Sam And Saundra's Second Time Around - Part 72

Sam And Saundra’s Second Time Around – Part 72

Canada

8/4/11-8/19/11 – Liard Hot Springs, BC, Canada

A Little Faster, Please

We run for the border and we make it1  Easy.!  Back in Canada, our next destination is Liard Hot Springs.  We spend the night at Pine Creek Recreation Park.  Nice Park. All the wood you could possibly need for campfires. Picnic shelters and really nice facilities. All for $12 a night.  Cool!  On the way we see snow covered mountain tops (Yippee!), some geese and a herd of wild horses nibbling the grass at the side of the road. 

Three Little Bears

 Next morning about ‘0h late light hundred’, we mosey on down the road.  No wild forest fires vying for our attention this time.  We are determined to take a dip in an outdoor hot tub.  We make a few stops along the way to admire the diamond willows in this area. We pass a mighty bull buffalo lounging around.  They lounge well. We see a young black bear munching on some road kill. Unfortunately, I got pictures before I knew for sure what it was. YUCK! After a pack of younger buffalo tried to drag race us, we stopped and watch a female black bear and three cubs munch their allotted grass servings. We finally reach Liard Hot Springs and as advertised, they have a campground right next to it.  We pull in. Find out it is more spendy than other provincial parks, but we figure it will be worth it.  We set up, start the generator to keep the fish in the freezer frozen solid.  We are dressed and ready to walk to the hot springs. A gaggle of park rangers (so rarely seen) inform us that the park rules have changed and we can only run a generator from 7 pm to 8 pm and from 9 am to 11 am.  Nonsense Rule. We get approval to go a few hundred feet away from our camp and run it in the day camp area.

Liard Hot Springs

We sprint slowly to the hot springs, walking on wooden walkways over the boggy ground.  About a fourth of a mile later, we come upon one of two hot spring pools that make up Liard Hot Springs.  The first has temperatures that hit 126 degrees.  I want to go to the second, where the temperatures are suppose to be a little lower, but it has been closed.  Not sure why, but Sam thinks a bear sighting may be involved. Bears do get first priority.  We get really well poached, then return to camp.  We enjoyed experiencing the very natural hot springs, appreciate the changing rooms and the walkways.  Next time, we plan to try out the hot springs near Fairbanks.