Whitehorse, Yukon CA

[inlineskater]

Took off from St Paul Mn on July 7th and now in Whitehorse Yukon. We are with the WIT Club Caravan. Having a great time, our Host couple are great and the Tail-Enders are super too. So far great trip and the group of people are wonderful too. They encourage you to get to know everyone. I think we will have a lot of new friends to visit all over the country.

If you have not done a caravan, you many want to look into one. You do not have to have a Winnebago to go on the WIT club trip. But it helps.

Safe travels to everyone.

[Superslif]

How many are in the caravan group?

[Sandy Swede]

Does your caravan's route take you over the Top-of-the-World highway (Dawson to Tok)?

[inlineskater]

Originally Posted by Superslif

How many are in the caravan group?

With the Staff, 22 motorhomes.

[inlineskater]

Originally Posted by Sandy Swede

Does your caravan's route take you over the Top-of-the-World highway (Dawson to Tok)?

No, we are leaving our coach in Tok and taking the car to Dawson City.

[grumpy0374]

Originally Posted by Sandy Swede

Does your caravan's route take you over the Top-of-the-World highway (Dawson to Tok)?

Pray it dosen't. We in a class c towing a Subaru and a second couple in a class a towing a Jeep did that run yesterday.
Alaska part was the worst roadway we have ever been on. Mile after mile of rutted, wash boarded, pot-holed road. Dust and gravel trashed our Subi and other couples Jeep. Covered with dust, engine compartment was brown from dust. Mud flaps on our rig and a "skirt" on other class a did no g
ood in preventing rocks, gravel from being thrown onto vehicles.
Yukon part a bit better...just gravel and lots n lots n lots of dust...but smoother.
Scenery was beautiful, but not worth the drain on us and the abuse to the rigs.
Grumpy

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by grumpy0374

Pray it dosen't. We in a class c towing a Subaru and a second couple in a class a towing a Jeep did that run yesterday.
Alaska part was the worst roadway we have ever been on. Mile after mile of rutted, wash boarded, pot-holed road. Dust and gravel trashed our Subi and other couples Jeep. Covered with dust, engine compartment was brown from dust. Mud flaps on our rig and a "skirt" on other class a did no g
ood in preventing rocks, gravel from being thrown onto vehicles.
Yukon part a bit better...just gravel and lots n lots n lots of dust...but smoother.
Scenery was beautiful, but not worth the drain on us and the abuse to the rigs.
Grumpy

I agree with some of your observations but I have to respectfully disagree with others. We drove the Top-Of-The-World Hwy in the late spring of 2016 with our 43ft Class-A and toad. We departed Dawson City on May 18th, opening day for the season.

The ferry across the Yukon was very interesting and I expect the loading and unloading might be disconcerting for some. We disconnected our toad to enable reversing during the loading process if required - it wasn't. Our rig and a pickup with a large utility trailer were all that fit on that load.

Much of the distance to the US border had been chip-sealed about 15 years ago and most had reverted to gravel, but it was good gravel, which we used to call "60 mph gravel". It was a warm spring, in the mid-80s F and the road surface was dry and dusty - very dusty. We did get dust inside our coach but that was primarily to an air leak in the rear of our coach that we had not been aware of until then.

We were one of the first ones going through the border crossing heading west and the border guys kept us there for more than 15 minutes mostly, I think, because they were bored and welcomed some company. The road after that, going into Chicken, was smooth pavement laid the year before.

Chicken was a disappointment for us and nothing was ready for the tourist season yet and they had not even gotten food supplies yet. That was due to be resolved later that week but too late for us.

After Chicken, you do run into a bad section of gravel road, about 25 miles of it. Though it was narrow and a rough surface I did not see it as problematic, we just had to go slow. If you are impatient and go to fast, I could see it appearing to be extremely rough. Patience helped smooth it out.

After that, you reach the Alaska Hwy and good pavement all the way into Tok.

Was it worth it, absolutely? The scenery was spectacular and unique driving along the ridge of the mountains rather than up and over as most highways are constructed. Our RV park in Skagway allowed washing so ours got a good cleaning and all the dust came off.

Would we do it again? Yes, in fact, we plan to spend an entire summer up in the Yukon in a couple of years and we'll do the Top-Of-The-World Hwy again then.

[grumpy0374]

Originally Posted by Ron_H

I agree with some of your observations but I have to respectfully disagree with others. We drove the Top-Of-The-World Hwy in the late spring of 2016 with our 43ft Class-A and toad. We departed Dawson City on May 18th, opening day for the season.

The ferry across the Yukon was very interesting and I expect the loading and unloading might be disconcerting for some. We disconnected our toad to enable reversing during the loading process if required - it wasn't. Our rig and a pickup with a large utility trailer were all that fit on that load.

Much of the distance to the US border had been chip-sealed about 15 years ago and most had reverted to gravel, but it was good gravel, which we used to call "60 mph gravel". It was a warm spring, in the mid-80s F and the road surface was dry and dusty - very dusty. We did get dust inside our coach but that was primarily to an air leak in the rear of our coach that we had not been aware of until then.

We were one of the first ones going through the border crossing heading west and the border guys kept us there for more than 15 minutes mostly, I think, because they were bored and welcomed some company. The road after that, going into Chicken, was smooth pavement laid the year before.

Chicken was a disappointment for us and nothing was ready for the tourist season yet and they had not even gotten food supplies yet. That was due to be resolved later that week but too late for us.

After Chicken, you do run into a bad section of gravel road, about 25 miles of it. Though it was narrow and a rough surface I did not see it as problematic, we just had to go slow. If you are impatient and go to fast, I could see it appearing to be extremely rough. Patience helped smooth it out.

After that, you reach the Alaska Hwy and good pavement all the way into Tok.

Was it worth it, absolutely? The scenery was spectacular and unique driving along the ridge of the mountains rather than up and over as most highways are constructed. Our RV park in Skagway allowed washing so ours got a good cleaning and all the dust came off.

Would we do it again? Yes, in fact, we plan to spend an entire summer up in the Yukon in a couple of years and we'll do the Top-Of-The-World Hwy again then.

Well, it's now summer of 2017, and the road sucks. Yes, ferry was quaint, and border crossings were no problem at all. But during the Alaska part of the run on the gravel part, 5-10 mph was the normal speed. Anything over that would shake so bad that I was actually worried about serious damage to my rig. And, I'm not picky about my rig/toad getting dirty or rock chipped. Yukon stretch was smoother but even dustier. Anything over 30 mph threw up clouds of dust. Thankfully, our traveling, companions choose to follow us, and even at following 1/2 mile behind us, they drove threw a dust fog thrown up by my rig.
So, having done this trip, once, I won't be in any hurry to do it again.
The Canada/Yukon part of the Alcan sucked, but the Taylor/Top of the World Hwy made it look like a super highway.
Grumpy