"Darby2's Yellowknife Page" a Yellowknife Travel Page by Darby2

Cameron River on the Ingraham Trail just east of Yellowknife

Hub of the Northwest territories, Yellowknife lies on the arm of the Great Slave Lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Canada, covering 11,031 square miles. It is in the Canadian Shield geology area, close to the treeline limit. Northeast of Yellowknife is the new diamond production area of Canada.

For the oudoor enthusiast, this is a wonderful area to explore. Make sure you travel the Ingraham Trail, which heads east from Yellowknife and more or less follows the Cameron River, a series of lakes, falls, rapids and magnificent Canadian Shield landscape for about 35 miles. Lots of bears in this area!

The south /west shore of Great Slave lake, is mostly white sand beaches, accessible only by water or air.

The eastern arm of the lake is also the deepest part, well over 2000' The lake remains cold all year long. There is a major commercial fishery on the lake for whitefish, lake trout and pike.

Read about this kayaking adventure by John Lockwood as he and his wife toured the lake. (complete with exquisite photos)

Much of the transportation in the Yellowknife area involves the sturdy DeHavilland Beaver aircraft. It is capable of landing on water with floats or on snow or ice with skis. In areas of open tundra it can be equipped with oversized tundra tires. Other aircraft used include the Twin Otter, Buffalo and Caribou.

The fishing in the Yellowknife area is excellent with beautiful Arctic Grayling ready to take your fly. Notice the huge dorsal fin. They can reach more than 5 pounds in some of the bigger lakes.

They are delicious eating too, and when freshly caught have a fragrance reminiscent of the herb thyme... hence their Latin name: Thymallys arcticus