Flying to the Northwest Territories
My fall travels in September 2018 again started in Frankfurt /Main. Destinaton: the remote Yellow Dog Lodge about 25 minutes – by floatplane – north of Yellowknife deep within in the Northwest Territories. So far, I just barely had found it on a map and I was totally stoked to get off-grid for a few days and maybe even see my first Northern Lights ever.
From Frankfurt, we flew into Calgary on Air Canada and – due to flight schedules – stayed for one night and flew up to Yellowknife on the following day. Oh my, what a tiny airport. One conveyor belt and out you are. It was pretty easy to meet up with the rest of the group – we were only four – hop on our minibus and drive into town. We passed the Buffalo Airways Hangar – man, would I have loved to stop, but we were running a tight schedule. Next time it is. A short stop at the impressive Legislative Assembly Building, up to Pilot Hill for a panoramic view onto town & Great Slave Lake and quickly down to the Yellowknife water aerodrome.
On a float plane into the Wilderness
Once our baggage was loaded into our Ahmic Air seaplane, off we went. While the sheer endless tundra passed below, it was clear pretty quick, that hour tiny group was a perfect combination and we even though about adopting the pilot. After about 25 minutes with lots of laughter and without soptting a moose, Yellow Dog Lodge came into view and we were immeadiately smitten by its location between the two lakes – Graham Lake & Duncan Lake.
Offload, de-brief, first photos and hush into the warmth. Yellow Dog Lodge consists of a main building – the Lodge – with large common rooms, two ample shared bathrooms, kitchen, diningroom and four accommodations above – some with private toilet.
A large wrap-around-terrace runs around the ground level and in the backyard there’s a hot-tub for up to 5 people. There also are two standard cabins for up to 4 people, a large executive cabin with private bath and 2 DIY “Glamping floats” with comfortable equipped tents. We four did share the two cabins close to the sauna.
Time to get to know the great Yellow Dog Lodge team
There is the owner Gord, Alisha Marie and Aaron who ran the lodge’s daily business and the fishing excursions. Chef Frankie puts exellent food out and her heart & soul into her dishes. Well and there’s Toby and Joey … the lodges dogs and instant best friends to all guests.
After a first snack we set out on our first adventure – warm clothes required and of course, a boat. Never in my life have I angled or fished before and so I learned on Duncan Lake how to cast a line to catch lake trouts. Well, we didn’t catch any that afternoon, but I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
Waiting for the Northern Lights
After a delicious dinner and with first drinks in hand, we met around the cozy stove, shared stories & laughter, while waiting for the Northern Lights to lieght up the night sky. Gord told us, the chances were pretty good and we had almost clear skies. Cameras ready & Fingers crossed.
Around 10pm we saw whitish grey swaths float high up over Graham Lake. First signs of the aurora or just fog setting in? Gord told us, that the Northern lights come in all shades and forms – even as thin and whitish swaths.
The white turned gray and swaths became floating curtains in all shades of green and even some pinkish red. Suddenly, we stood breathless below a night sky exploding in colours and almost forgot to take photos. While we silently enjoyed the magic light show above.
Some other guests – who lounged in the hot-tub – greeted each turn and change of the lights with exited “Ahhh” and “Ooohhh” shouts. Well, each its own. Also we would have preferred a more silent setting, the lights were mesmerizing and magically beautiful. Gord told us, that the lights would be back in a few hours and so we settled back into the sofas next to the stove with more drinks and stories.
Our very own sauna cabin
Did I say stove? Only the main lodge does have central heating and the cabins and floats are heated individually with wood stoves. Stove on – cozy warmth. Stove out – instant freezing cold. Gord told us, that he had fired up our stoves early, so we would find it cozy and warm, when we went back to our cabins that night.
After a second round of Northern Lights, we – very tired – called it a night and went to our cabin. We had noticed before, that the temperature had dropped below freezing point and were looking forward to a warm cabin and a comfy bed.
We opened the cabin door and … wow, did we go to wrong and were at the sauna? No, our cabin, for sure. Gord really did mean good and our cabin was so hot, we had to open door and window for about 10 miutes to be able to enter. While we waiting laughing our our cabin terrace, we did barricade the stairs up to our cabin with a deckchair – to fend of bears. We slept just wonderfully.