Canada's insider blog

Teresa Earle has spent 15 years exploring Canada’s North, but she still has a yearning to see more. With bucket lists all the rage, we asked Earle to come with her own life list for discovering new lands North of Sixty, delivered to our media centre one amazing experience at a time. 5. Ellesmere Island (NU)

Ellesmere Island defines “far-flung.” Tucked next to northern Greenland at 83° N, Canada’s northernmost land is a mountainous, largely ice-covered island almost twice the size of the island of Newfoundland. By the time you get off a plane in Yellowknife or Iqaluit, marking the end of the first leg of your journey from southern Canada to the High Arctic, you’re not even halfway to Ellesmere. This isn’t your average tourist destination—and I have no illusions about my chances of getting to this part of the world—but its charms attract a surprising number of visitors. One-fifth of Ellesmere is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park, and the island’s glaciers, peaks, fiords, history, wildlife and marine life draw cruise ships and adventurous hikers. There aren’t many settlements in the northernmost reaches of Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, so if I’m in the neighbourhood chances are I’ll visit Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, Eureka or Alert. Or I’ll tie the journey to an unrelated item on a different bucket list—running in Canada’s most northerly marathon on Somerset Island.