Saturday, May 6, 2023
With the town of Fort Nelson in our rear view mirror at 8:45
a.m. as we headed to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park anticipating a
marvelous soak in the heavenly hot springs we had heard so much about. It was
47 degrees as we began our drive today, with a hazy, cloudy overcast sky – and
the sun had a pinkish hue due to the smoke from the Alberta, Canada wildfires.
Along with the forecasted smoke warning, it was raining small white ashes from
the sky. Although the temperature dipped to 41 degrees while we were at higher
altitudes in the mountains, it finally reached 59 degrees by nightfall.
Our first stop today along the Alaska Highway (BC Hwy 97
North) was at Tetsa River Lodge “Cinnamon Bun Center of the Galactic Cluster”
at Historic Mile 375 along the Alaska Highway. Ben and Gail Andrews (the third
generation) to run the lodge, have been serving travelers for over 40 years.
Many changes have come and gone, but the buttery, warm cinnamon buns have
become a “must have” for anyone traveling through. And Ben’s artisan meats come
in a close second, not to mention their delicious soups. But our mission today
was to fill up with gas and each devour a delicious buttery cinnamon bun before
continuing on our journey (and at $7/each Canadian, it was a bargain).
Gail Andrews, co-owner of Tetsa River Lodge visited with us for several minutes. We learned that she has been making these delicious cinnamon buns for over 10 years (averaging around 250 cinnamon buns a day).
Right after leaving the Tetsa River Lodge, the road became
very bad with frost heaves, gravel and dirt patches. This slowed us down to a
fast crawl, but about a half hour later we were moving along again. We saw a
few wildlife along our journey today including one black bear, one deer, two caribou,
and three porcupines. And crossed numerous bridges along the way.
We also passed by Stone Mountain Provincial Park – it was still
closed for the season. Then the road curved around the frozen Summit Lake.
We also stopped at a roadside site that explained the folded mountain. A folded mountain is created where two or more of the Earth's tectonic plates are pushed together. At these colliding, compressing boundaries, rocks and debris are warped and folded into rocky outcrops, hills, mountains, and entire mountain ranges. Interesting indeed!
We had originally planned to stay at Muncho Lake for an
overnight stop before heading to Liard Hots Springs. Muncho comes
from the local Kaska aboriginal name meaning 'big water.' Muncho Lake is
approximately 7-1/2 miles long and 1 mile in width. Muncho Lake is usually very
picturesque with its deep aqua-green colored waters next to the impressive
backdrop of the dramatic Rocky Mountain scenery – but today Muncho Lake
was mostly frozen over and the temperature was around 40 degrees which would
have made the evening boon-docking quite uncomfortable.
We decided to push on toward Liard Hot Springs and spend
another night there instead. We crossed another neat bridge.
Arriving at 1:30 p.m. at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial
Park, we then selected a campsite where we could stay for the next two nights,
even though we had another campsite reserved for tomorrow night. Some friends,
Brian and Karen Burk from San Antonio, Texas, that we had met earlier on our
Alaska trip were also here so we located a campsite close to them (campsite
#23). We paid the one night fee of $26.00 Canadian (we had already paid $32.30
for Sunday night as we reserved it much earlier) and after getting set up, we were
soon on our way to the hot springs.
The Liard River Hot Springs is the second-largest hot spring
in Canada. The hot springs complex is of national ecological significance and
is well known for its natural setting in a lush spruce boreal forest. In the
early times, the Kaska First Nations people lived and hunted the area. Trappers
and prospectors discovered the hot pools and in 1835, The Hudson’s Bay Company
recorded their presence. In 1942 during the Alaska Highway construction, the
first boardwalk was built. In 1957, the park was created to protect this unique
area. Liard River Hot Springs is truly a very special place.
It’s only a short 10-minute walk on the boardwalks over
wetlands and through a boreal forest to the hot springs pool.
We found our friends Brian and Karen Burk already enjoying a
nice soak when we got to the hot springs. We spent the next three hours from 2
– 5 p.m. soaking and relaxing.
We sauntered around the springs squatting to cover our
shoulders with the warm water, and soon it started to get very warm indeed. I
had heard that there was a custom to find a rock at the bottom of the springs
and carry it to the hot end of the hot springs and place the rock on top of
piles that other visitors had done before us. So I was determined to meet the
challenge and do it. And I did, but stood up and walked very quickly as I was
getting to the hottest area of the springs – boy was it hot, but I placed my
rock and raised my hand, and hollered, “I did it!” Mel attempted to follow
suit, but it was just too hot for him, so he flung his rock toward the end.
Brian did go place a rock too, but Karen indicated that she was not even going
there.
At 5 p.m., when we had enough for the day, we headed back to
our camper to make dinner. Fortunately for us, on our way back along the
boardwalk, we saw a female moose in the marsh. We stood and watched - and of course
took pictures.
Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park had no services, so
we were basically boon-docking, but we could run a generator from 6 to 8 p.m. and
from 9 to 11 a.m. to recharge our batteries, and fix a meal. Mel took
advantage of that situation and made a pot of chili that we shared with our
friends, and they had made boudin over the fire that they shared with us. Yummy!
After dinner, Mel decided to go back to the hot springs for
another soak from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. As the mosquitoes were quite big and bad
tonight, I opted not to go.
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Sunday morning we woke up around 8:20 a.m. to smoky conditions in the air again from Alberta, Canada.
After breakfast we got our
swimsuits on and once again headed out to the hot springs around 9:45 a.m. It
was a chilly 45 degrees, but the sun was out despite the smoky haze. We stayed
in the hot springs until around 1:15 p.m., and then went back for lunch
(leftover meatloaf sandwiches with chips).
Luckily, we got to see momma moose again. What a beautiful creature she is! And to top that off, we also saw a mother goose on her nest in the swamp.
Before lunch, Mel decided to see if he could find a bag of
ice – he ended up going over the Liard River Lodge across the highway and they
did have ice ($3.50/bag). After lunch, Mel and I walked the 10-minute walk back
along the boardwalk to the hanging gardens just past the hot springs. The
hanging gardens are feed by the waterfall. It was a beautiful area!
Then we walked back the boardwalk to our campground –
walking through the electrified fence around the campground.
In the overflow parking lot, we met a guy named Jason that
was traveling and living in a very small teardrop camper. Mel chatted with him
for a while and he even showed us the inside.
Now that is roughing it.
We got back to our campsite around 3:30 p.m. Mel fixed his
famous chicken fried steak, smashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans for
dinner. After dinner, Mel went back to the hot springs at 7:30 p.m. and
returned at 11 p.m.
Looking back at the two days we spent here at Liard River
Hot Springs will be fondly remembered. We will continue to rough it with all
the comforts we are used to – but soaking in the soothing, heavenly hot springs
sure helped out a lot!
A relaxing soak until tomorrow,
Shirley & Mel
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