On the drive
towards Liard, we spotted quite a bit of wildlife. We saw a couple black bears
and a grizzly cub amidst some bison. Dad figured the mama grizzly was just out
of sight, hoping to snag a bison calf snack. So, obviously, we saw more bison
and a lot of stone sheep on the side of a rocky mountain. I was excited to see
the stone sheep; they would remind someone of bighorn sheep.
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| Stone sheep |
Quite a distance
from Charlie Lake, we stopped at Trapper’s Den Wildlife Emporium, a small log
building filled with authentic fur trapper and First Nation (native people)
handiworks, such as moccasins, fur gauntlets, and birch baskets. I bought Desi
a couple books, one about a boy and his moose and another about a dogsled team.
He loves books and relating his experiences to books seems to help him
appreciate what we are doing. I picked up a “pocket dream catcher” (a dream
catcher with no feathers hanging down) for Desmond, since he’d been admiring
dream catchers (they look clock-like) since Crazy Horse in South Dakota. We
also stopped on the way in Fort Nelson at the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum.
We
made some sandwiches and wandered around the museum and museum yard. (or was it
a junkyard?) They had many taxidermed animals from the area (Dad and I marveled
over the frighteningly large size of the timberwolf) and Desmond tried to find
as many things with dials as he could (clocks, watches, sewing machines, rotary
phones, thermometers and many more in their large antique vehicle collection).
I went to the RV to nurse Trudy while everyone else toured the museum’s yard.
The guide said she’d given many children tours of the museum, but had never
seen one get as excited as he did. Mom explained that technical stuff is right
up his alley.
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| Junkyard or museum? |
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| Farm machinery (I think) |
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| I think I typed a sixth grade report on one of those... |
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| This junk is awesome! |
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| Beautiful Muncho Lake |
After passing through the beautiful Muncho Lake
region, we arrived at Liard River Hot Springs in the evening and I walked Desi
to the playground at the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. The
playground was very nice. However, I was a little concerned about the “bear
conditioning project” taking place, which consisted of noises (high pitched and
smacking) to deter bears from hanging out in the park. We had some lasagna for
dinner and Mom, Dad, and I took Desmond down to the hot springs. Tommy stayed
back with Trudy because the mosquitoes were pretty fierce in Liard.
The walk to
the hot springs went across a boardwalk over a bog; it was no wonder the place
was full of mosquitoes! The pool at the hot springs was very nice. There were
two pools, actually; one was hot and the other was warm. They were connected by
some man-made waterfalls and nice decks with wide steps into the pools. Several people were swimming, even though it was
after 9 p.m. We regretted not having bathing suits (Dad was the only person who packed one in his suitcase). However, the provincial
park we were staying in had no running water (so, no shower houses and no flush
toilets; at least the pit toilets were clean and not too smelly). If I’d gone
swimming in the sulfer-scented pools, I probably would’ve wanted a shower. As
it was, without suits and being forced to conserve our water in the RV without
a water hook-up, we just waded in the water. It was still enjoyable. Mom and I
noticed an improvement in our beat-up feet after our soak in the springs.
Desmond was begging to play in the waterfalls and he almost tempted Grammy to
jump in with her clothes on. I know better; he would’ve chickened out at the
last minute. I was not walking back half a mile in wet clothes. I think Dad and
Desi were the most disappointed not to be swimming in there. Oh well… next time.
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| Playing in the Liard River Hotsprings |
Nice!
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