Canoeing

Welcome to Nonacho Lake Canoe Adventures!

Nonacho Lake guests are the only people on Nonacho Lake.  Most canoeists who visit Nonacho Lake, only explore a small portion of the lake & tributaries because of its vastness.

2026 will be an opportunity to explore untouched wilderness and fish remote tributaries on the lake by canoe!

Check out BWJ article link below, written by world renowned Canoeist and Adventurist, Rob Kesselring.

https://nonacho.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/bwj-winter-2024-PDF.pdf

2025 Nonacho Lake Canoe Adventures “click videos below”

https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=bAM0VXQJShA

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXuhzjMeyiA

Last summer, a paddler on the Nonacho Watershed caught a 30+ pound lake trout. The fish pulled the canoe a quarter mile before it could be landed. Two paddlers were the eighth and ninth explorers to reach a secret waterfall, possibly unseen for 75 years. Other paddlers discovered ancient tent rings and chips from stone tools. Muskox were seen by all groups, sometimes within 20 feet, and sometimes in herds of upwards of 60. Nonacho Lake Adventures pays for float plane transport from Yellowknife and provides 17-foot Esquif hard shell canoes,  high-quality tents, chairs, stoves, and cook kits. You supply personal items, sleeping bags, and provisions. Paddlers self-guide and choose their own route. The camp keeps track of paddlers every day with a provided satellite communicator. It’s a blend of the wildest exploring with a margin of safety. The Nonacho watershed is in the heart of the Canadian Northwest Territories, almost 200 miles from the nearest road. It’s a virgin wilderness seldom explored. In the three years of operation, only a handful of paddlers have enrolled each year, and never have they met other travelers or even seen footprints on the sandy beaches, unless you count the tracks of wild animals. You won’t need a flashlight as it never gets dark in the summer. It could be a weeklong glamping adventure with minimal paddling, no portages, and no rapids, or it could be a hard-core trip of exploration in a wild few others have ever paddled. You choose.

Join us in 2026 on this exciting outpost adventure as you paddle the remote waters of the Taltson River & Nonacho Lake.

A remarkable natural treat will be the excellent opportunity to view Musk Oxen in the wild. Over 100 Muskox were spotted in 2025 while canoeing this route. Participants may encounter Moose, Wolves, Bears, and possibly Caribou, as well as Mink, Marten, Lynx and Wolverine.

You will arrive in a remote area of the lake and travel and explore by canoe, camp in tents, and complete your experience arriving at camp on the eve of your return to Yellowknife just in time for a hot shower and a catered dinner in the gazebo with the Carter family.

Outpost trips occurring in the early season will have the lake trout near the surface. Trout fishing will be productive for fish in the 5 – 30lb pound range with an official record weighed of 60lbs & “unofficial” lake record weight of **71.87lbs (see below). When fishing these monsters from a canoe, it is quite a thrill. Giant Northern Pike are quite possible on this eight-day excursion with a lake record of 40lbs

**During the 2025 season a 70lb+  lake trout was caught by Joe Carruthers from Red Deer, Alberta. .

• 55lb weigh scale was bottomed out, using the length x girth x girth / 800 formula for Lake Trout, this formula is said to be within 10%.
• Lake Trout measured  42″ x 37″ x 37″ /800 = 71.87lbs  close to world record size. The lake trout was released safely.
• Official “IGFA” world record for a lake trout on rod & reel is 72lbs