Salt Plains Lookout

Northwest Territories


Some 25km west of Fort Smith, along the road to Hay River, an unsealed 11km access road branches off toward a viewpoint overlooking the great salt-encrusted expanse of the Salt Plains, punctuated by salt mounds – part of the Wood Buffalo National Park. Steps lead down to the plains; visitors are requested to walk barefoot to preserve the fragile ecology.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northwest Territories attractions

1. Wood Buffalo National Park

17.08 MILES

Established in 1922 to protect a large, dark and distinctly Northern subspecies of bison, and straddling the Alberta–NWT border, is Wood Buffalo National…

2. Northern Life Museum

18.11 MILES

This museum has intriguing displays on local history, from the first Dene arrivals 10,000 years ago to the founding of the 19th-century fur-trapping post…

3. Fort Smith Mission Historic Park

18.36 MILES

This park commemorates the days when Fort Smith was Catholicism's beachhead into the North. Self-guided tour maps are available from the visitor center.

4. Rapids of the Drowned

18.93 MILES

Named after a fatal 19th-century boat accident, these turbulent rapids are the northernmost pelican nesting site in the world. Walk 10 minutes from the…

5. Mountain Rapids

23.06 MILES

Eight kilometers south of Fort Smith, towards Fort Fitzgerald, these rapids are accessible via a 2.5km dirt road just past the golf course. There are…

6. Pelican Rapids

25.05 MILES

Twelve kilometers south of Fort Smith, an old road leads east towards the river, with a footpath dipping down to a creek and ascending a bluff overlooking…

7. Cassette Rapids

29.36 MILES

The Slave River's southernmost rapids are in Fort Fitzgerald, part of Smith's Landing First Nation, 24km south of Fort Smith. Follow the road to the river…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "canada/alberta/wood-buffalo-national-park/attractions/salt-plains-lookout/a/poi-sig/1543352/1318416",
      "destination": "Northwest-Territories",
      "continent": "North-America",
      "country": "Canada",
      "region": "Northwest-Territories",
      "position": "superzone"
    }