Muncho Lake to Lake Watson (06-11-14)

We left Muncho Lake early in the morning, because we know there is a mineral lick about 14 miles down the road and apparently the animals flock to it early in the day.  We met Donna and Glen there and the four of us hiked the short trail to the look out.  Although the view was pretty awesome, we were disappointed that we didn't see a single animal.  Oh well.

Soon enough we were back on the road, where it seems the chance of seeing wildlife is much greater.  We saw another porcupine, stone sheep and these two black bears on the short drive to Liard Hot Springs, which was our next destination.

Liard Hot Springs is a famous stop along the Alaskan Highway, and with good reason!  Paul and I have been to many hot springs and we couldn’t think of any that were as nice as this one. There are two pools. The closest one has the hottest water and it cools as it enters the lower pool where it is mixed with cold water. 

The setting is completely natural but the bottom of the pools are layered with round gravel, so its really clean, as well.    We got here early in the day, since its only about 40 miles from Muncho Lake, and so we walked the short boardwalk to the springs twice while we were here.

One of the things we've realized about traveling in this area of Canada and the U.S. is that since it never really gets dark (still twilight at 1 AM) if we want to sight see,  we can always drive later in the day.

In fact we could go on a 4 mile hike after dinner if we wanted, although our bodies are conditioned to slow down at that point in the day. Usually the three of us will just play cards or have a campfire after dinner.

We tested the travel theory out on the day we drove through Watson Lake, Yukon. There are two things we wanted to do here, and it was our intention to spend the night, but most of the RV parks have closed.

Our first stop was the visitor center, where we would pick up discount tickets to the Northern Lights planetarium show.  And that's where things went a little awry.  The woman we spoke with strongly recommended we change around our entire itinerary. 

The road we were headed towards- Top of the World Highway, is all torn up, and will be in better condition later in the summer.  And if we want to see whales, which we do, now is the time to head to Juneau. So, after doing some calculations, we changed around our travel plans and are headed to Juneau.

In the meantime, we checked out the Signpost Forest- #1 on our list of things to see. It started in 1942 when a U.S. soldier stationed here was asked to repair  the directional signposts. He added one for his hometown of Danville, IL, and a tradition was born. There are now over 77,000 signs in the forest.

I was looking forward to the Northern Lights show.  I am really hoping we’ll get a chance to see them before we leave Alaska in the fall.  I did enjoy the information presented about how and why the auroras can be seen, but with today’s technology, I expected a much better visual presentation.  It looked more like an old film, with washed out colors.  Next time, I would skip this presentation (these pictures are NOT from the presentation)! 

After the show, we left town, and put some more miles behind us.

Miles 1-438,The Alaskan Highway (06-09-14)

Our first day on the Alaskan Highway was uneventful. We did cross over the Kiskatinaw Bridge, which is the only original timber bridge still in use along the highway, although its now off the main road and has been replaced by something that can handle the weight of big rigs. 

We elected to spend our first night in Fort Nelson.  The RV park we stayed in was right next to a museum run by the historical society so we were once again able to walk to see the sights. Some of the memorabilia included some original equipment from the building of the Al-Can Highway.

The museum had more to it than machinery though- it had a pioneer house and the original post office on the grounds. While touring the “historic” house I was saddened to realize that I remember what these were used for. 

At the RV park in Ft Nelson we noticed another Lance truck camper parked near us, and while I was checking in on the Lance forum online, I realized that it belongs to a couple who post on that forum. We chatted for a bit and hope to catch up to each other again.

The next day we were up bright and early and raring to go. Actually, getting up bright and early is beginning to be a habit.  The sun comes up well before 5 am and we are struggling to stay asleep much beyond that.  It works out ok because at “night” its still light out at 11 pm but by then we are so tired, we have no trouble sleeping.





We were hoping for decent weather but were disappointed that it drizzled most of the day. We debated staying put for another day but decided to push on.  This stretch of road is probably in the best shape of any road we’ll be on from here on out so we put a lot of miles behind us.

Along the way we were alert for wildlife.  Its not unusual to see stone sheep, bears, fox, moose and elk on this road.  We drove for quite a while with no sightings, and were finally rewarded with a peek at the elusive Stone Bear. This is not to be confused with the much more common Stump Bear.

Eventually we actually did come upon a real black bear who was grazing by the roadside.













 

It wasn’t until much later that we saw a Stone Sheep. No, really, that’s their name. They are named after an explorer named Andrew Stone.

 

Along the way we passed by Folded Mountain, which used to be a flat seabed, but 175 million years ago, the continent of North America began shifting, uplifting the seabed, and one of the results was this folded mountain. (my favorite example of Tectonic plate movement is Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland).

Unfortunately, with the next fuel stop always an uncertainty, we are never able to pass by a chance to fuel up. We tried not to look at the pump as it pumped diesel at the rate of $6.82 a gallon.

These are appropriately named the Saw tooth mountains.

Soon enough we reached our destination- Muncho Lake- and immediately felt like we hit the jackpot.   This is a small provincial park campground, and many of the 15 sites are waterfront, including ours.

This is the view from inside the camper.  If only the sun would come out!  Without much debate, decided to stay two nights.

The sky is going back and forth between sunshine and rain many times a day , so we decided to ignore the raindrops and hike to the top of the nearby hill.

The view of the lake was awesome and we saw a huge porcupine on the way down the trail.  He waddled off when he saw us, but we did get to watch him for a bit.

We met several nice people at Muncho, including Glen and Donna, who offered us the use of their kayaks. We declined, but I couldn’t resist getting their picture as they paddled past our campsite.