5 Day Yellowknife Aurora Borealis Viewing

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 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. Next, we drive to Buffalo Airway’s home of the popular TV series, Ice Pilots with the Star of the show being Buffalo Joe McBryan, owner of the largest DC 3 ‘s and DC 4’s in North America. 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 local mines. Next, we drive to The Old Town / Latham Island. 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 colourful, local houseboats.

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 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 to the top. 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. If time permits, we will visit the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, a museum that chronicles Aboriginal and European history in the North and features environmental exhibits.
After dinner on your own, we head out for our first aurora viewing experience in a cozy intimate cabin located 20-minute drive away from Yellowknife in a private dark location. There will be a light midnight lunch of fresh local fish chowder, fresh Bannock, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. There are a limited number of camera tripods which are available to share and there is a generator, so power is available to charge batteries. There is an outhouse for the washroom, which is heated.

Return to your hotel before Midnight.

After an easy morning, we start late to drive out to one of the many frozen lakes outside of Yellowknife, hear the ice crack as we drive on the lake, and try and catch our own northern Canada freshwater fish!! On our way, we will see the Yellowknife-Dettah Ice Road, the Highway of Ice. Our local guides know the best spots and have been commercial ice fishing on these frozen lakes for years. Unlike traditional ice fishing, you will get the opportunity to help chisel through the pre-drilled hole that has had a net in the water for at least a day. Together, you will work with the guides to help pull the fishing net out using traditional commercial fishing methods as they explain the process. Not only is this a unique experience but it also increases the likelihood of catching bigger and more fish for the fresh fish fry! Following our adventures, we have some time at our leisure, with time to explore Yellowknife or relax before tonight's dinner.

After dinner on your own, we go to Aurora hunting today. Yellowknife is the best place in the world to view Aurora! If the skies are clear, you have a 98% chance to see Aurora! However, if the skies are cloudy, the chances are low. We aim to increase our chances to see the aurora and go out and “hunt” for the aurora! When we reach a suitable viewing place, we park, and view and talk all about the aurora, identify some stars, the Milky Way and maybe even see wildlife while driving from location to location!

Each night we don’t exactly know where we are going, as it depends on the weather and the aurora, and where we go there is nothing but wilderness, wildlife, and Aurora. Depending upon weather conditions, we may choose to substitute our second or our last night’s Aurora viewing outings.

After a late breakfast and again an easy morning, we set out for our Indigenous dogsled tour. Watch as our guides take the excited dogs one by one from the dog kennels and harness them up to the sled. Get to know and pet the dogs, learn their names, and get a photograph with them. Every dog is friendly and likes to meet new people. We then get into the dog sleighs and get ready to hit the trail. We will team up the dogs and head out on the frozen lake for a 20-minute dog ride along a secluded and well-maintained dog trail. We end the tour in a heated teepee or trapper’s camp with hot beverages and Bannock as we listen to stories about how the dog teams played an important role in the daily lives of both the Indigenous peoples and western settlers in the old days, and how they helped people survive. The dogs were like family and are still treated that same way today. This activity 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 have 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.

Tonight, after dinner, we head to the Skydome to experience an authentic Indigenous aurora experience that offers the comfort of a hot wood-burning stove, couches, lounge chairs and tables for eating the fresh Bannock and hot beverages. Spend an evening among the Dene people, and northern lights.

Our northern Canadian Yellowknife experience comes to an end this morning. Following breakfast, take the complimentary shuttle to the airport for your return journey home.

**Shuttle departure times are posted at the front desk**