Frontier Route

Highlights:

• Cross the Mackenzie River on a small ferry
• Browse the fine quality moosehair tuftings in Fort Providence's gift shop
• See free roaming wood bison along the highway
• Campground with beach at Yellowknife

This well-travelled paved highway stretches from Fort Providence to Yellowknife. There are two campgrounds, one at each end, one with a boat launch. A ferry carries traffic across the kilometer-wide Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. In winter, vehicles drive on a bridge of river ice.

Fort Providence has a campground, motels, restaurants and craft shops specializing in northern crafts. Groceries, fuel and vehicle services are available. Ask about tours and fishing trips on the river.

The Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary, north of Fort Providence, protects a free-ranging herd of 2500 pure wood bison. There is a good possibility of seeing small groups of bison browsing the roadside grasses or crossing the road, and it is wise to slow down or stop. Stay in your vehicle for photographs.

At Frank's Channel, the road turns east onto the rocky shield. Nearby, on the sun-warmed shore of Great Slave Lake, you can stay at a traditional camp and enjoy a mineral bath in rich clays left by the glaciers. At Behchoko, the largest Dene community in the Northwest Territories and headquarters for the Tlicho claim area, there is a restaurant, fuel and vehicle services. From the polished granite shoreline there are views of Marion Lake, part of the river route to Great Bear Lake.

Back on the highway, follow the distinctive pink hardtop to Yellowknife. The surface is composed of pink granite blasted to rebuild the road. Fred Henne Territorial Park and campground offers boating and swimming in sun-warmed Long Lake, just five minutes from the City centre. A trail tells the geological history of the region, with an opportunity to see gold bearing quartz veins in the glacier-smoothed rock. Ask for a trail brochure at the campground or at the Northern Frontier Visitor Center in Yellowknife.

Fuel available at Fort Providence, Behchoko and Yellowknife.