Liard River Hot Springs, B.C.

August 11, 2007

We’ve now been on the Alaskan Highway for 2 days and are across the road from a beautiful Hot Spring that Deanna first mentioned to us. She wrote in our trip book that there was a great Hot spring somewhere along the Alaskan Highway in Canada that you got to via a beautiful walk on a boardwalk thru moose country. We found it! It’s incredible…there are actually 2 pools, but the second one is closed now due to a “problem bear” (I guess he doesn’t want to share his raspberry bushes). To get to the springs, you follow a wooden board walk through a bog…because of the warm water, there are all sorts of exotic plants and little chubs that don’t live anywhere else up here. We haven’t seen any moose yet, but are going to brave the mosquitos later this evening and try again. Supposedly there are even some orchid species between the 2 pools but we couldn’t go that far. The pool we were at was huge---bordered with stones and a gravel bottom. There were sunken benches to rest on, and the temp ranged from too hot (probably 120 at least)at the source, to a lower pool that was fairly cool (and attracted all the kids). The far end of the lower pool got more and more narrow and turned into a channel about 4 feet wide with steep banks and crystal clear water that wound through the woods a ways. We felt like muskrats. Anyway…loads of fun. Teslin and Cassidy found some massive logs that had floated loose from their seating jobs and surfed around the pool on them. Chris and I meandered up to the source of the heatt on the far end….the hot and cold were not mixing too well, so a searing layer of hot water lay on the surface. You had to mix it up with your arms as you went or it was too hot. There were some nice folks there—one told us it was a tradition to place a stone on the cairns by the source –a scalding experience, but we all did it. He also mentioned that one year a moose had drowned in the upper pool. He said that was a bad year to go in.

Yesterdays drive, from Dawson Creek (mile 0 of the ALCAN), to here (477 miles) was UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! We passed through valley after mountain range after river valley---very little sign of any humans except the occasional tell tale swatch of a formerly clear cut lumbering job. There were incredible vistas with mist hanging over distant hills 100 plus miles away. It was a 2 lane road, in pretty good shape, with lots of hills and turns. We came down one sweeping mountainside with no guard rails and warnings for rock sheep. Sure enough, there was this little guy waiting in a pull out (yeah yeah….we’ll figure out the pictures one of these days). There are countless places to pull out by a river or a grove of trees and camp…also plenty of developed campsites. So far we’ve gone for the electricity most nights for the CPAP and heat. In Banff National Park we camped for 2 nights in Mosquito Creek Campground with just solar and did just fine.

We are still getting the hang of this trip…..looking forward to being able to slow down (after Alaska) and be more spontaneous as to where and when we go. But we’ve done pretty well. We’ve only been in motels 2 nights and those were the first 2 (in NY and Illinois). We’ve gotten the set up and break down of the pop-up to a science—Teslin likes to crank the braces up and down and snap the beds. Cassidy is determined to be able to put the bikes on top of the pop-up by himself (something only Chris can do because of his height). Mostly we realize we have TOO MUCH STUFF! We are ready to heave boxes out as we go. Problem is, we disagree as to what needs to get heaved. We left a lot in Fort Dodge, but alas , we need to lighten this wagon train again.

Cassidy and Teslin are over at the playground by the hot springs, Chris just woke up from a nap and is contemplating organization---a dangerous thought. For all of you at CHG, you will be happy to know that Chris is so far away since his nose hairs have reached never before achieved lengths. Especially scary when he swims. Generally, though, he is making good progress toward reestablishing himself among the feeling and the rested. He is resisting newspapers and has very little access to the internet. I caught him the other day idly playing with my PDA and had to take it from him. He looked like he just needed to use the stylist a bit. He’s adjusting. He is learning how to share ideas and be more democratic with the control of situations, although he is still quite challenged at set-up and break-down times with the pop-up. Overall, I think he is doing quite well. I have received a couple of spontaneous shows of affection, and his eye contact is improving. Teslin thinks he still is a little bossy. Hmmmm…. I won’t touch that one.

Tomorro……TESLIN!!!!! We are only 300 miles from Teslin and will be there for a few days. Since we missed the one restaurant that was the “cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster”, we look forward to trying the “world famous cinnamon buns” in Teslin. This milepost book is great and tells you every the natural and human history of every interesting site, pullout, dumpster, and restaurant along the way. We are also aware of a blooming berry season and need to start a survey of various pies. Anyway….Much love to you all! Anny