Good Decision

Yesterday when we were considering whether to make the side trip up the Dempster Highway above the Arctic Circle, one of the factors influencing us was being told a forest fire was raging 150 miles away near Tok, Alaska. Tok was our next destination, and the fire was producing enough smoke that they were escorting cars across the Top of the World Highway and thinking about closing it entirely. Since this highway was our route, our alternative was  to repeat our all day trip back to Whitehorse and then spend a second day to getting to Tok on the Alaska Highway instead.

We haven’t got an official report yet today, but a look out the window suggests we made a good decision.  The haze you see in the picture is smoke, and the odor is strong. We suspect the road is, in fact, closed, and if not, that the views from the Top of the World Highway will be greatly compromised.

Hopefully in a couple of days when we get back, things will have cleared up and we can proceed across the Top of the World.