The North Canol Road

Always on the lookout for Sheep and Caribou, Etienne and I spend a week roaming the North Canol Road, up and over MacMillan Pass into the North West Territories. It’s late in the fall, and we encounter heavy snowfall on the pass. We’re the last vehicle for the season, and we enjoy every minute of exploration.

Click a photo below to use the slideshow to see them larger.

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Early on the road is good gravel, with mountains in the distance

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Whitewater on the North Canol

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Sunset over the mountains

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Looks a bit like fall

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The road winds on and on into the mountains

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How much longer will they last?

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Looking more like winter by the minute

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The old trucks appear to be part of the landscape

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Snow covered mountains in every direction

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The road quickly deteriorates over the border in the NWT, with a few small river crossings

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Winter coming to the North Canol Road

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Making fresh tracks

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Abandoned trucks are a common sight on the road

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The wildlife Checkstation, just over the border in the NWT

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Sunset that lasted an hour

One of the most beautiful – and remote – places I’ve ever been in a vehicle.

-Dan

5 Responses

  1. Sissi says:

    Love the Canol road, a special place. Great time of year, great pictures.

  2. Tonje says:

    Hi, I was thinking going up those mountains to Itsi Lake etc by the North Canol Rd. But I can’t seem to find when during june its good to go considering the snow melting away and the ice has broken up on the big lakes. I was thinking going at the end of june. Do you have any idea?

    I can see early june might be way to early :-)

    Regards from Norway

    • Dan Grec says:

      Hi Tonje,

      I’ve been in Southern Yukon on May 24 when lakes still had ice on them. I really don’t know when the North Canol would be snow free, though I’d leave it until mid-July myself.

      -Dan

  3. Ben says:

    The photos are beautiful. How late in the year was this? September, or October? Are there good places to camp along the road, or is it hard to find a spot?

    • Dan Grec says:

      This was either late September, or early October. The ferry at Ross River was taken out a few days after we got there, so you can’t go any later and still get back.
      Camping is *extremely* easy and plentiful.

      -Dan

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