One of our favourite places so far has been in northern B.C., Liard Hot Springs. If you have been there, you know exactly what we mean. I heard a rough-and-tumble trucker refer to it as a magical place. It turns out that he had been travelling past Liard Hot Springs for years and never made the stop. Once he did, he couldn’t believe what he had been missing out on for years. That's where he takes his coffee break regularly when delivering fuel to Dawson City now.
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| It wasn't busy at all when we were there; this photo doesn't even look real! |
We arrived at Liard Hot Springs right around dusk and were lucky enough to see 8 bears along the side of the road during our drive. The campsite itself was fenced in with added security of an electric fence. There were rumblings that a woman had been killed by a bear in the 80s, but the park staff told us that the fence was actually needed to keep the bison out, as they were wandering into the campsites and causing trouble.
Bears, bison, caribou… we were certainly in northern country! It was neat to see this wildlife along the roadside. I haven't seen a moose yet, but I am hopeful.
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| We saw this Mumma and baby, later we saw another Mumma with two babies. |
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We saw these three caribou, and they kind of jumped along, like what
you would imagine Santa's reindeer do! |
The hot springs are natural, and the park has maintained the natural beauty as much as possible. There is no electricity or concrete, and the bottom consists of pebbles. There is still mud and plants along the walls, and when you float on your back and look up, all that you can see are the tree tops and stars. It is open until 10:00 pm, and since there is very little artificial light, the stargazing is spectacular. We were visiting in September, but I can only imagine what it would be like in the wintertime with snow on the trees and the steam wafting up from the surface of the water.
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Mark ventured up to the super-hot area, around the
stones to the left, the water was actually bubbling! |
The water temperature fluctuated depending on where you were in the hot springs. The surface was super hot, and at points, you had to circulate the cool water from the bottom to actually be able to tolerate the temperature. The water naturally flowed downriver, and there was a lower area that was a little cooler, but still nice and cozy. There were fresh water springs also feeding into the hot springs, and they provided a refreshing cool shower for when you overheated.
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| ahhhh, so relaxing. |
I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in northern B.C. We ended up camping in the campsite for two nights and did some day hikes when we weren’t basking in the hot springs. We did two shorter hikes, Teeter Creek and Smith’s River Falls and a longer hike up the Old Alaskan Highway. We even did a scramble to the summit of a nearby peak. The view was beautiful, and Eric, our personal trainer, would be proud of our efforts.
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This is how far we hiked!
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Us at the top.
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| On our way up Mark said, you'd think they would have a sign pointing where you are to go... on the way back down we noticed this... lol |
We were sorry to leave Liard but were anxious to visit some of the sites other bathers had recommended to us on our journey north. We were hoping to see some bison that we had heard others talking about, and we were going to make a stop in Braeburn Lodge on the Klondike Highway to have a giant cinnamon bun and grilled cheese!
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