Skip to content
Treader
Start from this trip

Shared itinerary · Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Yellowknife northern lights in 3 days

Three winter days in Yellowknife: Old Town’s float-plane bays and the Bush Pilot’s Monument, whitefish at Bullocks’, the northern museum and the legislature, the ice road to Dettah and the frozen falls on the Ingraham Trail, with two nights out for the northern lights. 10 stops with times and notes. The lights show on most clear nights from late August to mid April; dress for -30 °C, and book tours with transport, since the dark sky is outside town.

Updated

Distance

110 km

Bush Pilot’s Monument → Cameron River Falls

Days

3

Stops

10

Each day of Yellowknife northern lights in 3 days: route, stops and distance
DayRouteStopsDistance
Day 1Bush Pilot’s Monument to Aurora Village42.5 km
Day 2Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to Prelude Lake Territorial Park433.8 km
Day 3Dettah Ice Road to Cameron River Falls273.6 km

Day 1: Bush Pilot’s Monument to Aurora Village

2.5 km

Old Town in the afternoon light, then out of town for the first aurora night.

  1. 13:00

    Bush Pilot’s Monument

    Sight

    Stairs up a rock in Old Town to a view over the houseboats and float-plane bays of Great Slave Lake.

    398 m · 5m walk to next

  2. 14:00

    Old Town

    Sight

    The first Yellowknife, on the peninsula: shacks and houseboats, and in March the Snowking’s snow castle on the bay.

    236 m · 5m walk to next

  3. 17:00

    Bullocks’ Bistro

    Food & drink

    Whitefish, pickerel or char from the lake, fried or grilled, in a small log shack. Busy; go early.

    1.9 km · 15m walk to next

  4. 21:30

    Aurora Village

    Activity

    The bus leaves from the office downtown for heated tipis in the dark outside town, for a night of watching from 22:00. Book the tour with the transfer.

Day 2: Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to Prelude Lake Territorial Park

33.8 km

A late start after the night out: the museum and the lake, then a second night of lights.

  1. 11:00

    Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre

    Sight

    The territory’s museum: the Dene and the Inuvialuit, the bush pilots and the mines.

    497 m · 10m walk to next

  2. 13:00

    Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories

    Sight

    A round building by Frame Lake with free tours. There are no parties: the members govern by consensus.

    1.0 km · 5m walk to next

  3. 14:30

    Frame Lake Trail

    Park & nature

    A 7 km loop round the lake behind the museum and the assembly, on snow in winter.

    31.4 km · 40m drive to next

  4. 22:00

    Prelude Lake Territorial Park

    Park & nature

    Out the Ingraham Trail, away from the town’s lights, for a second night of aurora on your own.

Day 3: Dettah Ice Road to Cameron River Falls

73.6 km

Across the ice and out the Ingraham Trail.

  1. 10:00

    Dettah Ice Road

    Activity

    The 6.5 km road across the frozen bay to the Dene community of Dettah, open roughly January to March.

    44.0 km · 1h drive to next

  2. 12:00

    Cameron River Falls

    Park & nature

    A trail of about 1 km off the Ingraham Trail to falls that freeze into a wall of blue ice.