Looking for something to do on a long weekend? Or maybe a weeks long epic road trip? How about crossing the Arctic Circle and exploring Canada’s Arctic Region? Canada is the 2nd biggest country consisting of 10 provinces and three territories and has the longest coastline in the world. Canada’s three territories are the Northwest Territories (NWT), Nunavut and Yukon. I explored a tiny bit of the Northwest Territories.
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories were inhabited by Inuit and First Nations peoples. The Vikings were the first known European explorers who sailed to the Eastern Arctic from Greenland (ca. 1000 CE).
The capital city is Yellowknife which gets more sunshine than any other city in Canada. The population of the NWT is 44,000 people, there are 11 official languages and there are 19 known hot springs in the Dehco region. The Thomsen River in the NWT is the farthest-north navigable river on the planet. The NWT covers 1.346 million km² and there are 6 National Parks and 5 Regions.
Adventures in Canada’s Arctic
I explored two of the NWT’s communities in the Western Arctic region ~ the town of Inuvik and the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk. For planning purposes, note the summer season is June to August and I was a couple weeks too early for some activities. That means I get to go back in the summer months!
Happy Travels!