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Terry Parker
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George Fischer Photography
Rock Sculpture - George Fischer Photography
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Peter McMahon
Aurora and Dark Sky Viewing Peter McMahon
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JF Bergeron
Yellow Knife JF Bergeron
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JF Bergeron
Northern Pike from Great Slave Lake Enviro Foto JF Bergeron
By Hélèna Katz
Cars are stopped as bison congregate in the middle of the highway on the edge of the Northwest Territories. Nobody is about to tell North America’s largest land mammal to move. When the animals slowly disperse, the humans put away their cameras and move on.
Learn about Fort Smith’s history as the former administrative centre of the territory at Fort Smith Mission Historic Park, the Northern Life Museum and the four sets of rapids that line the Slave River. See nesting pelicans surfing the waves at Rapids of the Drowned.
The community is also the gateway to Wood Buffalo, Canada’s largest national park and the world’s largest Dark Sky Preserve. Walk barefoot on the Salt Plains, squish your toes in the clay at Grosbeak Lake and then cool off in the aquamarine waters of Pine Lake.
While driving to Hay River, watch for lawn chairs beside of the highway featuring teddy bears keeping each other company. Hay River is best known as the home of “Buffalo Joe” McBryan, owner of Buffalo Airways from Ice Pilots NWT television fame. The company’s vintage DC-3s fly to Yellowknife six days a week.
Hay River is also the hub of Great Slave Lake’s commercial fishery. Amble along the sandy beach at Hay River Territorial Park on Vale Island and then stop by the market at Fisherman’s Wharf on summer Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for some Whitefish.
Listen for the roar of water at Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park near the NWT-Alberta border. Frothing water from Alexandra Falls plunges 32 metres into the Hay River. Readers of website ehcanadatravel.com voted it one of the top three waterfalls in western Canada.
Another waterfall awaits at Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park on the way to Fort Simpson. Take a short hike along the Trout River. If you’re lucky, perhaps a rainbow will make a bridge over the waterfalls.
Learn about traditional and contemporary crafts during hands-on workshops at Fort Simpson’s annual Open Sky Festival each summer. Then take a self-guided historic walking tour of the village the late Pope John Paul II visited on September 20, 1987. He celebrated mass on the Papal Flats, an area where the Dene traditionally gathered each summer.
Take a flightseeing tour of nearby Nahanni National Park Reserve, Canada’s third largest national park. Soar between jagged peaks while peering down at the South Nahanni River weaving through deep canyons. Stop at Virginia Falls and hike to the top of a set of falls that’s twice the height of Niagara Falls.
Continue on your journey to Yellowknife, the territorial capital. Learn about consensus politics during a tour of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. Next door, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre’s displays share a slice of northern life. Take of tour of northern artists, studios or step into local shops to see prints, sculptures, paintings and traditional crafts from around the territory.
Then walk along Old Town’s the winding streets, past the most northerly houseboat community in North America and the newly refurbished Wildcat Café. Climb the top of Bush Pilots’ Monument for a 360-degree view of Yellowknife Bay. Take a boat tour of Yellowknife Bay. Sandblast a northern motif such as bison, wolves and northern lights onto a glass during a workshop at Old Town Glassworks. Try to get through the Yellowknife Golf Club’s 18-hole sand course without losing a ball to a thieving raven. Then drive the Ingraham Trail and hike to Cameron Falls.
Drive the iconic 740-kilometre Dempster Highway from Dawson City, Yukon. Built in 1979, it crosses the Continental Divide three times and the Arctic Circle once. Stunning scenery includes two mountain ranges, tundra carpeting the ground and resident wildlife.
As you drive north, stop at Fort McPherson, NWT to see their new tourism and cultural centre. Perhaps they’ll offer you soup and bannock and a hands-on activity or walking tour. In the churchyard, see the graves of the four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who perished during the 1911 Lost Patrol. The Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas shop sells bags and tents made in the village. Then hop back onto the Dempster Highway to continue your journey north.
Once you reach Inuvik at the top of the Dempster Highway, tour the continent’s most northerly community greenhouse, see the most northerly traffic light, buy a burger at the most northerly food truck and drive by the most northerly – and well-travelled – mosque that made a much-publicized journey from Winnipeg by truck and barge before reaching its new home. Visit the Igloo Church, which was built without architectural blueprints. It blends Catholic symbolism with local traditions and culture.
The nearby Midnight Sun Complex hosts the 10-day Great Northern Arts Festival each July. Watch northern traditional and contemporary artists work, see their creations at the event’s art gallery and join them for hands-on workshops. Head outside to boat through the tangled channels of the Mackenzie Delta or fly to Tuktoyaktuk and dip your toe into the Arctic Ocean. Relish the moment; you have travelled to a spot near the top of the world.