Yellowknife

Heated tents are set beyond the city lights and the sky is watched through the night. Three nights are quoted as pushing the odds above ninety percent.

Once the lake freezes, a road is marked on it and vehicles drive across. The thickness is measured to set a weight limit, and that figure goes on the sign.

The quarter grew in the gold mining years, with houses set straight onto the rock. Floatplanes take off and land on the lake immediately below.

A lookout on the rock above Old Town, reached by a stair. It stands for the pilots who carried supplies into the northern bush.

About twenty houses float on the lake, reached on foot in winter once the ice sets. Power and water are handled independently, and solar panels sit on the roofs.

One museum covers the Indigenous cultures of this territory alongside its mining history. Admission is free, and there are seats by the window facing the lake.

A team of around ten pulls the sled across frozen lake and forest track. The dogs bark hard at the start and go quiet the moment they are running.

A hole is cut and a hut set over it to fish from inside. Some trips clean the catch on the spot and cook it there.

Fifty minutes of driving reaches a fall that pours in summer and stands as ice in winter. Thirty minutes of dirt path lets you sit on the rock above it.

In June it stays light enough at midnight to read a newspaper. Events are held through those nights and children stay outside late.

An assembly building of 1993 with a circular chamber. The territory runs a consensus government with no parties, so members sit in a ring instead of facing off. Free guided tours are offered.

A 7km loop around Frame Lake beside downtown. It passes the legislature and the heritage centre, alternating rocky knolls with boardwalk over marsh. In winter people walk it on snow or ski it.

Each March residents build a big snow castle on frozen Yellowknife Bay and run a month of shows and events inside. One local started it in 1996. The castle stands beside the houseboat community, reached on foot.

Highway 4, which runs about 70km east of the city past dozens of lakes. Picnic sites and boat launches sit at the shoreline stops along the way. Mobile signal fades toward the end, so fill the tank first.

A short gravel lane in Old Town whose crude prospectors' nickname became its official street name. The sign was stolen so often that souvenir shops now sell copies. Houses at the end look out over the lake.

The deepest lake in North America, going below 600m at its lowest point. In summer canoes and kayaks are rented in Old Town for paddling among rocky islands. Midsummer water is still frigid, which makes a life jacket non-negotiable.

A park on Long Lake by the airport, with a sandy beach for summer swimming. The 4km Prospector's Trail over rocky ridges starts inside the park. A lakeside campground operates as part of it.