Day Twenty Nine: Liard Hot Springs

Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs was not a long drive, but it was a pretty interesting one.  We saw all kinds of animals: black bears, a moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and a whole bunch of bison.  Unfortunately, I discovered after two days that none of the pictures I took on my Canon were saved–due to my forgetting to put the stupid SD card back into it.  Devastating!  What I do have are pictures I took on my phone and a few I borrowed from my fellow travelers.  And, I’m checking that SD card constantly now.

All of the following are off my phone unless otherwise noted.

We stopped at an absolutely gorgeous place called Muncho Lake.  You could walk right to the water’s edge.  It wasn’t too cold.  The water was a beautiful teal, though my phone perhaps didn’t do it justice.  I’m sure my Canon pics would have been great.  Sigh.

We were due to spend just the night at Liard and then drive to Watson Lake.  We had to be at Watson Lake by 1:30 and were meeting to walk to the Signpost Forest to hang our signs up.  That meant mine had to be finished.  Which it definitely wasn’t.  So, my plan was to work on the sign first thing after setting up and then go soak in the hot springs.

That. Did. Not. Happen.

We got to Liard, I was put into my spot and decided not to unhitch.  There was no store or gas service–or cell service–so why unhitch?  With some difficulty due to the unevenness of the site, I finally was set up.  And as I happened to be walking around the rig, I discovered this:

See the missing glass along the bottom?  Yes, it’s very dirty.  But also shattered.

So much for the hot springs.  I spent the rest of the evening taping the window up (though I mostly stood there while a bunch of the guys walked over, marveled at it, wondered how it happened–I have no idea–and helped me clean the window and tape it).  The best we can figure is that I got a rock thrown backwards from a passing semi.  There is a lot more road issues that we’re dealing with now.  Gravel, construction, etc. and the big rigs just don’t care if they’re throwing rocks.  They go fast and I’ve learned to pull to the right and nearly stop if they are going really fast.  Those rocks sound awful hitting Rory.

Finally, I worked hard doing a bunch of coats of polyurethane on my sign after I finished putting a message on with sharpies:

As for the campground, it was an interesting place.  Bison freely wandered around, without a care that we were there.