Returned from a 13 day road trip from our home to North of the Arctic Circle!! While I won't say this is a trip for everyone, I will say we had a blast doing something that I suspect many people wouldn't even think of doing. We left home on Saturday morning (June 18th) got to the Alaskan Hwy by the 20th, and started down a two day journey down the Dempster Hwy on Wednesday the 22nd. We arrived in Inuvik, NWT and stayed in 'The Arctic Chalet' Twilight Cabin for two days and started back home on that Saturday the 25th. We camped most of the way up and all the way back. Found some really nice camping sites with showers, bathrooms, running water at the sites and some even had wifi!
The weather never really changed much, the hottest day of our trip was actually in Inuvik, where the high was 91 degrees! The scenery never really changed much either, till we hit the Alaskan Highway. Roads traveling through mountains with wildlife all around (Bear, Moose, Elk, Sheep, Bison, and even Wild horses) Everyone should experience driving the Alaskan Highway. The Dempster was a challenge. its over 500 miles of gravel road, I could see how it's not for everyone as people often experience, flat tires, cracked windshields or even broken axles. We came away with some rocks getting into our break pads, and inside our tire rims, and a nasty crack in our windshield.
The drive was worth it, and we got to see scenery and places that I'm not sure I even knew existed. The top of Mt. Ogilvie really felt like we were on top of the world. It was like we could see forever. And also standing on the Arctic Circle was pretty cool.
The Sun never set from June 21st till we started on our drive back down on June 28th. It was kind of trippy, but it helped with the late night driving. Seeing the clock say 1:00 AM and looking up at the sun shining like it was noon. O_O
All in all, I'd say everyone should drive the Alaskan Highway, total blast, it's great for family vacations or even just joy rides. We saw people hiking, walking, and biking it. Even one dude walking pulling a giant cart. Not sure what that was all about, I think it was a protest of sorts...
Anyway, thought I'd share!