cabackroads-Liard River Hot Springs Campground and Area

cabackroads-Liard River Hot Springs Campground and Area

travel dates: August 22nd through 24th, 2016.

The plan was to hit Liard River Hot Spring campground during the week. I was hoping to find the campground empty. As it was we arrived just as other campers were leaving and managed to get a campsite fairly quickly. The campground was full that night.

This was the campsite for three nights, campsite 50.

Here is a map of the campground. The units by the highway were noisy. The units on the north side of the campground were fairly close to a wetland and  probably buggy.

If you notice on the information board "You are in bear country". There was one bear hanging around the campground. He tried to move through our campsite, but Bugaboo and Snowpatch started that low growl that meant business. He never did show that time, but later on did wander through the adjacent campsite and several times during our stay we heard the shots of the rangers firing harassing bullets at the bear. At some point, this bear will end up a dead bear.

Driving the highway close to the campground we spotted these three bears eating berries. Campgrounds have a lot more food, for a lot less effort.

As you can see in the top pictures the bison wander the highway foraging on the grasses next to the highway. We did run into this poor calf that ended up on the short end of a collision with a vehicle. It appears the fatality rate for bison is more related to automobile traffic than wolves.

Walt Disney painted a world of nature being peaceful and safe. In reality, it is brutal and uncaring. Death is never pretty and in this case the "recycling" crew namely carrion eaters have not yet made their discovery.

There are some scenic overlooks in the area. There is a narrow road to Smith Falls. I was hoping to fish for grayling at the bottom of the falls, but the trail was in horrible condition. The road was so narrow that when I met a class C coming out I had to park the Ram truck and carefully guide the class C around the Ram. Hey, I had a good six inches to spare.

I did fish a river in the area, but it was not as inviting as the falls above and the grayling's decided to take a pass on my fly.

The other highlight in the area was the original Alaska Highway. Traveling the Alaska Highway in 2016 is very similar to taking US 50 across Nevada, but with much more traffic. Now this road was much more of an adventure! I do hope that there were inter-visible turnouts built in to let oncoming traffic pass easily.

Back at the campground I was ready for a hot soak at the hot springs. The following sign lead to the springs. Notice the handicapped sign on the board. It looks like it was put there as an after thought. That turned out to be totally correct. That story is covered in the next blog posting.

As always double click on the picture to view full size on your screen.

cabackroads-Watson Lake to Laird Hot Springs

cabackroads-Watson Lake to Laird Hot Springs

travel date: August 22, 2016

It was a fairly short drive from Watson Lake to Laird Hot Springs. The road was good. The traffic light and the scenery kept improving as the miles kept rolling.

The weather cooperated with sunny, warm skies. And being farther south the golden hue that graced the trees was still green this far south. I was hopeful that this meant the trip south would not be spoiled by cold, wet weather.

It was a very pleasant drive and I was hoping to see the famous Woods Bison found in northern Canada. Coming around a corner I noticed that traffic was stopped up ahead for no particular reason. Well, there was a reason and it was found along side of the road.

Somewhere I read that about 10% of the herd is killed each year by vehicle traffic. The Province does mow and remove the vegetation along the road. The keeps the area in grasses which appears to be the preferred food of  the bison. It appeared that the bison were headed east along the highway. A couple of days later while camped in Laird Hot Springs Provincial Park the Bison finally made to the Hot Springs but kept moving east.

The traffic issue is fairly serious. I did find one dead bison calf alongside of the road. Even a small bison calf can wreck serious damage to a car or truck. The Wilki-pedia article indicates that the Woods Bison is the largest land animal found in North America. These bison appeared to be smaller than those in Yellowstone National Park. Maybe the big boys were just hiding out.

They do add a element of surprise and wonder while traveling the Alaska Highway.

This was one of my favorite stretches of the Alaska Highway. The good road conditions coupled with excellent weather and fine scenery makes this stretch worth driving.

Next stop. Laird Hot Springs Provincial Park.