Why head north, above the 60th parallel, to Yellowknife in the winter? If you haven’t seen the Northern Lights in person, then you need not ask!
We have the best view in the house, er, lodge, at the Blachford Lake Lodge, considered one of the prime spots for viewing the Northern Lights in the world.
But don’t take it from me. Visitors from Hong Kong, New Zealand and Germany have flown in, hell bent on experiencing the Aurora (as locals call the Northern Lights) at its best.
The atmosphere at the lodge has a laissez-faire sort of feel – doors are left unlocked, food is served buffet-style and is plentiful and delicious, there are hundreds of reference books to be consulted and there are artefacts galore.
Residents share shower, sink and water closets and retire to large, simple rooms. It’s a curious mixture of the practical with the beautiful. I’m seated in a red leather chesterfield, enjoying a second sunrise, while staff slowly prepare breakfast service behind me.
It’s always buffet-style here and guests sit at long, unassuming tables geared for four to six diners.
The staff is mostly volunteer. Like guests, they have come from around the world. They work for room and board, in exchange for having the privilege of living here and getting a taste of a real frontier lodge experience.
Another bonus – the area’s considered one of the last pristine forested areas in the world and is located only 200km from the tree line.
The current volunteers (some of whom had never lit a fire before their arrival), hail from France, Spain, England, Poland, Scotland, Holland, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, and the odd Canadian. They all live in tents.
Back in the lodge, there is a blackboard indicating the activities planned for the day. Visitors want to take full advantage of their stay here, which is typically two or three nights. The many activities include ice fishing, cross-country skiing, fat bike excursions, Dene drumming, igloo building, walking the trails in the virgin forest, spruce salve making, maple syrup toffee pulls and a workshop on setting your camera to capture the Northern Lights.
Or, they can chill out (sorry for the pun) in the lodge and its environs, enjoying the spectacular view or the deafening quiet of the Boreal/Taiga forest.
The main attraction is, of course, the most natural one, the Northern Lights at their very best. A visitor from Hong Kong, who had been to Finland one Christmas confirmed that the viewing was more spectacular in the area buffered by Yellowknife and the Blachford Lake Lodge than in Scandinavia.
Interestingly, your camera will capture more colour than your eye. Therefore, taking photos is a must. Taking photos, however, in the freezing cold when there is very little light is challenging. Don’t skip those free workshops, which include many tips on capturing the Aurora on your digital camera.
Visitors take no chance in missing the Aurora, going to sleep in their outdoors clothes, awaiting the call from a volunteer that the display has begun. Each visitor has a pager, the kind you see in restaurants, and man, when it sounds, it’s like a fire drill! People stream out of their rooms, cameras in hand, hoping to catch the full show. One tip from the workshops was on camera settings, and mentioned that one should bring many batteries as they will freeze and discharge quickly in the cold.
Visitors tend to be well travelled, heck even the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (our future King William) came here in the summer, soon after their wedding in 2011. For some reason, they did not stay for the Northern Lights, but the area was no doubt chosen for its isolation and beauty.
A German couple came just to fish, spending a week; two couples from Hong Kong, who were easily the most active, spent hours outside, searching for the perfect photo op. They stayed in a cabin away from the lodge, with an outhouse that includes a glass sky roof for viewing!
Even for Canadian visitors, getting to the lodge can be quite an adventure. After arriving in Yellowknife, we flew in a short, but beautiful trip with a Twin Otter ski plane, a 30-minute ride. The odd visitor (generally locals) came in via cross-country ski or snowmobile. When we were there, one guest arrived late, his planned five-hour Ski-Doo trip unexpectedly lasting over seven hours. Another group arrived even later, having skied 50km, half the distance from Yellowknife.
Needless-to-say, the star attraction is the Northern Lights. Words fail to describe them adequately, but you will never forget them. Or as Canadian film director Alison McAlpine said, when referring to star gazing in the Chile’s Atacama Desert, “No one who looks at the immensity of the skies here remains indifferent.”
I would be inclined to say the same thing about the Northern Lights. And as a Westerner who grew up in Northern Alberta, I’d wager that the best place to see the Aurora is in, or near Yellowknife, NWT.
IF YOU GO:
Guests from outside the Northwest Territories can book after Dec. 22, 2020. To be sure you have the most recent COVID-19 information from Blachford Lake Lodge, call 867-873-3303.
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