Fetterly Lake to Nonacho Lake Road — South Slave Backcountry

Nonacho Lake is famous across the NWT for its lake trout — fish that have had decades of near-total isolation to get very large. Getting there overland from the South Slave region is the hard part. The access road branches off improved gravel south of Fort Resolution and pushes roughly 80 kilometres through classic Canadian Shield terrain: exposed granite ridges, black spruce muskeg, unnamed creek crossings, and sweeping lake views that appear without warning around blind corners. The track surface degrades significantly beyond the midpoint, where drainage culverts have settled and seasonal wash-outs create ledge drops and soft shoulders that’ll test your recovery kit. There is a small outfitter-maintained stretch near the lake itself, but don’t expect groomed road conditions.

This is genuinely remote country — budget a full day each direction and plan to be self-sufficient. A capable 4WD with a lift, all-terrain tires, a high-lift jack, recovery boards, and a full spare are baseline. Satellite communication is non-negotiable out here. Best window is late June through early September; spring breakup turns the muskeg sections impassable, and early freeze-up can strand you well before the ice is safe to drive. No permits required, but filing a trip plan with someone reliable back home is basic common sense in the South Slave. If you do it right, you fish from shore into a lake most people only see from a floatplane window.