Wednesday April 21, 2010 – The goal of today was to get to Laird Hot Springs – it’s not as far as some of the drives we have made in the past, but the road has more curves and bumps, the grades are steeper, and the wind is stronger. But the views along the way are becoming prettier - there are beautiful snow-covered mountains in the distance instead of rough brown hills and dust. Our window crack is growing but the radiator seems to have stopped leaking. And there are still no moose sightings, but we are finally some seeing wildlife! We got a quick glance of a black bear, and a big beaver dam. And everyone at Fort Nelson said we would see Stone sheep and caribou when we got to Summit Lake. They were right! Summit Lake is the name of an unincorporated area (I can’t call it a town) and it looked like the one or two buildings that comprised it were all closed for the season. But as we drove through the area we saw several Stone Sheep standing beside or on the road. They look a lot like bighorn sheep and some of them have big curved horns. Some of them were standing on the highway and they casually trotted off as we approached. Later we also saw found some caribou on the highway before us. They move quickly for such big animals.
We stopped at Toad River for gas. Toad River is the name of another unincorporated town; we only saw two houses and a combination gas station/
restaurant/tourist shop. Because we had not see any fuel services since Fort Nelson and were not sure we would find any before Watson Lake, we topped of the tank at Toad River. It was the most expensive gas we’ve ever bought. It cost $1.329 a liter; since there are 3.79 liters to a gallon, we paid $5.037 a gallon! But it’s better to be safe than sorry out here.
We pulled into Liard Hot Springs in early afternoon. We were worried that the large, hungry mosquitoes that showed up in Fort Nelson would be here also, but the colder weather here seemed to keep them away. The park isn’t quite ready for RV camping this early in the season. They have an area designated for dry-dock camping but it was too slushy to use, so they let us park in the general parking area for free. We were expecting to dry-dock anyway, so that was perfect. We parked the rigs and walked down a long boardwalk to the hot springs. There are simple changing rooms available and wooden steps down into the spring, which is in a natural pool-like area with rocky edges and a sandy, rocky bottom. The water smells strongly of sulfur but it didn’t seem to matter after we got in. A spring of hot water bubbles up at one end of the pool, a stream of cold water runs in a few feet from it, and the combination creates a wonderful effect. The water temperature ranges from 108 to 126 degrees in different parts of the pool. At the other end of the pool area is a small dam. On the other side of the dam a stone ledge has been placed so that if you sit on it, the water falling over the dam (about a 3 foot drop) falls on your back and shoulders like a spa-massage. It felt absolutely wonderful!
We were so warm from the springs that we didn’t feel the cold on the walk back to the RVs. After dinner we got together with John and Diane for a couple of games of cards. It is staying light later now – at 9 pm it was still daylight outside.
Thursday, April 22, 2010 – Randy took another dip in the hot springs before breakfast, but I looked at the frost on the windows of the cars in the lot and decided not to. But he loved it! We hit the road to Watson Lake, which is somewhere about 145 miles north. Along the way we saw lots and lots of buffalo chips on both sides of the road. Twice we also saw a single buffalo feeding on the verge beside the road, but we never the herd that must have caused all that mess. We also passed a big black bear. He was on the road a good way ahead of us, and by the time we reached him, he had stepped 10-12 feet off the road and just waited for us to pass.
We got into Watson Lake and hooked up at the Downtown RV Park. It’s downtown alright – half a block off the main street, and the main street is only a few blocks long. The owner of the Park is very friendly and helpful. He winters down in the USA at Salton Sea and comes up here to run the Park during the spring and summer. He could not believe we didn’t see the nearby huge herd of several hundred buffalo!
We walked around town. Like other towns, their visitor center is not open yet, but they do have a very interesting “Forest of Sign Posts”. When the Alaskan highway was built, a signpost was erected with signs to local areas. One guy added a sign from his home town. From that, the tradition grew and now travelers from all over the world leave signs. We saw signed from all over the US and several other countries, as far away as Australia.
We will head for Whitehorse tomorrow, which means we will get to Skagway much earlier than we planned. But we are finding that the towns along the route are quite small – between 1,000 and 5,000 people – which limits what is available to do and see, and most of the interesting places are still closed. We just aren’t finding much to spend time investigating or enjoying, so we might as well move north before it gets colder.
We have been paying for some items with USA dollars. Everyone accepts them, and the exchange rate is something like one US dollar for 99 Canada cents. But everyone gives change in Canadian money, of course, so we are acquiring a small stash of that, and we don’t really want it. So we are spending it when possible.
Note: I could not load photos during this time. For photos of this section of the trip, go to Additional April Photos
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