the Top of the World highway, we did, I am with Bill, do it if you want too, but it was the roughest, dustiest, slow ride for a view that I have ever been on.
I would never tell someone to do it. I wanted to see all of Alaska, that is the only way to do it.
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Old 05-01-2008, 04:37 PM   #5
David and Jo-Anna
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We are wrestling with the same question that Karen is about doing the entire Klondike loop (Whitehorse to Dawson City to Tok) in our rig or just a round trip in our truck between Tok and Dawson City. For those who have done the whole Klondike loop, was the scenery between Whitehorse and Dawson City something that should not be missed, or was the Top of the World stretch the only "do not miss" portion of the loop?
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Old 05-02-2008, 12:59 AM   #6
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I'll give them five years to get the road fixed. Hoping that May 2013 is when we will get our freedom to take a summer trip.
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Old 05-02-2008, 02:04 AM   #7
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I don't think the scenery of "Top of the World" was as spectacular as going into Valdez,Skagway, Homer, but it does give you another aspect of the different terrain and wilderness. If you drove up to Dawson City and back to Tok, then from Tok to Chicken and back you would drive further, alot further, than the full loop. The only problem with "TOTW" is you must go slow because it is rough and if not raining it is dusty, and if it is raining, some parts will be very muddy.
It is definitely some of the most desolate part of the Alaska trip.

We did our trip different from alot of people. We did not drive into Skagway from Whitehorse. We drove down into Haines coming back toward Whitehorse from Haines Junction.The scenery of this drive was prettier than "Top of the World".
We stayed in the town of Haines for a week, it offered alot more for us than the town of Skagway, pretty awesome scenery, great fishing, and eagles everywhere. We camped right on the bay, when we left we took the ferry to Skagway for less than diesel fuel would cost and toured Skagway on the way out. The town of Skayway for me was a tourist trap, too many T-shirt shops and jewerly stores. The climb out of Skagway was definitely worth the drive.
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Old 05-02-2008, 08:25 AM   #8
adelmoll
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Like Dave and Brenda, we did not drive to Skagway either... Instead we took a bus tour from our campsite in Whitehorse that met up with the train that we rode through Whitehorse Pass and into Skagway for about three hours of the touristing stuff... The bus then picked us up and drove us back to Whitehorse..... It was a fantastic all day tour.... We also drove to Haines much later on our trip and stayed for about a week... It too was wonderful... We took a cruise to Juneau one of the days but we were not as impressed with that cruise as we were with the other ones we took... Again, just too touristy with 3 or 4 cruise ships in town at the same time...

But getting back to the T.O.W.... I would say just do it.. Dawson City is a wonderful place to spend several days if you are adventuress and you will always regret it if you don't do the whole route at least once...

Helen
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Old 05-08-2008, 03:26 PM   #9
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We drove from Tok to Chicken and stayed there for the night. Then the TOW to Dawson City pulling the Monty. We had no problems and would certainly do it again. Make sure you fuel up each time you can. We were surprised that the fuel station in Boundary was closed, good thing we didn't need it.
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Old 05-08-2008, 04:00 PM   #10
John and Carol
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We didn't do the Top of the World because of forest fires and smoke. We will do it next time. Just had to comment about Skagway and Haines. We loved Haines. We also loved Skagway. We were there for a week because we were waiting to ride behind the steam train on the White Pass and Yukon RR. It really is an interesting city. And we were there on July 4. No cruise ships, just a parade with locals and the Mounties from Whitehorse. Delightful! However, I don't think we would go to Skagway again unless we wanted to ride the train. We had taken the Alaska Marine Highway with the Montana, stopping in Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, Haines and Skagway. Expensive, but cheaper than a cruise and you really get to explore each port.
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Old 05-09-2008, 03:53 AM   #11
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We took The Top of The World highway is 06 with our 3670 didn't have any trouble. We average 20 mph but what a unique drive. Different and beautiful. We have 72 gallon fuel tank fill up in Chicken before we headed for Dawson City. Take you time enjoy.

Dick & Nita Smith
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Old 05-09-2008, 04:19 AM   #12
capn chris
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Lots of choices! We did not do TOTW, but did drive from Whitehorse to Dawson City for a few days. Had fun in Dawson City, toured the huge dredge, and took the ferry for a drive to the Top of the World, but not down the US side. Heard that maybe it's better going over from west to east (Chicken to Dawson) than vice versa. Choices and adventures! We did Skagway and enjoyed riding bikes around town, especially when the ships were not in! The White Pass RR is a must trip on a clear day. Spectacular views. Our worst road was the Tok Cutoff Road coming back from Valdez. Under construction in '05 and full of potholes. Averaged 10-15 mph!
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