Following the Alaskan Highway, we traveled on to Liard Hot Springs. We arrived to find the campground full. These folks obviously had anticipated this issue as they had an overflow section providing a large, gravel lot without any services. The fee is $26 a night, paid at the campground across the road. So, just pull into the lot and go across and pay. It would probably be best on weekends to pull into this lot, if you arrive after 3 pm, so you can check to see if the campground is full. The campground is a Provincial Park and does not offer power or water service. You’re on your own. We dry camped in the overflow lot. After meeting our neighbors we headed over to the Springs.
The 10-15 minute walk to the actual Springs is very pleasant. There is a wooden walkway. Frequently moose are seen crossing this walkway. You need to just stand, take pictures, enjoy and wait. No worries. The Spring’s temperature, at the top pouring out of the ground where it is hottest, is around 108 degrees. The stream ever so slowly cools as you move down to the man-built dam. Just past the dam, someone some time ago cut a large tree across the stream. Daring “young” people can try to balance and walk across it or try to shimmy up on top of it to hang. It is only 3 feet above the stream. Go for it!!!!! It became cooler and more comfortable beyond this point. About 98 degrees. The way to manage the hotter portion of the Spring is to cup your hands, bringing your arms in a semi-circle down in front of your body and gently pull the cooler water from the lower level up to your chest. You just keep doing this action as you traverse up to the head of the hot springs. It is a very effective way to manage the temperature. This is a way to challenge yourself to make it to the 108-degree portion. This is a great conversation event. Lots of stories were passed back and forth. Visitors from all over the World. The water is clear, with a very slight sulfur smell. It was a good, hot soak and we felt great afterward. There are no showers. There are restrooms with toilet and sink. You are able to change there, however, we just threw our towels over our shoulders and walked home. There was another campground right next door but it was also full. This was on Saturday and the weekends are busier. Monday morning there were campsites available.
We are finding there is clearly more traffic and campground fill ups, so we are making a reservation by noon or dry camping as we go. There are good dry camping sites and so far it has not been difficult to find a desirable spot.
A stop at Watson Lake was easy with plenty of big rig parking on both sides of the road. The Sign Forest has over 75,000 signs and after walking around it sure is a lot of signs. It seems to be a rite of passage to leave a sign in this small town. We found a spot on the second row on the right, next to the Alaskan Highway. It’s low on the post and we hung our used, expired fifth wheel license plate and wrote our names and date plus our blog @easygoingtravelers.com. We think it will be there until we return.
The visitor center was a great help in providing us with additional information about what was ahead. We found the free internet a big bonus, as we had not had cell or internet for 3 days. Our cell sprung alive and began downloading our messages and e-mail as soon as we signed it.
We were able to get on line and find out about our problem with the bedroom slide. We have a Schwintech slide system. We pulled up several You Tube videos and found they were immensely helpful to understanding what was causing the slide not to operate correctly. The system was out of alignment. We will give it a try, and let you know how it worked out.
The Wood Bison were along the side of the road as we entered the camping area. The flowers and bugs are there for a better feeling of the area. Nature is diverse. We are always interested in seeing the detail.
Whitehorse, Yukon Canada is our next destination. This is a milestone. finally reaching the Yukon, with about 800 miles to Alaska, unless we go to Skagway?
Comments
Wonderful pictures. I am enjoying all of them. Great ideas – sending pics of your adventures. !!!!!!!