Dog sledding is still popular in the Northwest Territories, where a good team is highly prized and well cared for. Curl up in a comfortable cariole – an oak toboggan with canvas sides – traditional winter transportation in the North.  Meet the dogs – usually a pretty friendly bunch – and their delightful puppies.  Learn to harness a team, and drive your own team with some beginner instruction.  It’s fun and very good exercise.  Dog team rides vary from half an hour, to half a day or longer. 

Historically, the north shore of Great Slave Lake was home to the Yellowknives and Tlicho Dene. Their descendants continue to live in the Yellowknife region, some in the adjoining communities of Dettah, Ndilo and Behchoko. Explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries recorded their visits to the Yellowknife area. First was Samuel Hearne in 1770, followed some 50 years later by Sir John Franklin on his epic journey to the Arctic Coast. Hearne’s meeting with the Dene took place in a bay near the Yellowknife River, just outside the current city of Yellowknife.

Yellowknife sits on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and the big lake is important for birds. Thousands of gulls, terns, ducks, shorebirds and songbirds nest on its islands, in its marshes and along its shoreline. Many more stop in and around Yellowknife during migration.

Niven Lake, a small lake a five minute walk from downtown Yellowknife is a favourite resting stop for migrating birds after the long flight across Great Slave Lake. In May, dozens of species stop here, attracted by its early ice free surface and nutrient-rich waters.