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Trout Rock expansion
Wilderness tour adds lodge to North arm camp by Doug Ashbury
NNSL (Feb 25/98) - Enodah Wilderness Travel owners Ragnar and Doreen Wesstrom have added a new lodge to their camp on the north arm of Great Slave Lake.
The new 108-square metre Trout Rock Lodge, includes a kitchen, a dining
room and a lounge.
The new lodge means owners Ragnar and Doreen Wesstrom can
host meetings as well as tap into winter tourism, Ragnar Wesstrom said.
Wesstrom said they hope to also target local businesses as
the lodge can host meetings for up to 25 people.
There are no sleeping accommodations in the new building but there
is a new sleeping cabin. Other accommodations are temporary wooden tent
frames.
"One big benefit is it's close to Yellowknife," he said,
adding, "It's only a 12 minute flight."
Wesstrom also said Trout Rock Lodge would be a great spot
for weddings.
"We've had some Japanese tourists up to see the Northern
Lights. We also had a couple from California over the new year," Wesstrom
said.
But the mainstay of the business remains summer pike fishing.
"Fly fishing for pike is getting bigger and bigger. Fly
fishing has become like bow hunting was 10 years ago. It's become very
popular," Wesstrom said.
Guests come to Trout Rock Lodge from places like the
American midwest, Alabama and Seattle searching for a trophy northern pike,
he said.
Wesstrom, a guide by trade, started operating Enodah about
seven years ago.
He said tourists often look for all the comforts of home
when they stay at wilderness camps.
"When we go to tourism shows, we compete with so many
lodges. Having the new lodge will make it a lot easier to market (our
product)," he said.
Despite Wesstrom's efforts to expand, he said the North
needs to spend more money on tourism.
"We're (the North) faced with a marketing problem. Up until
the mid-1990s."
NWT Arctic Tourism managing director Eric Yazley said
federal-territorial funding for tourism is about $700,000 for 1997-98
compared to about $1.2 million in the prior year.
In 1992-93 about $2.1 million was spent by both governments
on promoting the North.
"With a reduction in resources, we can't market
effectively," he said.
Wesstrom added the Yukon, which sells similar pristine
wilderness packages as the NWT, spends over $5 million a year on generic
marketing.
"It's a big concern. Tourism will be here forever," he said. |