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TritonTheDark OP t1_ird01gi wrote

Reply to comment by chocolateganache_ in Autumn in the north is hard to beat. Northwest Territories, Canada [OC] [1080x1602] by TritonTheDark

I shot this on September 9th. We camped up there for a week and were snowed on multiple times! Quite refreshing compared to current fall conditions down here in Vancouver, lol.

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ColinTheMonster t1_ird1cfr wrote

How do you get there?

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TritonTheDark OP t1_ird2drn wrote

Copypasting from a reply I gave someone else in a different thread about the same trip:

>It takes a couple days. For us it was 2 hour flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse, 6 hour drive to the float plane, 12 minute flight to lodge. Sleep then next day a 1 hour flight to the park and 4-5 hour hike up to the meadows. If money isn't an issue you can helicopter directly to the meadows, but that costs about $12,000 for the entire heli and you have to get a special permit from Parks Canada. Can also get to the trailhead via canoe etc if you have the requisite experience and time.

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ColinTheMonster t1_ird2p8s wrote

Geez. And how much did your trip there cost?

Canada's awesome but goddam is it big.

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TritonTheDark OP t1_ird333l wrote

Including all flights, driving, permits, lodging, supplies I'd say around $1800 per person. No getting around the fact that it's a very remote park, plus fuel costs have obviously gone through the roof. The crazy part is, as far as Canada's northern national parks go, this is one of the 'cheapest' to visit 😅

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ColinTheMonster t1_ird3c16 wrote

>The crazy part is, as far as Canada's northern national parks go, this is one of the 'cheapest' to visit 😅

BRUH

I'd like to visit every province/territory one day, but I guess I'm going to Yellowknife lol

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Marokiii t1_irdt0kh wrote

Go to whitehorse. Yellowknife is pretty boring. Also whitehorse has kluane national park which is pretty amazing itself.

I just got back from an alaska, yukon, nwt roadtrip starting from Vancouver. 2 months living out of my tacoma camper, 7 national parks, probably 15+ territorial/state/provincial parks, 2 territorial capitals, 1 state capital, taking the Dempster to the arctic ocean, walked under 3 glaciers, saw the aurora borealis, and it cost me just $9k.

Edit: $9000 Canadian or about $6500USD.

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ColinTheMonster t1_ire2mjm wrote

Whitehorse does seem cool. For YK I'm considering going to Dawson city though.

I'd love a trip like that, but I figure it would be very difficult to get that time off. How do you have that much time?

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Marokiii t1_irexsdr wrote

im a welder, so theres always work for our trade and right now not enough workers. i gave my boss about 8 months notice for this trip and told him its my bucket list trip and it has to happen now and if they cant approve my time off with that much notice than ill just quit and go anyways.

i now have 6 months until i leave again at the beginning of april for the rest of Canada. 6 month long roadtrip hitting all the remaining provinces doing every national park you can get to by road and every capital city.

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TritonTheDark OP t1_irf64xv wrote

Agreed. Yellowknife is fun for a short visit in winter but ultimately you're going to run out of things to do there pretty quickly.

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buffalo_Fart t1_irdy3tk wrote

I was up there this summer as well. I didn't do as much as you but I really enjoyed the space between Whitehorse up to Destruction Bay. The Skagway and Hanes drives were pretty. The Dempster was intense, took me 9 days to do the whole run and I ran into vehicle trouble the last day, go figure but it got sorted out ($$$). I came in around 5K USD for the 78 days I was up there.

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Marokiii t1_irdynn2 wrote

i wish i had taken another month off of work, the trip at points felt rushed and i had to skip out on a few things that i now wish i hadnt. i changed 5 peoples flats, so thats what i attribute my good luck of not having a single flat and not a single chip in my windshield the entire time. i bombed up the dempster, 3 days from tombstone up to Tuk and back.

i need to go back for nahanni NP, and i want to kayak out to lake clark and katmai NPs from Homer, AK.

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buffalo_Fart t1_irfniwj wrote

Nice. Well there's always next time. It's tricky up there. The distances are vast and 300 miles is just a long afternoon. With another 300 tomorrow. I never made it to Homer unfortunately. I got to mainland Alaska too late and it was forcasted for 10 straight days of rain. I got as far as Hope then turned back. Everything in my van was damp and I didn't want mold. 3 window cracks and a broken radiator fan. So I paid some but out of all the high north drives I've done this was the first time anything happened. If I went back I would spend all of my time between Whitehorse, Haines and Destruction Bay. Stunning scenery, food/gas close enough, and easy camping.

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JeneralFOD t1_irdeqxn wrote

I've also traveled to the nwt from Vancouver and there are cheaper flights through Alberta and if you have the time doing the drive up can be lovely too 🥰

Chartered flights up there do cost quite a bit though. I found it is helpful to know the locals if possible, for more creative ways to travel to different areas

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abie915 t1_irdbslt wrote

I finally had a chance to go to Banff this summer to see Reddit lake (I mean Lake Louise lol) in person. It's stunningly beautiful, but the whole experience was ruined as it's an absolute madhouse with hundreds of noisy, selfie taking tourists milling around.

When I'm out hiking I expect to have peace and quiet and hear nothing but the sounds of nature, but unfortunately most popular natural attractions and national parks are more akin to a theme park these days.

Anyway to get to my point, I've decided to intentionally seek out remote and harder to get to places. It's the only way that I can think of to experience true wilderness.

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covewood t1_irdgz8x wrote

Did you see Moraine Lake? It's hard, as an Albertan we shake our sticks at tourists but then we turn around are are the tourists everywhere else.

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squickley t1_irdpphy wrote

Can confirm on the second point. Southeast BC is swarming with you guys lol

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abie915 t1_irf5hra wrote

Moraine is hard to get to get to, but boy was it gorgeous!

FYI for anyone who wants to go there: the parking lot fills up at 3 AM and the road to the lake is barricaded after that. There is a bus to it from Lake Louise, but tickets are released 48 hours in advance and sell out pretty quick, so plan ahead :)

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covewood t1_irgqdvf wrote

3am????? Holy shit, I got there at 9am once and it was fine. Good to know now

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Marokiii t1_irdt4h1 wrote

Go to moraine lake instead, after about 20 minutes of hiking you leave behind about 90% of the tourists. After about a hour you are left with only a handful of people who like you want to enjoy the peace more than taking pictures.

Sentinel pass is perhaps my favorite hike in all 4 of the rocky mountain national parks.

edit: stanley glacier in kootney NP is also a great hike thats not difficult but has awesome views + waterfalls you can actually get underneath and a glacier you can touch if you go all the way + a bit farther.

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abie915 t1_irf53p6 wrote

I was lucky enough to go to Moraine lake. I don't know if you've been there recently, but the parking lot only holds 100 or so cars and fills up at 3 AM or so, and they barricade the road after that. There is a bus that runs from Lake Louise parking lot to Moraine, but they release tickets 48 hours before the trip and those usually sell out pretty quickly. Forget about buying a ticket the day you're there.

In my case, I was lucky enough to get there towards the end of the day. There weren't any bus tickets left, but some cars had left so they let me drive.

Thanks for the tips, will bookmark those for my next trip! In case you're in Jasper, I highly recommend the hike up to the Geraldine lakes, which are gorgeous. The trailhead is at the end of a rutted dirt road and I think I saw maybe four people the entire day I was there.

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brocahantas t1_irex8yi wrote

I mean you can't expect solitude when visiting one of the most popular and accessible places in the country.

If you can drive right up to it (like Lake Louise), it's going to be busy. That goes for pretty much every national park. Hike a couple miles from the trailheads and you'll lose the tourists.

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abie915 t1_irf3z2f wrote

I wasn't expecting solitude at the popular spots, but I was somewhat taken aback by just how many people there were. I mean there was a giant parking lot for tour buses for chrissakes.

You're spot on about hiking a couple of miles to lose the throngs - that's something I've noticed as well. Another way to find quiet spots is to get guidebooks of the area which usually list how busy a particular trail is.

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myownalias t1_irdqsbs wrote

Wood Buffalo is partially in NWT and is paved drive from Yellowknife.

Kluane is a paved drive from Whitehorse.

But yes, it's probably the third cheapest! The others are far more remote.

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telupo t1_ird3ix8 wrote

Are the mosquitos and flies gone yet?

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TritonTheDark OP t1_ird43xc wrote

They were gone at the beginning of September. Truly the best season/time for hiking and backpacking!

It will be full winter conditions up there now.

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chocolateganache_ t1_iremmlg wrote

Haha! I'm originally from BC. You have been getting quite the hot fall! Hope you had a great trip.

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