Great Slave Lake

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About

Great Slave Lake is the fifth-largest lake in North America. The product of a massive post-glacial pool, cold, deep and frozen 8 months of the year, Great Slave is a vast reservoir for numerous rivers and streams. It is the fourth largest lake in Canada, one of the north's great providers of transportation, food and shelter.

Recreation activities abound in summer and in winter - hiking, camping, sport and ice-fishing are all popular. In March, visitors enjoy the Caribou Festival and the Championship Dog Derby.

Great Race on the Great Slave

For genuine open-water drama, head to Yellowknife for the first long weekend in August, when the Great Slave’s home sailing club, the “Great Slave Cruising Club,” holds it annual Commissoner’s Cup Sailing Race. For experienced sailors only, this race takes a hardy handful of competitors directly across the lake, from Yellowknife to Hay River. The race is composed of 4 legs, a total of 220 nautical miles over and back.

Great Slave Cruising

For 2 glorious months, when the last of the ice has finally given in to 20 hours of continuous daylight and temperatures that can easily reach the high 20’s (Celsius), Great Slave is a “no-limits” lake. No limits to the endless stretches of clear blue water, dotted with coastal islands. No limits to secluded bays, quiet inlets, shoreline marshes filled with birds, bottomless depths thick with northern pike, arctic grayling, trophy-sized lake trout. No limits to peace, quiet, and the thrill of being one of the few to navigate these uncrowded, undisturbed – and sometimes even uncharted – northern waters.

Winter in the north can be long and harsh, but in July and August, boaters can revel in non-stop sunshine. Rain is rare, thanks to a dominant high pressure system. Mild but steady winds of 10 -15 knots fill sails, but keep the mosquitoes away, and the only sound you’re likely to hear is the cry of a red-throated loon or the high-pitched rasp of an Arctic tern. As autumn nears, and nights grow longer, the aurora borealis – nature’s greatest light show – begins its nightly performance.

For the safest water and most sensational scenery, Great Slave boaters, kayakers and sailors head to the lake’s East Arm, where tendril-like channels, lined with towering red granite cliffs and spruce-pine forests, extend their ice-cold fingers into the heart of the Northwest Territories. (This spectacular section of Great Slave Lake may be destined to become one of Canada’s newest national parks. See “A New Park for Great Slave?” .) A week-long trip from Yellowknife to the lake’s north shore will take you past Devil’s Channel, Goulet Bay, and out into Hearne Channel, where you will pass the Blanchet Islands’ 180-metre-high cliffs. Stop for a swim – or at least a beachside stroll – at Nipin Bay. Hike to the limestone caves above Wildbread Bay, en route to your final destination of the isolated Dene community of Lutsel K’e. Finish your trip with a flight back to Yellowknife. (A Yellowknife charter company offers crewed sailing charters on a 5-passenger sloop, with packages ranging from 5 – 7 nights, including meals, sailing instruction and return flight to Yellowknife. Sailboat and cabin cruiser rentals are also available.)