Cruising the Alaskan Highway

May 26
Today we travelled 624 km (388 miles) from Fort St John to Muncho Lake. A slow start to the morning from our campsite at the Rotary Camp on Charlie Lake to Fort Nelson. We stopped for lunch and then did some grocery shopping.

I picked up a small notebook so that we could keep track of all the wildlife we saw. Sections are: Roadside Kills, Live Animal Sightings, and Souvenirs found on the roadside (mainly bungee cords).

Roadside kills: a squished raccoon in Surrey, a dead moose somewhere between Quesnel and Prince George. There was blood all over the road, it was a messy situation, and a squished porcupine around the Muncho Lake area.
Live Animal Sighting:

7 black bears total (2 yesterday, 5 today)


2 moose, an owl

2 caribou

8stone sheeps
and 1 GRIZZLY (he moved too fast for a pic)!
Souvenirs: 6 bungee cords and 1 wheel chalk.

We passed a few old forest fires along the way. So sad to see the many hectares that are gone.

It took longer than we expected to get to where we wanted to go because of the many mountain passes. The scenery was just amazing.

Filled gas at Toad River.

Our goal was to spend the night at Liards Hot Spring but it was getting late and we were getting tired. We decided to camp at the Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake. Is located on the northern tip of the Rocky Mountain. The lake is so picturesque with its deep aqua green water and the stunning mountains.

The lake was calling me so off I went for my dip! It was so refreshing!

The temperature today at Fort St John was a very warm 26c as we weren’t through the mountain passes we watch the temperature fall to 18c. Muncho Lake was a balmy 12c with lots of wind.

The dining room at the lodge.

Today would have been our 44th wedding anniversary. I spent the day in deep thoughts with a happy and thankful heart that Gerald was in my life and that he loved me!

May 27

After my very, very cold dip in the lake this morning, we packed up and headed out to Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. It is home to the second largest natural hot springs in Canada. It is a natural river of hot water rather than spring fed and the water temperatures range from 42 to 52 °C (108 to 126 °F). I was told by a someone that goes often, when in the springs one has to walk to the top pool, where it is the hottest, and place a rock in the area. He said that it shows how many people can actually stand the heat.

We had lunch in the Sunshine after our 1.5 hour dip!

Walk to the hot springs

A walk up to The Hanging Garden

On our to Watson lake, we came across 2 herds of bisons (21 in the first herd and 29 in the second) with a few travelling alone and a black bear.

Watson lake is famous for it's massive collection of signs, know as the Signpost Forest. There are over 70,000 signs in the Signpost Forest and every year visitors bring new signs from around the world to add to the collection. We found lots of signs from Vancouver island.

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Today we drove 285 km (177 miles).

We have noticed the temperature change since leaving Fort St. John (26c) to Watson lake (15c).

Plans are now to slow down since we are in the Yukon., take time to find quiet lakes to do some reading and maybe some fishing!