Yukon Quest Trail Map and Elevations

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race covers 1,000 miles of difficult terrain with few checkpoints and conditions that can include temperatures of -60°F, rough jumble ice on the Yukon, and fierce storms, earning it a reputation as the world's toughest sled dog race. The idea began in 1983 with founders Leroy Shank and Roger Williams and others at the former Bull's Eye Saloon on Chena Hot Springs Road, and volunteers have sustained it for more than a quarter-century. In Alaska, Fairbanks, founded in 1901 by Captain E.T. Barnette and transformed by Felix Pedro's 1902 gold discovery, serves as race headquarters and the start in even years, while nearby Two Rivers is a center of dog mushing and home to the race's first champion, Sonny Lindner in 1984, and only female champion, Ally Zirkle in 2000. The route includes Mile 101 between Rosebud and Eagle summits, the difficult Eagle Summit, Central in the mining district, Circle at the northernmost point of the race, Slaven's Roadhouse in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, and Eagle, where mushers take a mandatory 4-hour rest and where a devastating flood struck in May 2009. Across the U.S.-Canada border, Dawson City, once the destination of 100,000 Klondike stampeders in the 1890's, serves as the race midpoint and the site of a mandatory 36-hour layover, with 4 ounces of placer gold awarded to the first musher to arrive. Farther along are Scroggie Creek, Stepping Stone, Pelly Crossing near historic Fort Selkirk, McCabe Creek, where Hugh Neff donated $5,000 after the 2009 race to help the Kruse family rebuild a burned dog drop, Carmacks on the Yukon River, Braeburn with its mandatory 8-hour break before the final run in even years, and Whitehorse, the Yukon capital and former Klondike transportation hub, which is the race start in odd years and finish in even years.

Farmers Loop, Alaska · United States