Fantasy Caravan Day 15 - Fort Nelson to Liard River, British Columbia

On Saturday, we drove from Fort Nelson to Liard River along the Alaska Highway...

We were hoping for less smoky skies on Saturday, and it was looking better in the morning!

We had our travel meeting in the morning before heading out.

Soon after we left the campground, we came to this informational sign -- telling us about construction delays near our next campground (Liard River)...

... and also letting us know that there might be fire crews working near Steamboat Mountain. We had seen in the B.C. Wildfires app that there was a new fire on Steamboat Mountain, started on Wednesday, probably by lightning, not far from our route on the Alaska Highway.

There was a lot less smoke on Saturday! We could even see shadows of the trees!

Pretty drive

We stopped at Tetsa River Services, known for their Cinnamon Buns!

The lodge/restaurant/gift shop

We each got a cinnamon bun! They were yummy!!!

Our route on Saturday took us out of the prairies into the mountains with frequent bridges over rivers. The bridges weren't terrifically wide, so we were happy that we rarely met traffic on them!

Wow - it is almost clear enough to see taller mountains in the distance!

Coming up on Summit Lake...

This is at the highest point on the Alaska Highway.

Our Garmin indicates that we are at 4273' in elevation.

Another of our group was stopped at the same pullout.

We enjoy coming up with meanings for the warning signs -- Carl thinks this one means to watch out for sharks with dandruff!

We were on curvy roads but so beautiful. The blue arrow points at one of our fellow Fantasy guests a ways ahead of us...

... I zoomed in on the photo - can you see that big class A motorhome in this photo?

The Milepost guide had let us know that we might see Stone Sheep - "Stone sheet pare indigenous to the mountains of northern British Columbia and southern Yukon. Darker and somewhat slighter than the bighorn sheep found in the Rocky Mountains, they are often mistaken for mountain goat, which are not found in this area." We did see 3-4 later in the trip, but not soon enough to get a picture!

We were traveling alongside the Toad River...

... and stopped at a pullout for a closer look. Carl took a quick nap in the rig...

... and I was outside doing some exploring. Carl came out and was so impressed by the sound of the running water... we got our chairs out and enjoyed the view for about an hour!

Continuing along, we came to Muncho Lake...

...this lake went on and on...

... and on and on! So pretty! And it was along this lake where we saw the Stone Sheep (that we didn't get pictures of).

Toward the end of our trip to Liard River, we came to the only remaining suspension bridge on the Alaska Highway...

... it is undergoing repair, and we had been cautioned that there may be a wait of up to 30 minutes, but we were able to cross pretty quickly.

Liard River

Only about a mile further, we came to our campground at Liard Hot Springs Lodge. We got parked and then headed over to the Provincial Park across the highway to visit the Hot Springs.

Information about the hot springs

We were cautioned that we are in the home of the wildlife and we are merely visitors.

The provincial park is actually surrounded by electric fences (our campground, just across the highway, is not!) -- to walk to the hot springs, we had to go out through a gate with specific areas safe to touch so we wouldn't get a shock!

Why are there hot springs here?

There was about a 10 minute walk on a boardwalk over the marshes (outside the electric fence - so we were on our own with the wildlife!).

A mama duck and her ducklings were feeding right by the boardwalk.

We soon came to the hot spring area -- there are a couple of pools, and it is warmer when you are closer to the source of the springs.

We elected to go in the further pool -- "cooler" -- but "cooler" is a relative term!

It was very pretty...

... though quite warm!

Carl in the "cooler" pool. 

The bottom of the pool was covered with rocks, which were not very comfortable to walk on -- Carl had brought shoes that he could use in the pool, but I just had to walk very slowly (I'm a tenderfoot!).

A selfie in the pool. If you happen to notice that I don't have my rings on -- we were cautioned not to wear jewelry in the pools as they would be discolored by the chemicals (sulfur and I don't know what else).

Looking back up toward the boardwalk / changing room area.

Carl decided to try out the hotter pool (I got into it briefly but just found it too warm).

He found this bench to sit on, and said that it was interesting because he could really distinguish between the cooler temperature lower in the pool versus the hottest at the surface.

There was also a "hanging garden" that we could walk to - but as we started walking that path, we asked a fellow coming down how far it was - he indicated it was pretty far up the hill and not really worth the effort to see it, so we decided to skip seeing that...

We did see this signboard indicating that the temperature of the water up by the hanging gardens and the Alpha Pool was 36C (96-98F).

What an interesting and beautiful day!