Page 50 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

but also to provide education, health care and new
opportunity to the people of the Western Arctic.
Inuvik is the main headquarters for the oil and gas
industry in the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta,
offering a full range of accommodations, restaurants
and specialty shops.
For those who are adventurous and want to
get off the beaten path, the power and marvellous
scenery of the Arctic cannot be underestimated.
Journey north of the Arctic Circle and one of the
local tour companies can host you on an experience
of a lifetime. Enjoy the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in
culture, trek under the midnight sun, photograph
a variety of northern flora and fauna or drive the
Dempster Highway or ice road.
Several Inuvik companies offer charter air, river
and overland tours through the entire region, from
casual boat cruises and sea kayaking expeditions
to low flying charter flights and helicopter tours,
exploring the rugged coast, remote islands and vast
Dempster Highway Mackenzie Delta. Exciting wildlife tours provide
photo by: ample opportunity to view rare Peary caribou,
J.F. Bergeron Arctic wolves, moose, white fox, grizzly and ice age
muskoxen. On Banks Island, the once threatened
Fort Liard Inuvik musk ox now number more than 70,000. Along the
north coast, marine wildlife includes beluga whale
Location: 5 km off Liard Highway 7; 28 Location: At the end of the Dempster calving grounds, polar bears, seals; waterfowl
miles north of the BC/NWT border. Visitor Highway 8; approximately 165 miles from includes swans, snow geese and 60,000 shorebirds.
information: (867) 770-4104. the Yukon/Northwest Territory border, 80 Located 12 miles south of Inuvik, Gwich’in
miles from Tsiigehtchic. In winter and spring, Territorial Park Reserve on Campbell Lake is a
Fort Liard (“Echaot’je Kue” for People from the motorists may drive further, following the major migratory bird staging area and home to
Land of Giants) is fondly referred to as the Tropics Mackenzie River ice road east to Aklavik or rare Arctic plant communities. Accessed by charter
of the Northwest Territories due to its anomalous north to Tuktoyaktuk. The town is served plane from Inuvik, Aulavik National Park on
climate, with long summer days hot enough for daily by scheduled flights from the Northwest Banks Island is a vast wilderness with desert-like
growing substantial vegetable gardens. Territories, Yukon and Alberta. Population: badlands, sheer cliffs rising several hundred yards
The Fort Liard area has been continually settled 3667. Visitor Information: Town of Inuvik, from McClure Strait and the only icebergs in the
for 9000 years. It is one of the only areas in the north PO Box 1160, #2 Firth Street, Inuvik, NT X0E region. Numerous archaeological sites within the
where trees grow large enough to make the spruce 0T0; Phone: (867) 777-8600; Website: www. Park preserve evidence of human habitation dating
bark canoes traditionally used by Dene to travel the inuvik.ca. Visitor Information Centre: Phone: back at least 3,400 years.
lakes and rivers. The area is also well known for (867) 993-6167. The Kittigazuit National Historic Site protects
the fine quality of Native arts, including the crafting the east channel island where nearly 1000 Inuvialuit
of beautiful birch bark baskets decorated with Less than 60 miles from the Arctic Ocean, the once prospered hunting beluga, in log and sod
porcupine quills. largest Canadian community north of the Arctic houses unique to the Canadian Arctic. The Canadian
Circle sits on a plateau overlooking a shining maze Pingo Landmark is a national monument located
Sahtu Region of lakes and streams, with a spectacular view of between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, encompassing
The Sahtu region is located in the middle of the the Richardson Mountains. Situated on the scenic terrain dominated by the huge ice covered hills
Mackenzie River delta between tundra and boreal
Northwest Territories, below the western Arctic forest, Inuvik personifies the Land of the Midnight unique to the permafrost environment. Two of the
region and above the Deh Cho region. Communities Sun. largest pingos have been used as landmarks by
the Inuvialuit for centuries; interior cave systems
include Norman Wells, Tulita, Deline, Fort Good The area is the homeland of the Inuvialuit or provide natural refrigeration for perishables.
Hope and Colville Lake. western Inuit of the Beaufort coast and Arctic Islands Visitors can step comfortably into a variety of
The Sahtu region is the only region that is not and the Gwich’in, whose territory extends from first hand aboriginal cultural experiences in the
accessible by any of the highway systems. However, Alaska and the northern Yukon to the Mackenzie Inuvik area. Community festivals celebrate with
the communities of Norman Wells, Tulita, Deline and Valley. Ancestral Inuvialuit traveled with the traditional drum songs and dancing; visit a family
Fort Good Hope are linked in the winter by ice roads. seasons to gather fish and game. The Gwich’in camp or sleep in an igloo on a spring expedition
The Deh Cho community of Wrigley also connects fished the rivers for char and hunted the Barrens for to the edge of the ice floe; fly out to a Gwich’in
with Norman Wells in the winter. caribou, introducing trade goods from the Pacific lodge for tremendous fishing. During the Arctic
Coast and from seventeenth century Russia. The char migration, the rivers teem with large, spirited
Western Arctic Region Metis culture exerts a strong influence here and a fish fighting their way from the Beaufort Sea to
Also known as the Inuvik region, the Western wide variety of non-aboriginal people have called ancestral lakes where they remain for many months.
Arctic covers the northwest corner of the Northwest Inuvik home since the fur trade and whaling eras. Notable regional river systems providing
Territories and Banks Island, encompassing the American sealers and whalers followed the coast challenge for adventurous paddlers include the
heart of the Mackenzie Delta, bordered by the east in the nineteenth century to harvest Bowhead winding Peel, the little-traveled Anderson and
Beaufort Sea, traversed by the mighty Mackenzie whales and traders and missionaries sailed the Horton and Canada’s most northerly navigable
River. Access to the NWT’s most northerly region Beaufort Sea. Fascinating relics from the fur trade river, the Thomsen. The Arctic Red River is a
is by road via the Dempster Highway #8 through era may still be seen, including old Post buildings Canadian Heritage River descending from the
and Mountie detachments and historic mission
the Yukon or by air connections from Whitehorse, churches. Mackenzie Mountains through steep canyons in the
Yukon or Calgary, Edmonton and then Yellowknife. Feeling the need for an administrative center Peel Plateau to the Mackenzie Delta.
Communities include Inuvik, Fort McPherson, in the Western Arctic less subject to the rigors of The area surrounding Inuvik offers 6,000 miles
Tsiigehtchic, Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk), Paulatuk flooding and erosion than the traditional center at of Mackenzie Delta channels to explore. Some of
and Sachs Harbour. Aklavik, the Council of the Northwest Territories Canada’s best nordic skiers were born here, training
on the long, smooth trails of winter rivers. Expert
granted Inuvik (for “Place of People”) that status in local guides can provide cozy dogsled tours bundled
DEMPSTER HWY 8 1958. The planned town was designed not only as a aboard a sturdy sledge; winter polar bear hunts by
DAWSON CITY TO INUVIK base for development and administrative purposes, dogsled are available out of Tuktoyaktuk.

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