Go Here: NWT Roadtrip
Deh Cho Travel Connection
The Deh Cho Travel Connection takes road-trippers on a subarctic forest tour, linking two provinces and the southern Northwest Territories. This scenic 1,800-km drive follows the Waterfalls Route, NWT Highway 1 from northern Alberta, and the Liard Trail, NWT Highway 7 from northern British Columbia. There’s an interpretive park on Highway 1 at the 60th parallel. Further downriver, Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park welcomes visitors with a campground, hiking trails along ancient limestone walls and magical views of Alexandra and Louise Falls. Travel on to Hay River on Great Slave Lake for guided adventures, great camping and an unexpected white sand beach. Take a side-trip through Canada’s largest national park — Wood Buffalo National Park — to Fort Smith, the gateway to explore this immense wilderness preserve. Learn about whooping crane rescue and indigenous cultures; marvel at the power of the Slave River; spot the nesting pelicans, and hike the park’s backcountry. Then return to the Waterfalls Route to Lady Evelyn Falls Park and Samba Deh Falls Park for great fishing and fossil hunting. Tour historic Fort Simpson, and fly in to Nahanni. Then head south on the Liard Trail to Blackstone Territorial Park on the Liard River, with views of Nahanni. Fort Liard, near the NWT border, offers collectable birchbark and porcupine quill embroidered baskets Experience unlimited opportunity in an unlimited wilderness — visit nwtparks.ca to find out more.
Ingraham Trail
Follow the Frontier Trail (Highway 3) through bison country north around Great Slave Lake from Hay River to Yellowknife. At the territorial capital, options abound: shop for one-of-a-kind Arctic souvenirs; fish with a local guide for huge lake trout or record sized northern pike; or dine out on northern specialties. Yellowknife’s Fred Henne Territorial Park has a fine sandy beach. Head east on the 70 km long Ingraham Trail that winds past more than a dozen scenic wilderness lakes, dotted with Territorial Parks, picnic spots, fishing holes and boat launches. Hike to the summit of a pink-granite dome. Prelude Lake Territorial Park offers, full-service camping, a nature trail, beach and boat rentals. The scenic highway winds on to Cameron Falls Park where an amazing waterfall splashes over granite with jackpine and aspen trees as a backdrop. Reid Lake Territorial Park offers tent sites with view as well as full-service sites, and the lake invites canoeists. Tibbett Lake, the end of the road in summer, is the start of the famous winter Ice Road. Ask at the visitor centre in Yellowknife for canoe route maps, or download them from nwtparks.ca. The Ingraham Trail is an ideal route for road-trippers looking to pack a lot of exploration into a day, a weekend — or even a weeklong trip from Yellowknife. Visit nwtparks.ca to find out more.
Dempster Highway
Take the trip of a lifetime to the Top of the World via the only all-season highway in North America to cross the Arctic Circle. Starting just outside Dawson City, Yukon, the 730-km Dempster Highway follows an historic dogsled route past the jagged Tombstone Mountains, through expansive tundra and toward the famed Arctic Circle. Pose for a signpost photo here before continuing on into the rolling Richardson Mountains, and the Northwest Territories. Visit historic Fort McPherson on the Peel River and Tsiigehtchic at the confluence of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie Rivers, and enjoy the free ferry service as the highway crosses these waterways. Gwich’in Territorial Park offers vistas atop limestone cliffs and sightings of Arctic flora and fauna. The Nitainlaii Park Visitor Centre at Fort McPhersonexplores Gwich’in cultural heritage. Serene Campbell Lake is a favourite picnic and boating spot. At Inuvik, the Western Arctic Visitor Centre explores the land and Inuvialuit culture. Inuvik is a full service town with two campgrounds, municipal pool, restaurants, boat tours and hiking. In summer, the internationally acclaimed Great Northern Arts Festival attracts visitors for both Arctic art and music, during the season of the midnight sun, when the sun never sets. From Inuvik, fly out to Tuktoyaktuk, the Inuvialuit community, or take an air tour of the scenic Mackenzie Delta. Visit nwtparks.ca to find out more.
