A 120m aerial view of the start of the Dempster Highway (Highway 5) from the Klondike Highway at Dempster Corner east of Dawson City, Yukon.  While a plethora of information is available regarding this highway, this is my personal observations:

This is the only road in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle & provides visitors w/ direct access to the Arctic Ocean, some 880km (546 miles) northeast from here.  The highway is paved for the first kilometre, then becomes dirt (you can see the transition towards the horizon) for the next 734km until Inuvik.  From there the recently constructed Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway adds a further 140km to reach the Arctic Ocean.  Posted speed is 90km/hr though I never once went faster than 70km.  The road can be quite slippery when wet (I saw a few abandoned vehicles off in the ditch around the Tombstone area) & road crews adds white calcium chloride, a hygroscopic salt to help keep moisture in the road (which also leaves a fine white residue on your vehicle).  When dry the road is quite dusty & vehicles flying by you will leave you in thick dust for several seconds - I often pulled over because you will see rocks flying for your windshield.  Up here they are on a mission & will not slow down for you.  The road is remote but during summer months you will see campers, motorcycles, & of course local traffic & commercial vehicles.  Some of the road maintenance crews had Manitoba plates so perhaps they do contract work on these remote northern roads.  The other notorious culprit are the flat tires that is caused by the sharp crushed black shale that is extracted from roadside pits.  This is particularly evident from the North Fork Pass area to past the 200km mark.  A full-size spare tire is often recommended for the journey.  If you are stuck people here in the north do stop to help each other out & it could take more than a day for a tow truck to make it out to you.  Expect a hefty bill!  That being said, make sure to pack extra food & water.

There are plenty of pullouts to camp.  Most are just the gravel pits & you can be secluded just metres off the road.  A few territorial campgrounds are also found along the journey.  The fall colors peak around late August - during my visit the mosquitoes were in full force.  As I was walking just south of Tuktoyaktuk I had a wall of giant mosquitoes following right behind me.  There are also bears including grizzles that roam the area.  Caribou, moose, & other wildlife can be spotted on the drive.

I will say the Yukon side of the highway is a lot rougher & bumpier w/ numerous potholes at any given moment - once you cross Wright Pass into the Northwest Territories, the road is wider, smoother, & graded more frequently.  The Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway on the other hand starts off smooth but becomes thick in gravel, river cobbles, & is quite chattery & unpleasant, not to mention that pull-offs are few.  Keep your attention on the road & do not trust the shoulders as you will get pulled off.  The road is built nearly two metres high in many areas as it is constructed over permafrost.  The two ferry crossings on the Peel & Mackenzie Rivers may have a high lip for low-riding vehicles or trailers - I was small enough that I came in on a slight angle.

The Klondike River Lodge formerly occupied the Dempster Corner since the early 1970s however it burned to the ground in 2012.  Today the unmanned fuel station is a public cardlock for final fuel services.  The next fuel is at Eagle Plains, some 369km up the Dempster.  I would say having a spare jerry can for fuel is a good idea for the ease of mind though it is not as concerning an issue as having quality tires for the road.  My trek up I never saw anybody w/ vehicle trouble but the trip down I encountered two travelers w/ flat tires.  There are fuel & vehicle repair stops along the way in Eagle Plains, Fort McPherson, & Inuvik.  

I took my Honda Fit on this highway.  Not the most ideal vehicle & the suspension sucked however I never once had a flat tire or a chipped windshield.  I went considerably slow which made for a full day just to Inuvik.  I did however have of my small tempered glass windows by my left driver mirror splay into a million shards on the Klondike Highway in a work zone about 100km east of Dawson City.  Still don't have a clue how but this is the area for it - I had no opposing traffic & my tire was tucked far enough in that a flying rock seems very unlikely.  

I was planning to make a quick journey up & down the Dempster but I ended up spending four days touring it.  I got to see much more that way & it was one of the prettiest drives I'd ever been on.  During summer, expect 24-hour daylight - during winter, a chance for the northern lights.  Weather conditions up here change in an instant.