Blachford Lake Lodge

Upon our return to Yellowknife the long anticipated final conclusion of our northern adventure awaited at the Blachford Lake Lodge. A short 30 minute hop by floatplane took this weekend getaway crew along the shores of the Great Slave Lake and slightly north to a remote lodge in the middle of nowhere, with the horizon stretching out in all directions. A beautiful setting and incredible food with quiet activities for everyone. Sara was fortunate enough to get some amazing northern light photos - but you will have to wait to see those ones.

Great Slave Lake & Wood Buffalo National Park

Following the incredible journey down the South Nahanni River we returned to Yellowknife and had a rental car provided once again courtesy of NWT Tourism and we toured down to Wood Buffalo National Park and saw some of the sights along the way including the town of Hay River where we enjoyed the hospitality of Canoe North.

Cessna to Honeymoon Lake

Our trip on the Nahanni started with the flight from Yellowknife to Fort Simpson with First Air. We change plans and strapped the 17' canoe to the floats of a 185 cessna and flew for 2.5 hours with Simpson Air. Honeymoon Lake was our landing strip and then we looked around and realized we were on our own for awhile....

Yellowknife, NWT

From Inuvik we returned to Yellowknife courtesy of Canadian North and stayed at the Explorer Hotel. We walked around Yellowknife and checked out the Canadian Diamond Mines exhibits and tried to get a grasp of the size of the wilderness up here. Yellowknife is on the shores of Great Slave Lake with fishing, boating and mining exploration in all directions. In the winter I guess it's a little darker, but everyone seems to love the contrast of 8 months of winter and 4 months of spring.

Inuvik and Tuktoyuktuk, NWT

We were fortunate enough to fly to Tuktoyuktuk with Arctic Nature Tours in a Twin Otter and enjoy a tour of the Inuit settlement including a descent 30' into the permafrost where the fish and seal meat is stored. I also enjoyed the balmy 28C day and took a brief swim in the warm waters of the Arctic Ocean. I even have the certificate to prove it. It felt like we were on the edge of the world and thoughts of early explorers for the North West Passage and whalers as well as the historical lives of the Inuit make it a very rich place.

North West Territories

Our trip to the North West Territories was courtesy of NWT Tourism. Sara won the prize as part of the Canadian Geographic Photo Competition. We flew from Calgary to Yellowknife and then all the way up north to Inuvik. We stayed at the MacKenzie Hotel at the end of the Dempster Highway. Getting there in a couple of hours by plane almost felt like time travel compared to the week it must take by car. It would make a great round trip - fly up, and drive down.