Hiking in Northern Canada

Treat yourself to the ultimate adventure: hiking in the land of narwhals and polar bears, ancient glaciers and midnight sun. Pick the perfect experience for you and head out hiking across the Yukon, Northwest Territories or Nunavut!

Yukon

Vuntut National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Best for serious backcountry experienced hikers only. There are no services, facilities, or trails in this 4,345 square-kilometre arctic wilderness.

Set off on an adventure into the Yukon’s only fly-in community where the Vuntut Gwitchin people still live with the rhythms of the Porcupine Caribou herd, just as their ancestors have for generations. Throughout summer, hike under the light of the midnight sun, your boots brushing the yellow cinquefoil and pink Alaskan phlox wildflowers. Be one of the very few visitors each year who get to experience this sweeping landscape rich with ancient culture, rocky peaks, tundra valleys and wildlife.

St. Elias Lake

Kluane National Park and Reserve
Length: 7.6 km roundtrip
Time: 2-4 hours
Level of difficulty: Moderate

Tucked away and nestled between the mountains sits the beautiful St. Elias Lake. The St. Elias Lake trail makes for a great day hike for people of all ages and abilities. The trail leads you through mixed spruce and aspen forest, into a sub-alpine valley and opens up to a stunning view of the lake. Make the St. Elias Lake trail a backcountry camping adventure and register to stay at the primitive campsite located next to the lake. Don’t forget your camera to capture the blue-green waters of St. Elias Lake!

Explore using Google Street View

Explore using Google Street View

St. Elias Lake

Kluane National Park and Reserve
Length: 7.6 km roundtrip
Time: 2-4 hours
Level of difficulty: Moderate

Tucked away and nestled between the mountains sits the beautiful St. Elias Lake. The St. Elias Lake trail makes for a great day hike for people of all ages and abilities. The trail leads you through mixed spruce and aspen forest, into a sub-alpine valley and opens up to a stunning view of the lake. Make the St. Elias Lake trail a backcountry camping adventure and register to stay at the primitive campsite located next to the lake. Don’t forget your camera to capture the blue-green waters of St. Elias Lake!

Explore using Google Street View

Ivvavik National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: This will be a multi-day trip to some of Canada’s least explored territory.
Level of difficulty: Best for experienced hikers only.

Around 100 people visit Ivvavik each year to explore the unique landscape of the Northern Yukon and Mackenzie Delta, and although there are no designated trails, this incredible park offers up endless hiking opportunities. Explore the tundra between late May and mid-July to experience the magic of brushing wildflowers against your boots under the midnight sun in the company of the migrating caribou.

Northwest Territories

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Aulavik National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Routes are tailored for different skill and fitness levels. Best for experienced hikers only.

With more than 12,000 square kilometers of easily navigated arctic lowlands to explore on the north end of Banks Island, Aulavik, which means ‘place where people travel’ in Inuvialuktun, is a hiker’s dream. You will love the abundance of wildlife along the Thomsen River corridor where you’ll discover the highest concentration of muskoxen in the world and other rare arctic species.

Nahanni National Park Reserve

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Routes are tailored for different skill and fitness levels. Best for highly experienced backcountry hikers only.

Although there are no formal trails in the South Nahanni region, you can find detailed route descriptions for popular trails such as Hole-in-the-Wall Lake and the Tł’ogotsho Plateau. See marvels such as the South Nahanni River which surges over a drop twice the height of Niagara Falls as you trek over Alpine meadows and paddle fast moving white water rapids. Nahʔą Dehé is the land of peaks, plateaus and wild rivers.

Explore using Google Street View

Explore using Google Street View

Nahanni National Park Reserve

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Routes are tailored for different skill and fitness levels. Best for highly experienced backcountry hikers only.

Although there are no formal trails in the South Nahanni region, you can find detailed route descriptions for popular trails such as Hole-in-the-Wall Lake and the Tł’ogotsho Plateau. See marvels such as the South Nahanni River which surges over a drop twice the height of Niagara Falls as you trek over Alpine meadows and paddle fast moving white water rapids. Nahʔą Dehé is the land of peaks, plateaus and wild rivers.

Nunavut

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Quttinirpaaq National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Solo expeditions are recommended for only the most experienced backcountry hikers. Black Feather Wilderness accepts guests aged between 16 and 66.

Be one of the very privileged few who visit the top of the world and experience the raw, wild beauty of Quttinirpaaq. Circumnavigate the Ad Astra icecap; see jagged black peaks and massive glaciers; watch grazing muskoxen and hear Arctic wolves howl. There are no marked trails here and the terrain is varied and unstable. Join the Black Feather guides for a trip into the high Arctic with the people who know it best.

Sirmilik National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Best for experienced hikers only.

Experience the ultimate Arctic adventure under the midnight sun on Bylot Island and hike where snowy owls hunt! See red rock hoodoo towers, ancient glaciers and watch out for narwhal and glittering white beluga whales. There are no marked trails here, so enjoy backcountry hiking in true wilderness. But be polar bear aware; make sure you know what to do if you encounter a bear!

Sirmilik National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Parks Office.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Best for experienced hikers only.

Experience the ultimate Arctic adventure under the midnight sun on Bylot Island and hike where snowy owls hunt! See red rock hoodoo towers, ancient glaciers and watch out for narwhal and glittering white beluga whales. There are no marked trails here, so enjoy backcountry hiking in true wilderness. But be polar bear aware; make sure you know what to do if you encounter a bear!

Akshayuk Pass

Auyuittuq National Park
Length: 97km
Time: 8 days
Level of difficulty: Best for experienced backcountry arctic wilderness hikers only.
Best time to hike: July and August. Although the park can be hazardous throughout the last week of July and the first week of August thanks to high water levels and the corresponding risk in crossing mountain streams.

Hike the Akshayuk Pass, a traditional Inuit travel corridor which takes in breathtaking mountain scenery along a 97km-route connecting Pangnirtung Fiord in Cumberland Sound with North Pangnirtung Fiord off Davis Strait. Chose to make the five to six day return trip along the southern portion of the trail from Overlord to Summit Lake or hike the entire trail from North Pangnirtung Fiord to Overlord, which takes around eight days (one-way)!

Newfoundland and Labrador

Torngat Mountains National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Torngat Mountains Base Camp and Research Station.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Routes are tailored for different skill and fitness levels. Best for active older kids and adults.

Hike alongside Parks Canada staff, Inuit elders and youth from Nunatsiavut and Nunavik in the Torngat Mountains and spend time learning about Inuit culture in the beauty of this remote northern wilderness. Whether you’re hiking the tundra in search of caribou and bears, feeling the spray of waterfalls or watching for whales, this ‘no set trails’ national park will inspire free-range roaming.

Explore using Google Street View

Explore using Google Street View

Torngat Mountains National Park

Length: Hiking routes need to be explored thoroughly by map first and discussed with the Torngat Mountains Base Camp and Research Station.
Time: Exploring the park is a multi-day adventure.
Level of difficulty: Routes are tailored for different skill and fitness levels. Best for active older kids and adults.

Hike alongside Parks Canada staff, Inuit elders and youth from Nunatsiavut and Nunavik in the Torngat Mountains and spend time learning about Inuit culture in the beauty of this remote northern wilderness. Whether you’re hiking the tundra in search of caribou and bears, feeling the spray of waterfalls or watching for whales, this ‘no set trails’ national park will inspire free-range roaming.