"Small town a long way from anywhere" Norman Wells by agcw

NW is a jumping off point for hunting, canoeing and hiking trips. There is no road in in summer but there is an airport/float-plane lake and you could reach it by river. The reason for the town's existence is the oilfield underneath it.

is VERY small. There are about 800 residents and most of them are in the oil and exploration business. It's on the shores of the MacKenzie river which is, at that point, about 2 miles (!) wide. Most of the activity happens in the winter when the river and muskeg freezes and the ice-road is opened.

There is little reason to visit unless you're jumping off for another trip or, as in our case, it's simply a waypoint in a longer trip.

This was a new one for me. It's on a ration system - you have to write out your order, hand it over to the guy behind the counter who fetches it. The daily limits are posted on the the wall. All rather novel to someone used to walking into a liquor store and simply grabbing the alcohol!

• Pros:VERY friendly people
• Cons:Little to do. A working oil town.
• In a nutshell:Been once. Interesting place but once is sufficient.