- Waterfalls Route
- Alexandra Falls
- Hay River Indigenous Tour
- Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary
- Yellowknife City Tour
- Prince of Wales Heritage Centre
- Ragged Ass Road
- Summer Solstice Celebration
- Lady Evelyn Falls
- The Northern Trading Post
- Mackenzie Crossroads Museum
- Great Slave Lake Boat Tour
- Transportation on comfortable motorcoach
- Professional Tour Leader
- 8 nights of accommodation (3.5 - 4 star Or Best Available)
- 14 meals: 8 breakfasts, 2 lunch, 4 dinners
- 5% provincial tax on top of tour base rate
- Gratuities to driver (Recommend $3-$4 per person per day)
- Gratuities to guide (Recommend $5-$7 per person per day)
- Meals not listed
- Attractions not listed
- Credit card payment fees, where applicable
- Airfare — domestic and international (Unless Specified)
- Travel insurance (Strongly recommended, ask us for a quote!)
- Items of a personal nature
- Airport transfers (available on request at extra charge)
AVAILABILITY
START DATE
END DATE
PRICE
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
DEPOSIT
AVAILABLE
Wed, 19 Jun 2024
Thu, 27 Jun 2024
$880 USD
$500 USD
Arrive in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital, and one of the popular cities in Canada to visit.
Summertime in Edmonton is nothing short of legendary. Experience what 18 hours of sunlight a day feels like and soak up all the energy of the world's largest northernmost metropolis. From the continent’s first, biggest and wildest Fringe Theatre Festival, to breathtaking sunset canoe tours, bike rides along Edmonton’s scenic riverfront pathways immersive experiences at the Royal Alberta Museum or the Art Gallery of Alberta or embracing some fun (and shopping) at famous West Edmonton Mall, there is much to do in Edmonton.
Edmonton’s culinary scene is known across Canada and beyond. This evening we will enjoy a welcome dinner and experience some of this for ourselves.
Overnight: Edmonton
Meals: Dinner
After breakfast, we will do a quick drive tour of Edmonton briefly seeing the major city highlights before heading west and north. We will see the landscape quickly change from prairie grassland to lakes and boreal forests as we travel north. We aim to arrive in Peace River by midafternoon, check in to our hotel and have the long daylight hours to enjoy exploring the town center with its selection of restaurants, on our own. Consider walking a couple of blocks west to access the Peace riverfront walking paths and check out the craft breweries.
Overnight: Peace River
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
A long drive of about 7 hours today as we cross the 60th Parallel border into the Northwest Territories and enter the sub-Arctic regions of Canada. On our way, we will make a lunch stop in the town of High Level, often referred to as the Gateway to the South. We visit The Northern Trading Post located with the Mackenzie Crossroads Museum, to see a collection of over 1600 food and medicine containers, some dating back to the late 1800's, along with an extensive photo collection of the era. These, plus other artifacts in use during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, are showcased in a typical trading post and general store setting complete with attached living quarters. Supplementary displays feature information on the Indigenous Peoples to inhabit the area, and the history of trapping/fur trading, and farming in the region. There is also a display on the life of the pioneer woman settlers.
We continue north with a brief stop at the 60th Parallel for a quick visit to the Visitor Centre. When crossing the 60th parallel from Alberta into the NWT, Alberta Highway 35 becomes NWT Highway 1 and the beginning of the Waterfalls Route. This route features numerous waterfalls, ranging from small and charming to large and spectacular, as well as numerous rivers and lakes. Time permitting, make a quick stop at the Alexandra Falls Territorial Park to view the breathtaking Alexandra Falls from a lookout and then possibly at the Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park only 2 kms further before we arrive in Hay River 50 kms further north. Hay River on the shores of the Great Slave Lake is the home of the Great Slave fishing fleet.
Overnight: Hay River
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Being a small community, we are aware that there are limited services available locally and are prepared for last minute adjustments to our program here. Our aim is to have a town tour with a Hay River resident to get a feel of this community followed by a meal of freshly cooked lake caught fish on the lakeside. We will visit the old settlement of Hay River Reserve and stop by at the Dene Cultural Institute and learn about the history and traditions of the Indigenous Dene people if the center is open. The evening is free to explore the town on your own.
Overnight: Hay River
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
We depart Hay River stopping at the Lady Evelyn Falls, to see the giant curtain of water as it spills over a limestone sill. We then drive to the settlement of Fort Providence, a picturesque little community situated on the shores of the Mackenzie River. The Snowshoe Restaurant here makes for an easy lunch stop and we may see wild bison roaming in the area. We cross the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River) bridge before travelling along the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary. The kilometer long Deh Cho bridge established a permanent crossing over the Mackenzie River in 2012, a great waterway where the seasonal freeze-up and ice break-up previously blocked an essential
transport route for weeks at a time. The bridge provides year-round road passage across the Mackenzie to and from Yellowknife and it replaced the winter ice bridge and a cramped summer ferry. Further along, be sure to keep a watchful eye out for the free roaming wood bison often found wandering near the roadside.
Our next stop is the North Arm Territorial Park for a view of the north arm of the Great Slave Lake - good place to stretch the legs, use the washroom facilities and take some splendid photos. Be sure to look around you – the scenery changes here from rolling, well treed Mackenzie lowlands to the granite of the Canadian shield. This is also a prime waterfowl nesting area. Finally, we arrive in Yellowknife, situated on the shores of Great Slave Lake, and check into the hotel for our four nights stay.
Overnight: Yellowknife
Meals: Breakfast
We begin our time in Yellowknife with a guided tour of the NWT Legislative Assembly Building, where you will learn about our consensus-style, non-partisan government, one of only a few in left Canada. Following the Legislative Building, we will make our way to the site of Giant Mine. Rich in the history of Yellowknife’s gold mining days. There is an outdoor museum available to view. Then we make a quick stop at YKEA and look for local treasures! Next, we drive to Buffalo Airway’s. We will visit the hangar filled with vintage aircraft. These are propeller-operated WW2 legendary aircraft. We return to the downtown core and stop in at the NWT Diamond Centre which showcases diamonds from two of NWT’s local mines. Next, we drive to The Old Town / Latham Island and N’dilo. We will first visit Ragged Ass Road, the street immortalized by Tom Cochrane on his third album by the same name and then a drive on the frozen Great Slave Lake. We will get a close view of the colorful, local houseboats. Next is N’dilo, a small Dene community located on tip of Latham Island, which is an isthmus extending from Yellowknife into Great Slave Lake. The land was set aside for use by “status Indians” by the Government of Canada in 1947. The name was officially changed to N’dilo in 1991, which means “end of the island” in the local Dene dialect.
We continue our tour with a stop at Yellowknife’s first bank (Bank of Toronto) a privately owned, historic log cabin. Next is a photo stop at the Bush Pilot’s monument, Yellowknife’s most popular lookout that rises above Old Town, providing a stupendous view-over Great Slave Lake, Back Bay and the northern reaches of the city. The monument is high up on “The Rock,” and is accessed via a winding staircase that will take you to the top. It is dedicated to the bush pilots and
engineers whose lives were lost as they flew the wilderness skies of the Northwest Territories. Finally, we stop at Weaver and Devore, Yellowknife’s first Trading Store and a local carver’s shop. The tour ends at the Visitor Centre where you can get your Yellowknife pin and your North of 60 Certificate. We visit the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, a museum that chronicles Aboriginal and European history in the North and features environmental exhibits.
Overnight: Yellowknife
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
We have an easy morning before we drive out to a lakeside camp that belongs to a local Dene Indigenous family. Here we will hear stories about how the dog teams have played an important role in the daily lives of both the Indigenous peoples and western settlers in the old days, and how they have helped people survive. The dogs were like family and are still treated the same way today. This excursion to interact with the dogs and the family is carried out in collaboration with an indigenous family business that wants to keep the cultural traditions and teachings that they have learned from their grandparents and has decided to share them with others in an enjoyable way. Through their dog sledding, they aim to promote respect for Indigenous culture and share the survival ways of people living in the cold subarctic areas. We return to Yellowknife for some free time and dinner on your own, before we head out to experience an authentic Indigenous experience and spend an evening among the Dene people, with storytelling, Dene history, and legends, traditional drumming, hand games demonstration, and samples of traditional foods such as local Great Slave Lake fish, and freshly made bannock. We travel by minivan (followed by a short 10-minute walk) to a Dene campsite on the shores of the Great Slave Lake near the village of Dettah and spend time in a cabin and teepees and comfortable seating for everyone.
Overnight: Yellowknife
Meals: Breakfast
We will experience the Great Slave Lake Harbor boat tour, houseboats, sightseeing, and a superb Northern Gourmet shore lunch of fresh fish.
This afternoon is free in Yellowknife to browse the stores on Franklin Street and pick up souvenirs of your trip to North of 60
Overnight: High Level
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Our epic northern end this morning as we transfer to the airport for our flight home.
Meals: Breakfast