Canada
Dempster Highway
Canada's only road to the Arctic Ocean — 700 kilometres of gravel and caribou herds.
The Dempster Highway stretches north from Dawson City across two mountain ranges, through the Arctic Circle, and onto the shore of the Arctic Ocean — 700 kilometres of gravel, no guardrails, and caribou herds that cross the road in the thousands.
The Dempster is Canada's only public road to the Arctic Ocean, completed in 1979 to connect Dawson City to Inuvik. Two free ferry crossings — the Peel River and the Mackenzie River — operate only in summer; in winter, you drive on the frozen rivers. The highway passes from boreal forest through alpine tundra to Arctic coast, crossing every biome Canada has above the treeline. The Porcupine caribou herd — 200,000 strong — migrates across the highway in late summer. Tombstone Territorial Park marks the first major stop. The extension to Tuktoyaktuk, completed in 2017, pushes the road all the way to the Beaufort Sea.
Solo
Driving the Dempster alone is one of the great solo road trips on Earth — 700 kilometres of gravel, no mobile signal, and the Arctic Circle crossed under midnight sun.
Friends
A Dempster Highway road trip in a group — camping at Tombstone, swimming in Eagle Plains, and reaching the Arctic Ocean — is the kind of shared adventure that defines a friendship.
- Canada's only public road to the Arctic Ocean runs 700 kilometres across two mountain ranges and the Arctic Circle.
- The Porcupine caribou herd crosses the highway in migration — hundreds of thousands of animals moving as one.
- Two free ferry crossings (Peel River and Mackenzie River) operate only in summer — in winter, you drive on the frozen rivers.
- The highway passes from boreal forest through tundra to Arctic coast, crossing every biome Canada has above the treeline.
Gas station hot dogs at Eagle Plains — the only fuel stop for 370 kilometres.
Wild Arctic grayling caught and cooked creekside at a pull-off with no name.
The relief of a cooked meal at the Eagle Plains Lodge, where truckers and travellers share the dining room.
Talassemtane National Park
Morocco
The last Moroccan fir forest — endemic trees clinging to Rif ridges above cloud-filled valleys.
Krafla
Iceland
Boiling mud pots and steaming lava fields that still radiate heat decades after erupting.
Munzur Valley
Turkey
Crystalline springs feeding ice-blue pools in a gorge where brown bears still roam undisturbed.
Pu Mat National Park
Vietnam
Dense border jungle where the indigenous Dan Lai people historically slept sitting up to survive.
Mount Robson
Canada
The Canadian Rockies' highest peak rarely reveals its summit — clouds guard it like a secret.
Kluane National Park
Canada
Canada's highest peak guards the largest non-polar ice field on Earth, and almost no one comes.
Tombstone Territorial Park
Canada
Granite towers named for gravestones pierce a tundra turned crimson in the briefest Arctic autumn.
Clearwater River
Canada
A river so clear the gravel glows twenty feet down through boreal wilderness no road reaches.