Canada: Yellowknife Aurora Journey

This time, I chose to visit Yellowknife, Canada, to see the Northern Lights.🌟 Compared to Finland and Alaska, Yellowknife is not a very popular destination. 👉👈 But since I’ve lived in the U.S. 🇺🇸for a long time and had never been to Canada except for layovers, I opted for the route: Banff – Yellowknife – Vancouver.😘😘 ▫️ ⬇️First, let’s talk about Banff. My initial impression of Banff came from the natural landscapes in the movies Brokeback Mountain and The Revenant. Winter isn’t the peak tourist season in Banff, but the snow-covered scenery is quite unique. 🤥🤥Photos 1 and 2 were taken by Lake Louise💧💧. The scenery and architectural style of Banff Town are a bit like Switzerland—wandering around the town for a whole day is a delight. 🌈 I bought a Canada Goose down jacket in the town; it’s extremely warm. 🌟 Basic styles cost around 800–900 CAD. 🌧️ The styles are relatively simple, but they’ve been hyped up by resellers.⏸️ I bought some as gifts for my parents and kept a blue one for myself, preparing for the -30°C weather in Yellowknife.🏡 ▫️ Yellowknife, located at 62°N in a bitterly cold region, sees the Northern Lights over 200 days a year. 🛴 However, visibility depends on when they appear, weather conditions, and intensity. ⛩️ To ensure you get to see them, it’s recommended to stay here for a few extra days.🎈 🎉🎉 Local hotels are fairly basic, probably because the area isn’t fully developed, but they do keep the interiors warm☀️☀️ enough. ▫️ Compared to other aurora hotspots, Yellowknife is very flat, offering a more unobstructed view of the auroras.🚐🚐 I saw them on my second day here. 🎁🎁 Unlike Finland, there are no glass igloos here.❣️❣️ The tent was warm, but it was around -30°C outside… My iPhone shut down from the cold right away. 🤲🤲 For aurora photography, a DSLR is recommended because of the need for long exposures, and a tripod is a must. As an amateur, I’d done a lot of research on aurora photography, but I fumbled when it mattered.🍊🍊 Luckily, an expert in the same tent helped me adjust my camera, and the results turned out pretty good.🌻🌻 ▫️ Before coming, I searched Taobao for “Northeast China’s three cold-weather essentials”—a hat, mask, and scarf—covering every exposed part of my face.🐯🙉 I didn’t get a single decent photo of myself in Yellowknife. But there are plenty of daytime activities in town. The dog sledding here doesn’t use the usual Alaskan Huskies; instead, it uses a unique medium-sized breed with incredible stamina…🌸🌸 Our dogs were super competitive, racing against others, and I ended up falling off the sled, covered in snow 😂 A must-try in Yellowknife is ice fishing🐟🐟. Tourism here is still underdeveloped, so ice fishing only costs around 100 CAD per person, including fishing, catching fish, a tour, and lunch—it’s really good value. The water here is crystal clear, so the fish are like living in mineral water.💧💧 Our guide took the frozen fish we caught and made sashimi on the spot; the fish🐟 meat 🥩was sweet and delicious. Lunch was a fish feast with various lake fish, paired with cheese—absolutely fantastic!🌕 #Yellowknife #Aurora #Lighthouse #Nightview