Wednesday 8 June 2011

A Beautiful Drive Ending at Liard River Hot Springs

The highlight of our day today came at the end of a long (614 km) drive. We checked into the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. The park is fully forested and even better – has a natural hotsprings. We went for a soak before bed in the steaming hot mineral water. Its setting is very natural and picturesque. We didn’t take a camera to the pool so will include a picture from the internet.

The sun was shining and the sky was a glorious blue most of the day, although we ran into some cloud and a few sprinkles late in the day. Very little wind. It got up to 24 degrees C.

The highway for the most part is still very good with paved shoulders and a few rough patches.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop near Bougie Creek and for fuel in Fort Nelson. I drove for a while today. We also stopped at Tetsa River Services for a couple of their famous cinnamon buns – yum!

A few miles north of Fort Nelson we saw a black bear in the ditch. There was a dead moose on the road earlier in the morning. There are lots of signs warning to be on the lookout for moose, deer, caribou, sheep, horses and even bison. As the day progressed we saw 4 more black bears and at least 7 Stone Sheep. I got good pics of the sheep but the bears didn’t cooperate very well! In this picture, you could say the bear is barely there:

The Stone Sheep were right along the highway so it was fairly easy to get pics of the momma, baby and daddy sheep:

We had some steep climbs up (and down) with beautiful views like this one of the Muskwa River Valley from the top of Steamboat Mountain. The more distant mountain peaks are snow-capped.

The Stone Mountain Prov. Park was very rugged and scenic. There was some snow in shady patches near the road, even though the temperature was quite warm (17 degrees C).

The prettiest section of the drive was the piece along Muncho Lake. We were right on the shore of the lake - the highway is on a bench carved out of the cliff. The lake was a beautiful blue colour.

We’re seeing the same people/RVs at the fuel stops, lunch stops, campsites, etc. and having some good chats. Last evening we talked at length to a couple from California with cairn terrier mixes.

It was still light out at 11:00 p.m. so we had to cover our windows in order to go to sleep!

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