Not far from the Northern Territories’ capital of Yellowknife, world dogsledding champion Grant Beck keeps 150 Alaskan huskies at his Beck’s Kennels. From November through April, the fifth generation musher hosts adventurous guests keen to experience the peaceful northern wilderness and the Northern Lights on dogsledding excursions.

Once the dogs are hitched up in the evening, slide into the sled and let your experienced guide mush for 30 minutes across the snow beneath the stars to a cozy cabin.  When Mother Nature’s lightshow begins to shimmy coloured ribbons across the sky, you’ll want to be outside in your heavy parka. The Aurora Borealis is generated by giant electrical storms formed by solar flares and they are brightest on winter nights above Yellowknife where they seem so close you feel you could reach and touch them. To warm up, step inside the cabin for a hot drink, soup and bannock.

Mush back to Beck’s lodge at 3 am or stay overnight, enjoying dinner and breakfast at the cabin. Multi-night dogsledding adventures offer options of sleeping Gold Rush-style in heated prospector tents as well as in cabins or lodges.

During daytime, get to know the friendly dogs and learn to drive your own team across snowy trails. Or slip on a numbered bib and challenge your friends to a real dog sled race. Daytrips by dogsled include heading to a traditional trapper’s tent on a secluded lake to hear stories about the trapping life in front of a crackling woodstove.

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Specific Contact Details

Beck's Kennels Aurora Tours
Box 161, 124 Curry Drive
Yellowknife, NWT
Canada X1A 2N2
Tel: (867) 669-1293
Email: gbeck [at] ssimicro [dot] com
www.beckskennels.com

Experience Highlights

• Ride a snowmobile to Great Slave Lake to ice fish the First Nations way
• Visit a traditional trapper’s tent on a secluded lake
• Head on a multi-day dog team expedition staying in prospector tents and lodges
• Compete with friends at your own private dog sled race
• Venture to an aboriginal community to see herds of buffalo roam
• Learn to drive your own dog team
• Snowshoe along a nature trail

In the area

• Take a drive on an ice road
• Visit a mid-winter snow castle festival
• Explore the heritage of the Northwest Territories
• Read Robert Service’s "Ballad of the Northern Lights."

Experience Availability

November, December, January, March and April

Location

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Related Links

City of Yellowknife

Northwest Territories Tourism

Alex and Luke mush dogs with Beck’s

Peek at Yellowknife’s Northern Lights via AuroraMAX, a live online observatory from the Canadian Space Agency