Day 15 • Tok, AK to Dawson City, YT • 191 mi

There's only one lens in the world wide enough to capture the Taylor and Top of the World Highways.

So uh, yeah, sorry about that.

Leading up out of Tok, the Taylor and Top of the World Highways connect Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.

Partially paved and partially dirt, these are the most remote highways I've been on.

Along them lies the tiny town of Chicken (about 10 buildings, so named because they couldn't spell Ptarmigan), and one Border checkpoint.

I might have seen 30 other vehicles all day.

The American side of the Top of the World Highway is just utterly fantastic—situated along a ridgeline, the pavement is new, the paint is shiny, and the world lies beneath your tires.

It's a gorgeous 90 MPH road marred only by the 50 MPH speed limit. Still, though, it's probably 300 miles from the nearest thing to a hospital and 80 from the nearest cell tower, so, uh, I took it slow.

Who needs guard rails?

Once you cross into Canada, the road switches to an 80KmpH dirt+gravel. Still no guard rails.

Glad I'm not over there...

It's only about 180 miles between the two cities, but it will take you about six hours of seat time.

I won't lie to you: the last two hours into Dawson were hard ones. In the last five days, I've done 1,457 miles—hard ones. I've racked up between seven and twelve hours of riding per day. I'm tired.

Just before the border, the bike decided it was tired too. While parked, and with me 20ft away, it took a nap on its right side. Crash bars and hard cases did their job, though, and it fired mostly right back up. It's a shame, but part of riding. The bike's kickstand is slightly too long; the previous owner shortened it, but not quite enough. I've been careful with it all trip, but apparently got careless just once. And that's all it takes.

Tomorrow is a much-needed rest day. Let's see if I can avoid starting the bike entirely...

Total mileage: 191.6 mi
Trip mileage: 2,297 mi