Liard Hot Springs

Sunday, August 22 - We could really smell the smoke from the forest fires last night and again this morning.  I first thought it was just a campfire, smelled like wood smoke.  But Marilyn mentioned the forest fires over on the Cassiar Highway area, and then it made sense. 

We got up this morning to more tire problems.  When we let the RV off the hydraulic jacks, Joe saw that the back tire was flat again -- the same one we had fixed in Anchorage.  So off he went with the RV to get it repaired.  Fortunately, there was a tire repair shop right in Watson Lake, so it just delayed us about an hour.  The problem was that the patch they did in Anchorage had come loose on one end.  Finally, we got on the road a little after 11:00 a.m. (after Marilyn's biscuits and gravy), and we started seeing animal poop along the road.  We are now in buffalo country, so we thought it must be from buffalo.  We came upon a small herd of horses, grazing right along the highway, so we figured out what we were seeing was horse poop, not buffalo poop.  But since I was in my "watch for buffalo" mode, I didn't even get a picture of the pretty horses.  Later, at the fuel stop, we learned that they were not wild horses, the owner just lets them graze along the highway, so I didn't feel so bad about missing that photo op.

The highway crosses back and forth between the Yukon and British Columbia 7 times in this area, but it is a really pretty drive.  There was hardly any traffic, and we had sunshine most of the time.  We crossed the Hyland River, which is a tributary of the Liard River.

Anyhow, a short time later, we came upon our first BUFFALO.

It was grazing right along the road, and we followed it for a short while.  We later came upon two other buffalo, separately, but both of them were laying down, and Joe didn't take a picture of either (they were on his side of the road). 

We made a lunch stop, and I thought I heard some stampeding buffalo headin our way, but it was just Collins.

British Columbia is a really pretty province, and this highway was in good shape.  Mazie said when they drove this back in 1999, this section was gravel.

The Liard River ran beside us for several miles.  It is a pretty emerald color, and has some rapids.  Legend has it that a band of outlaws used to attack and rob riverboats on this river.

But then the view got even better.  We came upon a black bear with 2 cubs, right beside the highway.

They were so cute, and we were thrilled to be back in bear country (where we actually can find them).  Three buffalo and 3 bears all in the same day is a good day.

Our destination today was the Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park, and we got in there about 2:30.  We all found nice, woodsy campsites, and then Joe and his 3 women headed for the Hot Springs.  The temperature ranges 70+ to 126, depending on which end you enter.

 We kinda went in in the middle, Joe and Mazie to the warmer side, Marilyn and I to the cooler side.  It was pretty toasty!  After Marilyn and I got used to the temperature, we moved over to the warmer side.  Joe, Marilyn and Mazie all headed up to the hottest end, but none of them made it.  Joe lasted the longest, but even he had to get out.

We only stayed for about 45 minutes, too hot for us old people. It had a boardwalk from the parking lot down to the springs, maybe 3/10ths of a mile walk.  Mazie and Marilyn walked from the campers, but Joe drove us over to the parking lot.  The area on either side of the boardwalk is a wetlands environment that supports more then 250 boreal forest plants, including 14 orchid species, but we didn't spot any of them.  They say moose also come in here to this wetlands area, but we didn't spot any of them either.  And, of course, this is supposedly high-traffic bear country in the campground, but we haven't spotted any of them yet either.  (We're still looking for them, though).