Plan a Mackenzie Heartland Tour

• Norman Wells
• Colville Lake
• Deline
• Fort Good Hope
• Tulita

Hiking the Canol Trail

The rigorous 320 km Canol Heritage Trail in the Mackenzie Mountains is one of the most challenging in North America, and is suitable only for experienced, well-equipped hikers. The abandoned World War II pipeline route cuts through spectacular mountain vistas, studded with swift rivers and time-frozen relics of wartime construction.

Getting Here

Norman Wells is the centre of the Mackenzie Heartland. There is daily jet service from Calgary, Edmonton, Yellowknife and Inuvik. North-Wright Airways schedules connect local communities with flights from Norman Wells, Inuvik and Yellowknife.

Mackenzie Heartland Wildlife

The storytellers of Deline and other Sahtu region communities preserve the legends of Yamoria, the hero who chased giant beavers from Great Bear Lake, in the time before history. Although the giant beavers, like the woolly mammoths, are long gone, there is wildlife aplenty in the Mackenzie Heartland area of the Northwest Territories.

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Canoeing and Rafting Mountain Rivers

Challenge superb paddling rivers with one of several experienced outdoor adventure companies. The Mountain River (Shih Niline) is a fast 300 km run from alpine tundra down through boreal forest to the broad Mackenzie in the Northwest Territoires. The Natla-Keele route takes you through 490 km of traditional Mountain Dene lands.

Mackenzie Mountains Flightseeing

For a sense of the impressive size and majesty of this land, charter a bush plane or helicopter for a flightseeing tour from Norman Wells into the Mackenzie Mountains.

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Sahtu-Mackenzie Heartland
Landscape on a Grand Scale

The Sahtu-Mackenzie Heartland is landscape on a giant scale. In this epic land, stories of the exploits of the great Dene hero Yamoria live on in places sacred to his memory. The cultural heritage of the Mountain Dene and the Bear Lake Dene is carefully preserved in small communities that welcome visitors.