Relaxing on Dempster HIghway Photo: Jay Armitage

The Dempster Highway can be a challenge for some people, but for most visitors it’s the thrill of a lifetime. It’s home to Dall’s sheep, mountain goats, moose, woodland and barren ground caribou, wolves, wolverines, lynx, fox, along with grizzly and black bears, as well as several hundred species of birds-both resident and migratory. The sun shines 24 hours a day there in the summertime. The land around Eagle Plain is a rolling, hilly region that’s covered with stunted black spruce forest. Because of permafrost under the soil, the trees lean in all directions, giving them a comical, drunken appearance. The explosion of colourful Arctic flowers in July can take your breath away. Dramatic views are everywhere, and from just about anywhere you can see forever. The Dempster Highway may be 26 years old, but it’s still one of the best-kept secrets of the Yukon.

"…a road is, after all, an extension to the Arctic of an idea developed by a society elsewhere, made for vehicles designed and constructed for social conditions typical of other climates and places."
Byron Nupp, Arctic Institute of North America Symposium, 1969.